---
title: UMD-Developed Device Mimics Spread of Early-Stage Cancer
date: 2025-02-10T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-doctoral-student-patents-device-that-mimics-spread-of-early-stage-cancer"
section: Articles
---
# UMD-Developed Device Mimics Spread of Early-Stage Cancer

*February 10, 2025* — by [John Tucker](/author/john-tucker)


> Customized Drug Treatments Could Result From Doctoral Student's Patented Innovation

*IMG 8683 1920x1080 — Ian Smith displays an early iteration of a device he recently patented. The invention could help clinicians test drugs on the cells of a patient in a lab setting, prior to injecting potentially ineffective drugs directly into the patient's body.*

In middle school, Ian Smith lost a close friend to leukemia. Soon after, his grandmother’s cancer diagnosis resulted in a mastectomy. When Smith was applying for Ph.D. programs, his father was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and rapidly declined.

Smith moved back to his family’s home in Silver Spring, Md., where he routinely carried his weakened dad up the stairs and cared for him after strokes. He also enrolled at the University of Maryland, drawn to a lab in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering that combined his interests of cancer research and microscale models.

His father died nine months after his diagnosis. But Smith, now a fifth-year doctoral student, has recently patented a device that could improve drug treatments for future cancer patients.


*tumor on a chip model showing PDMS, 12-well media reservoir, spheroid, connection to reservoir, basement membrane, endothelial vessel — A diagram of Smith's "tumor on a chip" model*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Bioengineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/bioengineering), [Health Care](https://today.umd.edu/topic/health-care), [Research Impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)