About Us
Chief's Message
- Message from the Chief
Meet the Team
Conditions & Procedures
Patient Center
Transplant Experiences
- Patient Stories
Kidney Transplant
- New Patient Information and Forms
- Patient Referrals
Liver Transplant
- New Patient Information & Forms
- Liver Transplant Handbook
- Patient Referrals
Resources
- Helpful Links
- Organ Donation
- UCTV Transplant Videos
Clinics
UCSF Medical Center
- Kidney Transplant
- Liver Transplant
- Pancreas Transplant
Benioff Children's Hospital
- Kidney Transplant
- Liver Transplant
Other Locations
- Liver Transplant
- Kidney Transplant
Education & Training
Research
News & Events
Shuvo Roy, Ph.D.
- Professor, Departments of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences and Surgery
- UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine
- Engineering Lead, Surgical Innovations Program
- Director, Biodesign Laboratory
- UCSF Faculty Director, UC Berkeley-UCSF Master of Translational Medicine (MTM) Program
- Technical Director, The Kidney Project
Contact Information
Education
PhD, Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, Case Western Reserve University, 2001
MS, Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, Case Western Reserve University, 1995
BS, Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science, Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, 1992
Biography
Shuvo Roy, PhD, is a bioengineer focusing on the development of medical devices to address unmet clinical needs through strong collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach.
Dr. Roy is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, and is a faculty affiliate of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). He is the director of the Biodesign Laboratory located on the Mission Bay campus. In addition, he serves as the Technical Director of The Kidney Project and is a founding member of the UCSF Pediatric Device Consortium. He has developed and currently teaches a course on medical devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics and regularly lectures on the medical device design process to UCSF graduate students and to national and international academic and industry audiences. He is the author of more than 100 publications and co-author of three book chapters, and holds multiple patents for device developments.
Before joining UCSF in 2008, Roy co-directed the BioMEMS Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, focusing on clinical applications of MEMS. In 1992 he earned a BS degree, magna cum laude, for triple majors in physics, mathematics, and computer science, from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. In 1995, he earned an MS in electrical engineering and applied physics and, in 2001, he earned a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science, both from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
He is the recipient of a Top 40 under 40 award by Crain's Cleveland Business in 1999 and the Clinical Translation Award at the 2nd Annual BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology World 2001 meeting. In 2003, Dr. Roy was selected as a recipient of the TR100, which features the world's 100 Top Young Innovators as selected by Technology Review, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Magazine of Innovation. In 2004, he was presented with a NASA Group Achievement Award for his work on harsh environment MEMS.
In 2005, Dr. Roy was named as a Who's Who in Biotechnology by Crain's Cleveland Business. In 2005 and 2007, he was recognized as a Cleveland Clinic Innovator. In 2009, he was nominated for the Biotechnology Industry Organization's Biotech Humanitarian Award, which is given in recognition of an individual who has used biotechnology to unlock its potential to improve the earth.
In 2012, he was presented the Rising Star Award by BayBio Pantheon, and in that same year, he received the Innovation Pathway 2.0 Award from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most recently, he was recognized as a Fellow by the Applied Innovation Institute in 2013.
Related Links
An Implantable Artificial Kidney: Interview with UCSF's Dr. Shuvo Roy
Improving Health By Our Own Devices (November 26, 2012)
Artificial Kidney Project at UCSF Receives $3 Million in New Funding (October 1, 2012)
New Technology to Improve Patient Care Highlighted at Dreamforce 2012 (September 24, 2012)
Health Care Game Changers to Address Dreamforce Conference (September 5, 2012)
Web-Enabled Bathroom Scale Could Monitor Heart Failure from Home (August 7, 2012)
UCSF Artificial Kidney Project Tapped for Accelerated FDA Program (April 9, 2012)
UCSF Consortium Collaborates to Invent Medical Devices for Children (November 1, 2011)
QB3 Signs Agreement to Accelerate Innovation (October 26, 2011)
Awards & Honors
Award
Confired By
Date
Research Overview
Chronic kidney failure threatens about half a million people in the U.S. alone. Donated kidneys can restore health, but they are in are in short supply. As a result, some 350,000 people with failing kidneys are tethered to dialysis machines several days a week – a tiring, uncomfortable and expensive treatment, and one that falls far short of performing a normal kidney's functions. Shuvo Roy, a professor in the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, and his colleagues are developing an implantable, fully functional artificial kidney.
Research projects include:
- Development of an artificial kidney
- Development of an intravascular bioreactor for islet therapy in Type 1 diabetes patients
- Investigation into covalent attachment of self-assembled monolayer films to enhance biocompatibility of implanted devices
- Resorbable electronics for tissue monitoring and stimulation, and dataloggers for patient monitoring
- Development of compact hemofilters for renal replacement therapy
- Wireless sensing systems for load measurement
- Focused ultrasound transducers for minimally invasive imaging and therapy
Research & Funding
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
- Biodevice Innovation Training ProgramSponsor: NIH/NIBIBSponsor ID: R25EB023856Funding Period:May 2017-Apr 2022Co-Principal Investigator
- Implantable Bio-Artificial Pancreas (iBAP)Sponsor: NIH/NIBIBSponsor ID: U01EB025136Funding Period:Sep 2017-Jun 2020Principal Investigator
- Building an Implantable Artificial KidneySponsor: NIH/NIBIBSponsor ID: U01EB021214Funding Period:Sep 2015-Jun 2019Principal Investigator
- Biocompatibility of Implantable Renal Replacement DevicesSponsor: NIH/NIBIBSponsor ID: R01EB014315Funding Period:May 2012-Apr 2016Principal Investigator
- Miniaturized Implantable Renal Assist Device for Total Renal Replacement TherapySponsor: NIH/NIBIBSponsor ID: R01EB008049Funding Period:Sep 2007-Aug 2011Principal Investigator
- Microneedle Array for Catheter Drug DeliverySponsor: NIH/NIBIBSponsor ID: R21EB003272Funding Period:Sep 2003-Aug 2006Principal Investigator
Clinical Trials
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
- Study ID: NCT03241667Start Date: Jul 2019Estimated Completion Date: Jun 2020Condition(s): End Stage Renal Disease
Publications
MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 118
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
- Wilson L, Gress AF, Frassetto L, Sarathy H, Gress EA, Fissell WH, Roy S. Patient Preference Trade-offs for Next-Generation Kidney Replacement Therapies. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2023 Oct 06. View in PubMed
- Moyer J, Wilson MW, Sorrentino TA, Santandreu A, Chen C, Hu D, Kerdok A, Porock E, Wright N, Ly J, Blaha C, Frassetto LA, Fissell WH, Vartanian SM, Roy S. Renal Embolization-Induced Uremic Swine Model for Assessment of Next-Generation Implantable Hemodialyzers. Toxins (Basel). 2023 09 04; 15(9). View in PubMed
- Kim EJ, Chen C, Gologorsky R, Santandreu A, Torres A, Wright N, Goodin MS, Moyer J, Chui BW, Blaha C, Brakeman P, Vartanian S, Tang Q, David Humes H, Fissell WH, Roy S. Feasibility of an implantable bioreactor for renal cell therapy using silicon nanopore membranes. Nat Commun. 2023 08 29; 14(1):4890. View in PubMed
- Santandreu AG, Taheri-Tehrani P, Feinberg B, Torres A, Blaha C, Shaheen R, Moyer J, Wright N, Szot GL, Fissell WH, Vartanian S, Posselt A, Roy S. Characterization of human islet function in a convection-driven intravascular bioartificial pancreas. Bioeng Transl Med. 2023 Mar; 8(2):e10444. View in PubMed
- Blauvelt DG, Chui BW, Higgins NC, Baltazar FJ, Roy S. Silicon membranes for extracorporeal life support: a comparison of design and fabrication methodologies. Biomed Microdevices. 2022 12 06; 25(1):2. View in PubMed
- View All Publications
In the News
- Nature News Feature - - March 17, 2020Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, have bypassed external devices and instead focused on developing a kidney prototype that they hope will one day be surgically implanted into a patient's body. It wouldn't require a pump because it would be attached to key arteries and powered by blood pressure, says Vanderbilt nephrologist William Fissell, who co-directs the research with UCSF's Shuvo Roy.
- UCSF Surgical Innovations Program - - December 16, 2019The Kidney Project, a national effort to develop an implantable bioartificial kidney that could eliminate the need for dialysis, announced a key milestone in a November 7 presentation at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2019 conference in Washington, DC. The project team reported that UC San Francisco scientists successfully implanted a prototype kidney bioreactor containing functional human kidney cells in large animals without significant safety concerns. The device, which is [...]
- UCSF School of Pharmacy - - May 02, 2019As one of 15 inaugural winners of the KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Phase I competition, announced April 29, 2019 in Washington DC, a team led by UCSF's Shuvo Roy, PhD, and VUMC nephrologist William Fissell, MD, will receive $75,000 to accelerate the development of their proposed implantable dialysis device. More importantly, they will work closely with leadership of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicare, and HHS to accelerate the translation of their concept into a patient-ready [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations Program - - August 31, 2018Michael Harrison, MD, Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Shuvo Roy, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF, and James Wall, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Stanford University have been awarded a five-year $6.7 million Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) P50 grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The UCSF-Stanford PDC is one of [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations - - June 18, 2018UCSF Surgical Innovations and San Francisco-based medical device developer TheraNova have formed a partnership that will allow for co-development of medical device technologies between them. UCSF innovators will now have a streamlined mechanism to collaborate with TheraNova engineers, which will help speed commercialization of products. The agreement formalizes a longstanding collaborative relationship between Surgical Innovations and TheraNova, providing access to the respective expertise and [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations - - June 06, 2018Academic hospitals have all the makings for rich medical device development. They have physicians to identify surgical needs, researchers to test theories, bioengineers to design and create devices and patients to participate in clinical trials. However, the disconnect between engineering and surgical departments makes innovation a challenge. So does surgeons' all-consuming job Number One—treating patients. Providing the Infrastructure for Surgeons to Innovate Surgical Innovations, part of [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations - - May 22, 2018On May 17, the Second Annual UCSF Engineering for Children's Health Symposium was held at Mission Bay Conference Center. Over one hundred clinicians, engineers, scientists, administrators, industry professionals, and government partners gathered to discuss groundbreaking research and developing technologies in pediatric medicine. The event commenced with opening remarks by Hanmin Lee, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief of the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals and Professor and Chief of the UCSF Division [...]
- UCSF School of Pharmacy - - February 25, 2018Kidney failure is a debilitating and ultimately deadly illness, and a health policy crisis. With 468,000 people on dialysis in the U.S., costing the government $31 billion dollars a year, very little money is spent on researching alternatives to current treatments. Wired magazine's Megan Molteni visited Shuvo Roy, PhD, to check in on the progress of the implantable artificial kidney, which has been in the works for more than 20 years. Roy is a faculty member in the Department of [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations Program - - October 05, 2017At the heart of the UC Berkeley-UCSF Master of Translational Medicine (MTM) program is a hands-on capstone project, where student teams work on developing medical technologies from idea to bedside. Three Surgical Innovations Accelerator projects from the Spring 2017 cycle have been selected to participate in the program this year: Percutaneous AV Fistula, Tracheostomy Alarm, and Augmented Surgical Vision, adding to a lengthy list of Surgical Innovations (SI) projects that have hosted MTM [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations Program - - September 29, 2017The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), one of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded bioengineering professor Shuvo Roy, PhD, a three-year, $2.4 million grant to develop a bioartificial pancreas for treatment of Type 1 Diabetes. The project is a collaboration between the Department of Surgery, Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, and Diabetes Center at UCSF. Co-investigators include: Tejal Desai, PhD - Department of [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations Program - - May 31, 2017The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has awarded the UCSF Department of Surgery a five-year interdisciplinary R25 research education grant for its Biodevice Innovation Training Program. The grant will fund up to two surgical residents each year with an interest in pursuing translational medicine, medical device development, and entrepreneurship during their dedicated research years. The Biodevice Innovation Training Program is led by Professors Hanmin Lee, MD, [...]
- UCSF Surgical Innovations Program - - November 06, 2015UCSF News reports on the latest developments in the quest to create a surgically implantable artificial kidney and the award of a $6 million NIH grant to a research team led by Shuvo Roy, Ph.D., Professor of Bioengineering & Surgery, Director of the Biodesign Laboratory at Mission Bay, and Engineering Director of the UCSF Surgical Innovations Program, and Vanderbilt University nephrologist William Fissell, MD. Development of a surgically implantable, artificial kidney – a promising [...]