Andrew P. Shreve, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering
The University of New Mexico
Eta Diagnostics, Inc. (STC start-up)
Dr. Shreve has disclosed five inventions to STC, received one UNM-affiliated issued U. S. patent, has two pending patent applications, and one license agreement with start-up Eta Diagnostics, Inc., for multinode parallel flow cytometry technologies.
Dr. Shreve’s overall research focuses on development of optical-based methods for biomedical and biosensing applications, study of photophysical behavior of biological and nanostructured materials, including applications in the area of solar energy conversion, and development of spectroscopic and optical instrumentation. Dr. Shreve also focuses on teaching and mentoring, with an emphasis on training students in the use of quantitative analysis and measurement methods in the study of biological systems, and is actively engaged in commercializing his innovations in biological sensing and optical imaging research for real-world applications. As Director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering, he and his colleagues work to discover transformational innovations at the interface of engineering and medicine to deliver more effective healthcare at lower cost and train a new generation of researchers in biomedical engineering and related fields.
Dr. Shreve collaborates with his co-inventor Dr. Steven Graves and other co-inventors on developing highly parallel flow cytometry technology. Their approach uses multinode acoustic standing waves that focus particles and cells into multiple parallel streams with wide-field, high-speed optical detection and analysis across the flow streams. The goal of the researchers is to create a high-throughput, parallel-flow cytometer that will increase current analysis rates by up to twentyfold, ultimately achieving an analysis rate of over one million cells per second. The key to accomplishing this goal lies in coupling parallel particle-focusing technology with parallel optical-detection technology. Eta Diagnostics (CEO Dr. Michael Cumbo) is working to commercialize the platform of technologies, and is currently developing prototype cytometers for applications in industrial sterility monitoring and analysis of circulating tumor cells.
Dr. Shreve also collaborates with a team of researchers, including Dr. Jim Freyer and other co-inventors, to develop technology that enables 3D in vitro tissue models with embedded nanomaterial-based optical sensing elements (see figure). This work aims to provide diagnostic and analysis tools to measure how microenvironments in tissues affect cellular physiology, metabolism and genomics, and has applications in fields such as tumor biology, artificial organ development, and drug testing.
ISSUED U.S. PATENTS (UNM-AFFILIATED)
9,274,042 Spatially Correlated Light Collection from Multiple Sample Streams Excited with a Line Focused Light Source, issued March 1, 2016
PENDING PATENT APPLICATIONS
A 3D Tissue Model for Spatially Correlated Analysis of Biochemical, Physiological and Metabolic Microenvironments
Method for Simultaneous Spectrally Resolved Detection or Imaging of Items in Multiple Flowing Streams