New Grant Fuels Innovative Efforts to Reduce Environmental Impact of Biomedical Products

Sam Sia, professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has been awarded a new five-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) for his ongoing work in point-of-care diagnostics. The NIAID grant of more than $3.2 million will fund the Sia lab’s proposal to develop a more environmentally sustainable fabrication method for each component of a plastic microfluidic diagnostic device.

Biomedical products like point-of-care diagnostics are essential but often generate significant waste, especially when disposable plastics are involved. Sia’s team is developing biodegradable materials that can be used in microfluidic devices. These bioplastics are designed to decompose safely, reducing the long-term environmental impact.

“Our work has shown bioplastics can be structurally compatible with biomedical assays,” says Abigail Ayers, a Columbia Engineering PhD candidate in the Sia lab who is leading this work. “With this grant, we are hoping to challenge preconceptions about material limitations in biomedical research, from product design to implementation, and show that sustainable innovation in healthcare is not only possible but necessary."

Study lead, Abigail Ayers from the Sia lab, on site in Rwanda, working on a degradation study for the bioplastic microfluidic devices in compost

Sia and his collaborators have focused on the development of portable diagnostic tools designed to bring lab-quality blood tests to remote and underserved regions. One of their key innovations includes a mobile device that can rapidly diagnose HIV and syphilis, offering healthcare providers a powerful tool in low-resource settings.

Sia’s research has also extended into organ-on-a-chip technology, creating microfluidic devices that mimic human organs to accelerate drug testing and reduce the need for animal testing. These advances have significantly impacted the medical and research communities, improving the accessibility and efficiency of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

Due to the increase of point-of-care diagnostics, the need for an environmental approach is critical. The new work supported by the NIAID grant focuses on establishing a credible and validated set of biodegradable materials to sustain future innovations in microfluidic devices, in order to reduce waste and curb the environmental impact of biomedical products. 

A pioneer in the space of point-of-care diagnostics and biomedical devices, Sia, who also serves as a vice provost at Columbia University, has co-developed a point-of-care blood test for prostate cancer which is being commercialized and has garnered FDA approval. He is co-founder of Rover Diagnostics, which develops rapid and low-cost detection of DNA and RNA, is the founder of Harlem Biospace, a biotech incubator facility in New York City that has hosted over 50 biotech companies.