|
George Gillies
|
The medical community is stumped. While scientists worldwide are actively researching therapies for brain disease, including strokes, cancer and Parkinson’s, they’re running into another challenge: how can they effectively deliver these treatments inside the brain without damaging vital brain tissue in the process? George T. Gillies, a research professor in mechanical and biomedical engineering at U.Va., has been studying this problem for 20 years.
Gillies, along with his collaborators and students, has come up with two potential solutions. The first involves magnetically guiding a catheter through the blood vessels of the brain—a system now used in dozens of hospitals. His second invention involves a tube-within-a-tube design. By inserting a smaller tube within a larger tube (both only 1-2 millimeters in diameter), numerous problems that plague brain-disease treatment are solved, such as preventing trapped air from entering the brain and avoiding the risk of multiple catheter insertions.
For this innovative work, Gillies received the U.Va. Patent Foundation’s top honor, the 2006 Edlich-Henderson Inventor of the Year Award. Gillies is listed as co-inventor on nine issued patents, and as inventor or co-inventor on 30 more patent applications, filings, or disclosures.
"We’re extremely optimistic that [Gillies’ technology] will have a revolutionary impact on how medicine is practiced," says Robert S. MacWright, executive director of the U.Va. Patent Foundation, "particularly in the treatment of complex brain diseases that today are simply untreatable." The foundation works with faculty inventors to protect and license inventions with commercial potential.
Gillies emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of his work. "I’m very grateful to the Patent Foundation for giving me this award, but it really is a reflection of the contributions of all of us," he says.
|
