Tiny implantable devices to test many drugs in brain tumors
Official title: Using implantable microdevices for deep phenotyping of multiple drug responses in brain tumor patients
Funded at Brigham and Women's Hospital · NIH-11144443 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Doctors will use tiny implantable devices during tumor surgery to see how an individual’s brain tumor reacts to many different drugs.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2023 |
| Project end | July 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $714,942 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA283905-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11144443 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults (21+) with a diagnosed glioma who are scheduled for surgical tumor resection at the study center are the intended participants.
✕Less likely to help
People who will not have a resection, have tumors that cannot be safely biopsied during surgery, or are medically unfit for intraoperative procedures are unlikely to benefit directly.
What this research studies
If you join, surgeons will place tiny implantable microdevices into your brain tumor during a planned tumor removal operation. Each device exposes small, separate tumor regions to one of 20 drugs or drug combinations and is removed along with the tumor during the same surgery. The removed tissue will be analyzed for protein, gene, immune, and tissue changes to identify drug response or resistance, with three small replicates per drug. About 32 patients will take part while the team measures safety and how well this workflow can be integrated into clinical care.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: This could help doctors choose the most effective drugs for a patient’s tumor by showing direct tumor responses to many therapies with little additional risk beyond the planned surgery.
How similar studies have gone: Similar implantable microdevice approaches have shown early promise in other cancer types, but applying them to profile many drug responses in glioma patients is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Jonas, Oliver — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Jonas, Oliver
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.