10/19/2026
By Marley O'Neil

Please join the Francis College of Engineering for an Academic Entrepreneurs Seminar by Dr. Jessica O. Winter titled "Beyond the Breakthrough: Engineering Nanotechnology for Translation."

  • Date: Oct. 28
  • Time: 2 p.m.
  • Location: Saab ETIC

Abstract

Pathological analysis is a cornerstone of cancer diagnostics, patient triage for personalized medicine, and prognostic patient follow-up. Nanoparticles offer compelling advantages for diagnostic pathology, yet translating these materials from promising laboratory demonstrations into practical diagnostic technologies presents challenges that extend well beyond initial scientific discovery. This presentation will explore those challenges through the development and translation of fluorescent and chromophoric nanoparticles for cancer diagnostics.

First, I will discuss the use, development and commercialization of quantum-dot-based reagents for diagnostics of blood cancers via flow cytometry. Quantum dots (QDs), semiconductor nanoparticles that fluoresce upon light excitation, were introduced for biological imaging in 1998. They were heralded as a revolutionary product that would transform biological imaging. Yet, despite more than 25 years of research, there are no clinically approved QD products. My group has identified and addressed key barriers limiting their practical implementation, ultimately developing micelle encapsulation and scale-up strategies that enabled commercialization. I will use this experience to illustrate the often-overlooked challenges that arise between scientific breakthrough and practical implementation, as well as lessons learned from translating an academic technology into a company.

I will then discuss how insights and technologies developed through this process informed a second generation of materials for solid-tissue pathology. Conventional pathological imaging primarily relies on tissue sections obtained from biopsy slices that are stained with colored dyes to identify biomarkers. Because the dye spectra overlap, it is very difficult to obtain multiplexed images interrogating multiple biomarkers in the same sample. We have overcome this challenge through the development of erasable labels. These labels are based on polymer micelles encapsulating dye molecules that serve as imaging reporters. We then construct a cage of DNA nanotechnology tiles on the micelle surface. This enables us to barcode each micelle to DNA-labeled antibodies that bind the biomarker targets. Signal is erased by disrupting DNA hybridization between the DNA-caged micelle and the DNA-modified antibody. This approach enables repeated biomarker interrogation in the same sample without signal overlap. Collectively, these examples illustrate how engineering for manufacturability, scalability and practical implementation can transform nanoscale innovations into technologies with potential clinical impact.

Bio

Jessica O. Winter is Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Ohio State University. She serves on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and as editor-in-chief of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Materials Advances. Her research focuses on engineering nanoparticles and biomaterials for biomedical applications, with particular emphasis on cancer diagnostics, drug delivery and scaling their production toward commercial nanomanufacturing. She is an inventor on multiple nanotechnology patents and co-founder and chief scientific officer of Core Quantum Technologies, which commercializes nanoparticle reagents for cancer diagnostics. Winter is a Fellow of AIChE, BMES, AAAS, AIMBE, and the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Senior Member of IEEE. Her honors include AIChE’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Award, the APS Five Sigma Award, the ACS Rising Star Award, and TechColumbus Inventor of the Year.