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Education

  • Ph.D. — M.I.T.
  • M.S. — Pennsylvania State University
  • B.A. — Pennsylvania State University

Affiliations

  • Professor, Chemistry, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, Electrical & Computer Engineering and Co-Founder of Hesperos, the human-on-a-chip company

Research

Research Areas

Establish self-assembled monolayers as a tool for creating compatible biological/non-biological interfaces; integration of biological and neuronal-based systems with MEMS devices, primarily microelectronic devices. Utilization of human-on-a-chip systems for preclinical drug discovery, toxicology investigations and artificial intelligence research.

Research interest of the Hybrid Systems Lab

Dr. Hickman published the first serum-free, defined culture system for neuronal systems and extended this from rat to mouse, both embryonic and adult, as well as to human. These defined in vitro systems have now been extended to cardiac, muscle, endothelial, hepatocyte, cancer, kidney and epithelial cells as well as multiple combinations of different cell types. He has 165 publications and 20 book chapters, in addition to 32 issued patents out of 49 total patent applications. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineers (2004), the American Vacuum Society (2007) International Academy of Nanobiotechnology (2019) and the National Academy of Inventors (2020). He was awarded the BioFlorida Researcher of the Year in 2022.

Hickman Hybrid Systems Lab

Engineering the interface between biological and non-biological systems to construct next-generation systems for toxicology, drug discovery, and basic biology research.

Current Funding

  • NIH: Investigating the role of Alzheimers disease familial mutations in neuromuscular physiology. 05/15/2022 – 04/30/2027
  • NIH: Modulatory Role of Blood-Brain-Barrier and Enzymatic Activity in an Innovative Human Model of Cholinergic Drug Induced Dementia. 08/15/2021 – 07/31/2023
  • Hesperos, Inc/NIH: Biodistribution and PK modeling of rat vs. human systems. 3/1/2021 – 2/28/2023
  • NIH: Multi-organ human-on-a-chip system to address overdose and acute and chronic efficacy and off-target toxicity. 9/27/2019 – 7/31/2024
  • NIH: Human on a chip systems to investigate disease comorbidities common in the aged population. 4/01/2018 – 04/30/2023
  • Hesperos, Inc/NIH: Automation and validation of human on a chip systems for drug discovery. 09/4/2016 – 08/31/2022
  • Hesperos, Inc/NIH: Functional integrated human-on-a-chip systems for Alzheimer’s research. 9/15/2017 – 10/31/2022
  • Hesperos, Inc/NIH: Human on a chip system to investigate genetic risk factors in Alzheimer’s disease. 9/01/2018 – 5/31/2022
  • Hesperos, Inc/NIH: Development of an integrated 4-organ animal model. 09/17/2018 – 08/31/2022

Patents & Publications

Number of publications: 164
Number of patents: 36
Book chapters: 20

Publications

2020

S.A. Najjar, A.S.T. Smith, C.J. Long, C.W. McAleer, Y. Cai, B. Srinivasan, C. Martin, H.H. Vandenburgh, and J.J. Hickman, “A Multiplexed In Vitro Assay System for Evaluating Human Skeletal Muscle Functionality in Response to Drug Treatment,” Biotechnol. Bioeng. 117(3):736-747 (2020) DOI: 10.1002/bit.27231.

A. Colón, A. Badu-Mensah, X. Guo, A. Goswami and J.J. Hickman, “Differentiation of intrafusal fibers from human induced pluripotent stem cells,” ACS Chem. Neurosci. 11(7): 1085-1092 (2020).

C.P. Pires de Mello, C. Carmona-Moran, C. McAleer, J. Perez, E.A. Coln, C. Oleaga, A. Riu, R. Note, S. Teissier, J. Langer and J.J. Hickman, “Microphysiological heart-liver body-on-a-chip system with skin mimic for evaluating topical drug delivery,” Lab Chip 20:749-759 (2020).

T. Sasserath, J. W. Rumsey, C. W. McAleer, L. R. Bridges, C. J. Long, D. Elbrecht, F. Schuler, A. Roth, C. Bertinetti-LaPatki, M. L. Shuler, J. J. Hickman, “Differential Monocyte Actuation in a Three-Organ Functional Innate Immune System-on-a-Chip,” Adv. Sci. 7:2000323 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202000323

J. Caneus, N. Akanda, J.W. Rumsey, X. Guo, M. Jackson, C.J. Long, F. Sommerhage, S. Georgieva, N. Kanaan, D. Morgan and J.J. Hickman, “A human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical neuron human-on-a chip system to study Aβ42 and Tau-induced pathophysiological effects on long-term potentiation,” Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions 6(1): e12029 (2020) DOI: 10.1002/trc2.12029.

M.T. Schnepper, J. Roles and J.J. Hickman, “Characterization of drug-polymer adsorption isotherms in body-on-a-chip systems by inverse liquid-solid chromatography,” ACS Biomaterials Sci Eng, 6:4462-4475 (2020) doi = 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00350.

A. Patel, J.W. Rumsey, C. Lorance, C.J. Long, B. Lee, L. Tetard, S. Lambert and J.J. Hickman, “Myelination and node of Ranvier formation in a human motoneuron – schwann cell serum-free co-culture,” ACS Chem Neurosci 11:2615-2623 (2020) doi =10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00287.

X. Guo, V. Smith, M. Jackson, M. Tran, M. Thomas, A. Patel, E. Lorusso, S. Nimbalkar, Y. Cai, C.W. McAleer, Y. Wang, C.J. Long and J.J. Hickman, “A human-based functional NMJ system for personalized ALS modeling and drug testing,” Adv. Therapeutics 3(11):2000133 (1-17) (2020) DOI: 10.1002/adtp.202000133.

X. Guo, A. Badu-Mensah, M.C. Thomas, C.W. McAleer,J.J. Hickman, “Characterization of Functional Human Skeletal Myotubes and Neuromuscular Junction Derived-from the Same Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Source,” Bioengineering, 7(4):133 (2020).

M.T. Schnepper, J. Roles and J.J. Hickman, “Inverse liquid solid chromatography to evaluate drug interactions with organosilane modified polydimethylsiloxane for use in body-on-a-chip systems,” Biotechnol Prog, 2020:e3048 DOI: 10.1002/btpr.3048 (2020).

2021

C. Oleaga, V. Platt, L.R. Bridges, K. Persaud, C. McAleer, C. Long and J.J. Hickman, “A functional long-term 2D serum-free human hepatic in vitro system for drug evaluation,” Biotechnol Prog, 37:e3069 DOI: doi.org/10.1002/btpr.3069 (2021).

A. Badu-Mensah, X. Guo，C. McAleer, J. Rumsey, J.J. Hickman, “Functional Skeletal Muscle Model Derived from SOD1-mutant ALS Patient iPSCs Recapitulates Hallmarks of Disease Progression,” Sci. Rep. 10:14302 (2020).

H. Wang, P.C. Brown, E.C.Y. Chow, L. Ewart, S.S. Ferguson, S. Fitzpatrick, B.S. Freedman, G. Guo, W. Hedrich, S. Heyward, J. Hickman, N. Isoherranen, A.P. Li, Q. Liu, S.M. Mumenthaler, J. Polli, W.R. Proctor, A.P. Ribeiro, J.-Y. Wang, and R.L. Wange and S.-M. Huang, “3D Cell Culture Models: Drug Pharmacokinetics, Safety Assessment, and Regulatory Consideration” Clinical and Translational Science 14(5): 1659-1680 (2021). DOI: doi.org/10.1111/cts.13066 (2021).

V.L. Slaughter, J.W. Rumsey, R. Boone, D. Malik, Y. Cai, N.N. Sriram, C.J. Long, C.W. McAleer, S. Lambert, M.L. Shuler and J.J. Hickman, “Validation of an adipose‑liver human‑on‑a‑chip model of NAFLD for preclinical therapeutic efficacy evaluation,” Nature Scientific Reports, 11:13159 (2021).

A. Badu-Mensah, X. Guo and J.J. Hickman, “ALS Skeletal Muscle: Victim or Culprit,” The Neuroscience Chronicles 2(2):31-33 (2021).

V.M. Smith, H. Nyguen, J.W. Rumsey, C.J. Long, M.L. Shuler and J.J. Hickman, “A Functional Human-on-a-Chip Autoimmune Disease Model of Myasthenia Gravis for Development of Therapeutics,” Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, section Stem Cell Research, 9:745897, (2021) doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.745897.

2022

K. Autar, X. Guo, J.W. Rumsey, C. Long, N. Akanda, M. Jackson, N.S. Narasimhan, J. Caneus, D. Morgan, J.J. Hickman, “A functional hiPSC-cortical neuron differentiation and maturation model and its application to neurological disorders,” Stem Cell Reports 17:96-109 (2022).

J.W. Rumsey, C. Lorance, M. Jackson, T. Sasserath, C.W. McAleer, C.J. Long, A. Goswami, M.A. Russo, S.M. Raja, K.L. Gable, D. Emmett, L.D. Hobson-Webb, M. Chopra, J.F. Howard, Jr., J.T. Guptill, M.J. Storek, M. Alonso-Alonso, N. Atassi, S. Panicker, G. Parry, T. Hammond, J.J. Hickman, “Classical Complement Pathway Inhibition in a ‘Human-on-a-Chip’ Model of Autoimmune Demyelinating Neuropathies,” Advanced Therapeutics 2022:2200030 (2022). DOI: 10.1002/adtp.202200030

T. Sasserath, A.L. Robertson, R. Mendez, T.T. Hays, E. Smith, H. Cooper, N. Akanda, J.W. Rumsey, X. Guo, M. Might, S. Rodems, K. Baumgaertel, M. Pradhan, W. Zheng, A. Farkhondeh and J.J. Hickman, “An induced pluripotent stem cell-derived NMJ platform for study of the NGLY1-Congenital Disorder of Deglycosylation,” Advanced Therapeutics, 2022: 2200009 (1-17) (2022). DOI: 10.1002/adtp.202200009

A. Badu-Mensah, X. Guo, S. Nimbalkar, Y. Cai, J.J. Hickman. “ALS Mutations in Both Human Skeletal Muscle and Motoneurons Differentially Affects Neuromuscular Junction Integrity and Function,” Biomaterials, 289:121752 (2022). DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121752

A. Badu-Mensah P. Valinski, H. Parsaud, J.J. Hickman, X. Guo. “Hyperglycemia Negatively Affects IPSC-Derived Myoblast Proliferation and Skeletal Muscle Regeneration and Function,” Cells, 11:3674 (2022). DOI: 10.3390/cells11223674

X. Guo, N. Akanda, G. Fiorino, S. Nimbalkar, C.J. Long, A. Colon, A. Patel, P.J. Tighe, J.J. Hickman. “Human IPSC-derived preBötC neurons and development of opiate overdose and recovery model,” (submitted to Nature Communications Biology, 2022).

M.J. Rupar, T. Sasserath, E. Smith, B. Comiter, N. Sriram, C.J. Long, C.W. McAleer, J.J. Hickman, “Development of a Human Malaria-on-a-Chip Disease Model for Drug Efficacy and Off-Target Toxicity Evaluation,” (submitted to Scientific Reports, 2022).

2023

S. Nimbalkar, X. Guo, A. Colón, M. Jackson, N. Akanda, A. Patel, M. Grillo and J.J. Hickman, “Development of a functional human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived nociceptor MEA system as a pain model for analgesic drug testing”, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology-Stem Cell Research, accepted (2023).

Guo X, Akanda N, Fiorino G, Nimbalkar S, Long CJ, Colón A, Patel A, Tighe PJ, Hickman JJ. Human IPSC-Derived PreBötC-Like Neurons and Development of an Opiate Overdose and Recovery Model. Adv Biol (Weinh). 2024 Aug;8(8):e2300276. doi: 10.1002/adbi.202300276. Epub 2023 Sep 7. PubMed PMID: 37675827; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10921423.

Badu-Mensah A, Guo X, Mendez R, Parsaud H, Hickman JJ. The Effect of Skeletal Muscle-Specific Creatine Treatment on ALS NMJ Integrity and Function. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Aug 31;24(17). doi: 10.3390/ijms241713519. PubMed PMID: 37686322; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10487911.

Jangir H, Hickman JJ. Mimicking the Tendon Microenvironment to Enhance Skeletal Muscle Adhesion and Longevity in a Functional Microcantilever Platform. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2023 Aug 14;9(8):4698-4708. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c00235. Epub 2023 Jul 18. PubMed PMID: 37462389; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10430766.

Rupar MJ, Sasserath T, Smith E, Comiter B, Sriram N, Long CJ, McAleer CW, Hickman JJ. Development of a human malaria-on-a-chip disease model for drug efficacy and off-target toxicity evaluation. Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 28;13(1):10509. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35694-4. PubMed PMID: 37380653; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10307889.

2024

Patel A, Poddar S, Nierenberg D, Lang S, Wang H, Pires DeMello CP, Gamarra J, Colon A, Kennedy P, Roles J, Klion J, Bogen W, Long C, Guo X, Tighe P, Schmidt S, Shuler ML, Hickman JJ. Microphysiological system to address the opioid crisis: A novel multi-organ model of acute opioid overdose and recovery. Curr Res Toxicol. 2025;8:100209. doi: 10.1016/j.crtox.2024.100209. eCollection 2025. PubMed PMID: 39839141; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11745978.

Caneus J, Autar K, Akanda N, Grillo M, Long CJ, Jackson M, Lindquist S, Guo X, Morgan D, Hickman JJ. Validation of a functional human AD model with four AD therapeutics utilizing patterned ipsc-derived cortical neurons integrated with microelectrode arrays. Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 22;14(1):24875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-73869-9. PubMed PMID: 39438515; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11496884.

Patel A, Williams M, Hawkins K, Gallo L, Grillo M, Akanda N, Guo X, Lambert S, Hickman JJ. Establishment of a Serum-Free Human iPSC-Derived Model of Peripheral Myelination. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2024 Nov 11;10(11):7132-7143. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.4c01431. Epub 2024 Oct 22. PubMed PMID: 39437333; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11558563.

Gallo LH, Akanda N, Autar K, Patel A, Cox I, Powell HA, Grillo M, Barakat N, Morgan D, Guo X, Hickman JJ. A functional aged human iPSC-cortical neuron model recapitulates Alzheimer’s disease, senescence, and the response to therapeutics. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Sep;20(9):5940-5960. doi: 10.1002/alz.14044. Epub 2024 Jul 30. PubMed PMID: 39077965; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11633364.

Rupar MJ, Hanson H, Rogers S, Botlick B, Trimmer S, Hickman JJ. Modelling the innate immune system in microphysiological systems. Lab Chip. 2024 Jul 23;24(15):3604-3625. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00812f. Review. PubMed PMID: 38957150; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11264333.

Caneus J, Autar K, Akanda N, Grillo M, Long C, Jackson M, Lindquist S, Guo X, Morgan D, Hickman JJ. Validation of a functional human AD model with four AD therapeutics utilizing patterned iPSC-derived cortical neurons integrated with microelectrode arrays. Res Sq. 2024 May 20;. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4313679/v1. PubMed PMID: 38826367; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11142300.

Reyes DR, Esch MB, Ewart L, Nasiri R, Herland A, Sung K, Piergiovanni M, Lucchesi C, Shoemaker JT, Vukasinovic J, Nakae H, Hickman J, Pant K, Taylor A, Heinz N, Ashammakhi N. From animal testing to in vitro systems: advancing standardization in microphysiological systems. Lab Chip. 2024 Feb 27;24(5):1076-1087. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00994g. Review. PubMed PMID: 38372151.

2025

Autar K, Guo X, Powell H, Patel A, Malik M, Grillo M, Akanda N, Narasimhan NS, Bogen W, Long C, Ammar RM, Hickman J. Developing a functional non-animal CNS stress model utilizing long-term potentiation with human iPSC-cortical neurons to evaluate therapeutics. Biomed Pharmacother. 2025 Sep 27;192:118556. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2025.118556. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 41016149.

Weber T, Malakpour-Permlid A, Chary A, D’Alessandro V, Haut L, Seufert S, Wenzel EV, Hickman J, Bieback K, Wiest J, Dirks WG, Coecke S, Oredsson S. Fetal bovine serum: how to leave it behind in the pursuit of more reliable science. Front Toxicol. 2025;7:1612903. doi: 10.3389/ftox.2025.1612903. eCollection 2025. Review. PubMed PMID: 40861932; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12371577.

Rupar MJ, Hanson HM, Botlick BL, Sriram N, Rogers S, Zuniga J, Liu Z, Trimmer SJ, Ciurca JM, Long CJ, McAleer CW, Schmidt S, Favuzza P, Lowe P, Gobeau N, Hickman JJ. Translation of a Human-Based Malaria-on-a-Chip Phenotypic Disease Model for In Vivo Applications. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Oct;12(38):e05206. doi: 10.1002/advs.202505206. Epub 2025 Jul 21. PubMed PMID: 40686419; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12520463.

Malik M, Steele SA, Mitra D, Long CJ, Hickman JJ. Trans-epithelial/endothelial electrical resistance (TEER): Current state of integrated TEER measurements in organ-on-a-chip devices. Curr Opin Biomed Eng. 2025 Jun;34. doi: 10.1016/j.cobme.2025.100588. Epub 2025 Mar 19. PubMed PMID: 40276329; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12017418.

Smieszek S, Przychodzen B, Tyner C, Johnson C, Bai H, Kwon JM, Hagan DW, Niccum C, Brighton R, Hawkins K, Aiken R, Nawaz A, Guo X, Hickman J, Polymeropoulos CM, Birznieks G, Polymeropoulos MH. Potential ASO-based personalized treatment for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2S. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2025 Mar 11;36(1):102479. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2025.102479. eCollection 2025 Mar 11. PubMed PMID: 40060931; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11889396.

Marx U, Beken S, Chen Z, Dehne EM, Doherty A, Ewart L, Fitzpatrick SC, Griffith LG, Gu Z, Hartung T, Hickman J, Ingber DE, Ishida S, Jeong J, Leist M, Levin L, Mendrick DL, Pallocca G, Platz S, Raschke M, Smirnova L, Tagle DA, Trapecar M, van Balkom BWM, van den Eijnden-van Raaij J, van der Meer A, Roth A. Biology-inspired dynamic microphysiological system approaches to revolutionize basic research, healthcare and animal welfare. ALTEX. 2025;42(2):204-223. doi: 10.14573/altex.2410112. Epub 2025 Jan 17. PubMed PMID: 39827406.