Paru Deshpande

Vice-President R&D, Health technologies
Imec vzw
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Dr. Paru Deshpande completed his PhD at Princeton University in the area of polymer self-assembly for lithography. After completing his studies, he joined BioNano Genomics, a US life sciences startup company, as part of the founding scientific team. He led projects in single molecule DNA detection and instrument and assay development. In 2012, he joined imec as Director of the Life Sciences Technologies department. He is now Vice President of R&D for imec’s health-related technologies and oversees groups working on sensor and therapeutic platforms for genomics, proteomics, in-vitro models, neurotech, biomanufacturing, and minimally invasive devices.

Speech title & Synopsis

Bioconvergence: how the intersection of biology and technology can advance human health

Technology is playing an ever-greater role in enabling novel solutions for key challenges in the healthcare sector. From early discovery all the way to therapeutic intervention, creative technology solutions combined with improved biological understanding are driving a bioconvergence wave that can radically impact the future of healthcare. Underlying many of these advances are semiconductor chip technologies. For example, recent advances in artificial intelligence leverage enormous advances in compute power. But the basic silicon nanotechnology that underpins computational improvements can also enable the interrogation of biology at the most fundamental of length scales. In this presentation, I will share some of imec’s work in using chip technologies to develop solutions for life science and medical device applications.