Jay C. Sy

Assistant Professor

Biomedical Engineering

Phone:848-445-6567
Fax:732-445-3753
Email:js2191@soe.rutgers.edu
Office:BME-218
Office Hours: By appointment

Dr. Jay Sy completed his Ph.D. in the joint Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University Biomedical Engineering department under the direction of Michael Davis and Niren Murthy. His dissertation focused on drug delivery to the heart. He earned a BSE in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania where he conducted undergraduate research in tissue engineering and electrospinning of polymers.  Before coming to Rutgers-BME, Dr. Sy was a postdoctoral fellow who worked in the laboratories of Robert Langer and Michael Cima at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  His current work focuses on applying biomaterials chemistry to prototype medical devices. 

Education

Post doctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011-2015

Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University, 2011

B.S.E., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2005

Honors

  • National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship
  • Department of Homeland Security Graduate Fellowship

Professional Affiliations

  • Biomedical Engineering Society
  • Society for Biomaterials
  • American Chemical Society

Research Interests

Dr. Sy's research group is interested in developing new strategies for treating brain disorders.  The lab focuses on three main thrusts: medical device prototyping, biomaterials development for improved compatibility and drug delivery, and understanding fundamental glial cell physiology.  Designing and fabricating medical device prototypes allows new avenues to bypass anatomical barriers using minimally invasive strategies.  This opens the doorway to deliver compounds and newly synthesized drug delivery vehicles to the brain.  These tools allow us to target neurological disorders but also afford the opportunity to study brain physiology.  In particular, the Sy lab is interested in examining how glial cells - the half of the brain that are non-neuronal - modulate biocompatibility of brain implants and pharmacokinetics of compounds and drug delivery vehicles.

Selected Publications

Peer Reviewed Articles

1. Nature Materials (November 2008, 7(11):863-868; PMID: 18931671)“Sustained release of a p38 inhibitor from non-inflammatory microspheres inhibits cardiac dysfunction.”   JC Sy, G Seshadri, SC Yang, M Brown, T Oh, S Dikalov, N Murthy, ME Davis.  

2. Biomaterials (June 2010, 31(18):4987-4984; PMID: 20346498) “Surface functionalization of polyketal microparticles with nitrilotriacetic acid-nickel complexes for efficient protein capture and delivery.”  JC Sy, EA Phelps, AJ García, N Murthy, ME Davis.

3. Advanced Materials (May 2009, 21(18):1814-1819; DOI: 10.1002/adma.200701630)
“Emulsion as a means of controlling electrospinning of polymers.” JC Sy, AS Klemm, VP Shastri.  

Book Chapters and Reviews

1. Journal of Controlled Release (September 2014, 190:157-171; PMID: 24798478)
“Single compartment drug delivery.” MJ Cima, H Lee, K Daniel, LM Tanenbaum, A Mantzavinou, KC Spencer, Q Ong, JC Sy, J Santini Jr, CM Schoellhammer, D Blankschtein, RS Langer.

2. Polymer Science: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd Ed.  Eds. K Matyjaszewski, M Moeller (Elsevier, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53349-4.00240-5)
“Biodegradation of Polymers” in Volume 9: Polymers in Biology and Medicine, 547-560. N Murthy, DS Wilson, JC Sy.

3. Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research (October 2010, 3(5):461-468; PMID: 20628908)
“Delivering regenerative cues to the heart: cardiac drug delivery by microspheres and peptide nanofibers.”  JC Sy, ME Davis.