Royal Society of Chemistry cites UW-Madison professor

Through Lab on a Chip journal, the European-based Royal Society of Chemistry and Corning Inc. have awarded the first-ever Pioneers of Miniaturization prize to David J. Beebe, a University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of biomedical engineering.

An award for young to mid-career scientists, the prize recognizes Beebe’s outstanding contributions to the understanding and development of miniaturized systems. Beebe, who holds more than 20 patents or patents pending for microfluidic devices and related applications, received the award in early November at the 10th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences in Tokyo.

Beebe develops and applies microtechnology to solve problems in biology and medicine. Among his recent projects are a patch for delivering large-molecule drugs — for example, a time-release overnight dose of insulin for juvenile diabetes sufferers — and a family of microfluidic-based tools for studying basic cell biology questions related to cancer, developmental biology and stem cells.

In addition to his patents in microfluidics and miniature systems, Beebe also has co-founded three biotechnology companies — Vitae LLC, Ratio Inc. and Salus Discovery LLC — that are commercializing his technologies.