When Louis DeRidder was 12, he had a medical emergency that nearly cost him his life, giving him an intimate view of medical care and sparking a deep curiosity to learn more.

“You can't always pinpoint exactly what sparks your interest, but that moment was a turning point for me,” DeRidder recalls.

In high school, he seized an opportunity to join a medicine-focused program, spending much of his senior year learning about medical science and shadowing doctors.

His fascination grew, especially in the realm of medical technologies, particularly how drugs are delivered to the brain. This curiosity evolved into a lifelong passion.

“As a 17-year-old in high school, I was fascinated by the problem of drug delivery to the brain. A decade later, it's still something that fascinates me,” he says. “That’s what led me to the field of drug delivery.”

DeRidder’s passion drove him to transfer to Johns Hopkins University mid-way through his undergraduate studies, where he conducted research he proposed for the Goldwater Scholarship. His project focused on developing a nanoparticle-drug conjugate to deliver a drug to brain cells, transforming them from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state—a technology that could have significant implications for treating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

In 2019, DeRidder joined the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, where he began a new drug delivery project. He developed a device that monitors the concentration of chemotherapy drugs in the blood during administration and adjusts the infusion rate for optimal patient levels. This system, known as CLAUDIA (Closed-Loop Automated Drug Infusion Regulator), can personalize drug dosing across different drugs.

The idea for the project came after discussions with his advisors, Robert Langer and Giovanni Traverso, who revealed that chemotherapy dosing still relies on a formula from 1916, which calculates a patient’s dosage based solely on body surface area. The formula doesn’t account for factors such as body composition, metabolism, or circadian rhythms, all of which influence how a drug is processed by the body.

DeRidder was astounded. “Once they told me how chemotherapies are dosed, I thought, ‘This is insane. How is this still the standard?’”

That insight led to the idea for his PhD project. “Starting with a blank slate and brainstorming the best solution is something I love,” he says.

From the beginning, MATLAB and Simulink from MathWorks were integral to his research process.

“MathWorks and Simulink are essential to what we do,” DeRidder explains. “They allow us to model how drugs behave in the body and simulate components of our system. Early on, we used these tools to determine whether controlling drug concentration was even feasible, and we've been refining the control algorithm ever since.”

DeRidder’s innovative use of these tools earned him MathWorks fellowships in both the previous and current years. He has also received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

“The fellowships have been vital in advancing CLAUDIA’s development,” he says. “I’ve had the privilege of working with an incredible team of students and researchers.”

He is committed to bringing CLAUDIA into clinical use, where he believes it could make a substantial impact. “I'm very interested in taking it to the clinic, and potentially helping to launch a company to commercialize it,” he adds.

In addition to CLAUDIA, DeRidder is working on new nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic nucleic acids. This project involves creating novel nucleic acid molecules and designing polymeric and lipid nanoparticles for targeted delivery to specific tissues and cells.

He enjoys working across different scales, from medical devices to molecular therapies, all aimed at improving medical practice.

Despite his demanding schedule, DeRidder makes time for community service, spending the past three years helping the homeless in Boston.

“It’s easy to get lost in research and forget the simple ways we can serve others,” DeRidder says. “That's why I seek out opportunities to help, whether it's mentoring students in the lab, assisting the homeless, or simply helping someone in need.”

Ultimately, DeRidder plans to focus on developing devices and therapies for neurological diseases, building on his early experiences working with patients with dementia and other neurological conditions at a nursing home.

“My long-term goal is to continue working on cancer treatment while also developing solutions for neurological diseases,” he says. “That early exposure to the medical field had a huge impact on me.”

Source: https://news.mit.edu/2025/better-way-deliver-drugs-louis-deridder-0304