Draft:Nicole Black

Nicole Black, Ph.D, is an engineer who helped pioneer the PhonoGraft, a biometric graft that has the potential to enable high-quality and long-lasting eardrum reconstruction (1). Black also won the 2021 $15,000 “Cure it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for her work developing the PhonoGraft and a novel tympanostomy tube (“ear tube”) that improves upon existing technology (2).

Nicole Black grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where she believed that engineering was all about cars. Her interest in medicine at a young age led her to initially want to be a physician and treat patients. After joining her high school’s robotics team (the “ThunderChickens”) she learned about the engineering process and how devices were designed to address a wide array of problems. Nicole then discovered biomedical engineering and dedicated herself to the field. When she graduated high school in 2010, Black was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar and went to the White House to meet President Obama (3).

After high school, she chose to do her undergraduate studies at Boston University's College of Engineering. During this time, she studied and worked at Vanderbilt University, the University of Sydney, and Columbia University. She went on to her Ph.D. studies at Harvard in 2014, where she was awarded a Marie Curie Dissertation Fellowship from the American Association of University Women (4).

In developing the PhonoGraft, Black was inspired by her health issues as a child, having many ear infections and multiple implants of traditional ear tubes. When she realized that she had scar tissue and slight hearing loss, she was motivated to address this issue (5).

Additionally, Black is committed to increasing engagement and retention of youth and women in STEM fields. She has volunteered in many elementary schools and mentored K-12 and undergraduate students in conducting research projects. Black is also a founding member of New England Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, was on the Executive Board for Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, and coordinated the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Mentorship Program for undergraduate and graduate women in STEM at Harvard College’s Women’s Center (6).

The PhonoGraft

The PhonoGraft is intended to eliminate shortcomings of tympanoplasty surgery, which is performed to repair a ruptured eardrum typically using skin or cartilage from another part of the body (7). What makes the PhonoGraft unique is that it is manufactured from a biodegradable elastomer that can be used to form customizable circular and radial scaffolds, essentially acting as a new eardrum. In a quote from Black “Preliminary bench studies show that the PhonoGraft device not only closed the eardrum perforation; it supported the body’s regeneration of the complex eardrum structure,”(8).

In 2013, when Black was a doctoral student in Harvard’s lab, she recognized an opportunity to improve eardrum reconstruction using 3D printing (9). At the time she was studying materials science and bioengineering in the This concept for the PhonoGraft arose following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, when many individuals sustained eardrum perforations due to the blast injury. Black did her research alongside Jennifer Lewis, ScD, who is a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute, a Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, and a Jianming Yu Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard SEAS. Additionally, she collaborated with ear surgeons Dr. Aaron Remenschneider and Dr. Elliott Kozin from Mass Eye and Ear, who assembled a multidisciplinary team of material scientists and otolaryngologists (10).

Following 6 years of research and development, with the help of funding from the Wyss Institute, the first preclinical PhonoGraft material and device platform was created. Black has been highly credited for the technology and has since founded a startup, Beacon Bio, to advance the product for commercial development. Beacon Bio was acquired by 3D printing firm Desktop Metal in July 2021 (11). Nicole Black now serves as the vice president of biomaterials and innovation at Desktop Health, which is based in Newport California.

In the time since, the PhonoGraft has been used in preclinical trials with animals, where it has been successful. The studies have shown that the device is also biocompatible with the hosts, whose eardrums have begun to grow native cells and blood vessels with the PhonoGraft. Currently, the PhonoGraft technology is in advanced-stage research and development and is not available for sale anywhere in the world. Black and her team at Desktop Health are looking to move to the next step, carrying out additional preclinical studies and then pursuing an FDA review (12).

References

1. McKinney, Linda.(2023, July 7). Desktop Health Adds PhonoGraft Biofabrication Platform to Growing Technology Portfolio. BusinessWire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210707005418/en/ 2. Lemelson-MIT. (2021). Nicole Black. https://lemelson.mit.edu/award-winners/nicole-black 3. Lemelson-MIT. (2021). Nicole Black. https://lemelson.mit.edu/award-winners/nicole-black 4. Lemelson-MIT. (2021). Nicole Black. https://lemelson.mit.edu/award-winners/nicole-black 5. Lemelson-MIT. (2021). Nicole Black. https://lemelson.mit.edu/award-winners/nicole-black 6. Lemelson-MIT. (2021). Nicole Black. https://lemelson.mit.edu/award-winners/nicole-black 7. Black, Nicole. Kozin, Elliott. Lewis, Jennifer. Remenschneider, Aaron. (2021, August 19). PhonoGraft:3S Printer Tympanic Membrane Graft. Wyss Institute. https://www.google.com/search?q=phonograft&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS883US883&oq=phonograft&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg7MgYIARBFGDkyBggCEEUYOzIGCAMQRRg7MgYIBBBFGDwyBggFEEUYPDIGCAYQRRg80gEIMTc2M2owajSoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 8. McKinney, Linda.(2023, July 7). Desktop Health Adds PhonoGraft Biofabrication Platform to Growing Technology Portfolio. BusinessWire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210707005418/en/ 9. McKinney, Linda.(2023, July 7). Desktop Health Adds PhonoGraft Biofabrication Platform to Growing Technology Portfolio. BusinessWire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210707005418/en/ 10. McKinney, Linda.(2023, July 7). Desktop Health Adds PhonoGraft Biofabrication Platform to Growing Technology Portfoilio. BusinessWire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210707005418/en/ 11. Zewe, Adam. (2021, July 9). Alumni startup acquired by Desktop Health. Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. https://seas.harvard.edu/news/2021/0/alumni-startup-acquired-desktop-health 12. McKinney, Linda.(2023, July 7). Desktop Health Adds PhonoGraft Biofabrication Platform to Growing Technology Portfolio. BusinessWire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210707005418/en/