In a recent paper published in Molecular Systems Biology, Kam Leong describes a two-compartment microfluidic device that consists of a chamber within which is embedded a "microbial swarmbot" that is isolated by a permeable hydrogel shell. In collaboration with Lingchong You (Duke University), Leong used the device to regulate the dynamics of a population of bacteria containing a genetically engineered switch that reacts to population size. The scale bar in panel 1 represents a length of 250 micrometers.

With a restless curiosity, Kam Leong always seems to be on the lookout for new problems to solve. A versatile biomedical engineer originally trained in chemical engineering, he has developed an impressive array of innovative nanotechnologies that have opened up new opportunities in biomedical research and drug delivery. 

The most widely known of his designs resulted from his work as a postdoc in the laboratory of MIT’s Robert Langer. While there, Leong played a critical role in the development of Gliadel, a controlled-release therapy that uses biodegradable polymer particles to deliver an anticancer drug to a brain tumor site following surgery. Since then his name has appeared on more than 70 patents covering a wide range of inventions — from microfluidics technologies, to scaffolds for growing organic tissues, to nanoscale fluorescent probes, to a method that uses nanoparticles instead of viruses for the oral delivery of gene therapies. These achievements have gained him widespread respect within the engineering community, as evidenced by his 2013 election to both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors.

Dr. Leong joined Columbia University in 2014. Although his primary affiliation is with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, he was also attracted by the chance to assume an interdisciplinary faculty appointment in the Department of Systems Biology. Since his arrival he has been developing collaborations with several Systems Biology faculty members as well as other scientists at Columbia University Medical Center, and plans are underway for his lab to move into the Lasker Biomedical Research Building to better facilitate interactions with systems biology and clinical investigators. In the following interview, Leong describes why opportunities to interact with scientists in other disciplines is so important to his work, and how the kinds of technologies he has developed could be relevant for systems biology research, as well as for improving treatment of human diseases.