Join author Jeff Karp to celebrate the launch of his much-anticipated new book, LIT: Life Ignition Tools. The event will feature a conversation between Jeff Karp and University of Toronto Professor Dr. Milicia Radisic, followed by a reading, Q&A, and signing.
About the Speakers
Jeff Karp, PhD, is an acclaimed mentor and biomedical engineering professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT, a Distinguished Chair at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He has dedicated his research to bioinspired medical problem-solving, and his lab’s technologies have led to the formation of twelve companies. The technologies they have developed include a tissue glue that can seal holes inside a beating heart; targeted therapy for osteoarthritis, Crohn’s disease, and brain disorders; “smart needles” that automatically stop when they reach their target; a nasal spray that neutralizes pathogens; and immunotherapy approaches to annihilate cancer. Dr. Karp is also head of innovation at Geoversity, Nature’s University, a rainforest conservancy located in one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world. He was selected as the Outstanding Faculty Undergraduate Mentor among all faculty at MIT and the top graduate student mentor of Harvard-MIT students. Dr. Karp lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, children, and two Cavalier King Charles spaniels.
Dr. Milica Radisic is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Organ-on-a-Chip Engineering and a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute. She is also Director of the NSERC CREATE Training Program in Organ-on-a-Chip Engineering & Entrepreneurship and a co-lead for the Center for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada-Academy of Science, Canadian Academy of Engineering, the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Society as well as Biomedical Engineering Society. Her impressive accolades include being recognized in the MIT Technology Review Top 35 Under 35, as well as receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, NSERC E.W.R Steacie Fellowship, YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, Killam Fellowship, Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal, and Humboldt Research Award to name a few. Her research focuses on organ-on-a-chip engineering and development of new biomaterials that promote healing and attenuate scarring.
About LIT: Life Ignition Tools
In the age of convenience, information overload, and endless exposure to stimuli, it’s easy to trudge through the motions of life, pressured, distracted, and seeking instant gratification. When this way of living becomes the norm, it can immobilize us, making it feel impossible to reclaim control of our lives with intention and enthusiasm.
In LIT (William Morrow; April 9, 2024), Harvard Medical School professor, Mass General Brigham and MIT researcher, and renowned bioinspirationalist Jeff Karp, PhD, teaches us to harness the vital wisdom and power of nature to place us into a lit state. Lit is a life magnifier, a heightened state of awareness that drives curiosity, connection, and energy. In short: being lit takes us off autopilot and helps us stay alert, present, and fully engaged.
Diagnosed with learning differences and ADHD at a young age, Karp persisted through nearly insurmountable struggles. After discovering that he could think about thinking at age seven, he became his own science experiment, tapping into the lit state through trial and error to achieve hyper-awareness and explore his curiosity, creativity, and connection to nature. Decades later, as a biotech innovator, husband, and father, lit continues to encourage opportunities for innovation in his professional and personal lives.
He has honed those methods into a diverse toolkit that he calls Life Ignition Tools (LIT), which help us:
- Break out of habitual thinking to discover our own imaginative power.
- Stimulate creativity and excitement at work.
- Integrate our spiritual and personal lives to repair and deepen our relationships.
- Navigate multiple streams of sensory input and manage information overload.
Lit has inspired Dr. Karp’s innovative medical discoveries such as surgical glue inspired by slugs, a diagnostic for cancer based on the tentacles of jellyfish, and surgical staples based on the quills of a porcupine – but you don’t have to be a scientist to live lit. Anyone can use these principles to redirect their lives with energy, focus, creativity, and motivation to create the lives they truly want to lead.
Abstract
Sustainability has many facets and, in this presentation, I will share my recent research endeavors aimed at advancing sustainability in the realms of energy, water, and medicine. The first part of my talk delves into electrochemical transport phenomena in energy storage systems, with a focus on Li plating and dendritic growth on graphite/Li-metal anode, which are the leading causes of degradation and catastrophic failure for batteries under fast charging conditions. Deep understanding of these phenomena would facilitate the design of strategies to reduce, or completely suppress, the onset of lithium plating on the graphite anode, and the instabilities characterizing electrodeposition on the lithium metal anode.
In the second part of my talk, I will present my recent work on the efficient estimation of evapotranspiration for smart agriculture. This includes advancements that accelerate computational time by two orders of magnitude compared to the current standard approach. Finally, I will discuss two biomedical applications: blood transfusion and hypertonic treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). These efforts contribute to sustainable energy conversion and storage, sustainable agricultural practices, and sustainable blood management, steering us towards a more sustainable future.
Biography
Weiyu Li is a postdoctoral scholar in the Departments of Physics and Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Her research focuses on modeling and simulation of electrochemical transport in energy storage systems. She received her PhD in Energy Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Her other research interests include data assimilation and biomedical modeling. Prior to her doctoral studies, Weiyu obtained her M.Sc. degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University. Weiyu is the sole recipient of the Siebel Scholars Award in Energy Science, class of 2023. She has also received Henry J. Ramey Fellowship Award at Stanford University, and the Princeton University Fellowship in Natural Sciences and Engineering.
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