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The future of precision medicine is likely to come down to wearable and implantable medical devices and sensors, along with AI-enabled drug discovery and delivery. That’s the vision of Chia-Ying “James” Lin, the incoming first executive director of Convergent Bioscience and Technology Institute at Indiana University Indianapolis.
“We know currently there are some biomarker detections that rely on blood and urine,” Lin told IBJ. “There have been attempts to see how you can wear some devices that can provide more real-time measurement.”
That could come in the form of smart surgical patches, subcutaneous implants and small wearable monitors, he said. The idea is to have real-time information on how medicine works in the body, or how the patient responds to therapy. Some wearables and implantable devices could deliver medicine.
Lin, a biomedical researcher at the University of Cincinnati who has focused on new innovations for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, will start his new job in Indianapolis on Aug. 26. He will also serve as professor of biomedical engineering in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.
His appointment was announced last month. It’s part of IU President Pamela Whitten’s plan to invest more than $250 million to create two science and health research institutes in Indianapolis, as well as recruit life-sciences researchers to Bloomington and expand or renovate both campuses.
“With James Lin leading the way, the Convergent Bioscience and Technology Institute will expand IU’s role in central Indiana’s thriving biosciences community, accelerating the tremendous impact of IU’s transformative research,” Whitten said in written remarks.
The two Indianapolis institutes will be part of a science and technology corridor on the western edge of downtown. Lin will direct the first institute, focusing on advancing scientific discoveries aimed and curing and treating diseases.
The director of the other institute, called the Institute for Human Health and Wellbeing, has not yet been named. That institute will target well-focused research for the most pressing chronic diseases to improve health outcomes.
Lin said a big part of his job will be to build on partnerships with other large bioscience players in Indiana, including manufacturers, researchers and marketing professionals.
“Those are certainly good foundations for the new institute,” he said. “And we don’t have to start everything from scratch.”
Lin has co-founded multiple startups, including one recently acquired by DePuy Synthes, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. His most recent startup, a biopharmaceutical company called Amplicore Inc., specializes in the development of novel injectables to treat injured and degenerative skeletal soft tissues.
In announcing Lin’s hiring, IU said the institute will work to deliver health and science innovations from the bench to the bedside, while also helping to grow the disclosure and licensing of inventions, discoveries and innovations, industry partnership and IU-launched startup companies.
Lin earned a doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Michigan, where he began his academic career as assistant professor of neurosurgery and served as the founding director of the Spine Research Laboratory. He earned his bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University.
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