Meet the Doctor Building Tiny Tools for Big Science Breakthroughs: UCLA's Steven Jonas on Nanotechnology, Pediatric Cancer, and the Future of Cell and Gene Therapy
核心洞察
Dr. Steven J. Jonas (搜索), a UCLA physician-scientist with dual M.D./Ph.D. training, bridges medicine, materials science, and nanotechnology to develop novel tools for treating pediatric cancers and blood disorders.
Jonas runs a laboratory using nanotechnology to create tools that operate at the level of biological switches and motors, enabling observation and correction of disease processes at the molecular scale.
He highlights that while the overall childhood cancer success rate is approximately 85%, roughly 15% of children do not respond to frontline therapy, underscoring the urgent need for new approaches.
At the intersection of clinical medicine, materials science, and nanotechnology, Dr. Steven J. Jonas (搜索) is building what he describes as "tiny tools for big science breakthroughs." An assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Jonas holds both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering — a dual qualification that positions him uniquely to translate between the languages of clinicians, scientists, and engineers.
As a physician-scientist and associate program director of UCLA's Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Jonas treats children with blood disorders and various cancers while simultaneously running a laboratory focused on nanotechnology applications for cancer and other diseases. He is also a member of the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (搜索), the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA (搜索), and the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA (搜索).
Nanotechnology as a Clinical Toolkit
Jonas describes nanotechnology as the process of shrinking materials down to create tools that function at the scale of the biological machinery governing human health. "Everything in the universe is made out of stuff, whether it's the computers we use or even the chairs we sit on. In nanotechnology, we shrink that 'stuff' down to create tools that operate at the level of the biological switches and motors that help our bodies perform," Jonas explained. "So if you come up with a screwdriver or magnifying glass to observe and correct a disease process at that level, then you have a new toolkit."
He likens the approach to the Marvel character Ant-Man, noting that shrinking down to a minuscule scale enables one to "beat the Hulk" — a metaphor for tackling formidable diseases through molecular-level intervention.
The Unmet Need in Pediatric Oncology
Jonas underscored the persistent challenges in childhood cancer treatment. "The overall success rate for beating childhood cancer today is about 85%, but that means about 15% of those kids do not get our best shot up front," he said. This gap drives his laboratory's focus on developing new disease-fighting tools and his commitment to empowering families navigating uncertainty. "When you grow close to a patient who ultimately does not make it, you think about those relationships and how you can better enable them to have some quality of life despite their illness."
Making Advanced Therapies Accessible and Affordable
A central theme of Jonas's work is addressing the cost and accessibility barriers associated with cutting-edge therapies. He pointed to recently approved sickle-cell gene therapy as an example: "We are now treating patients using sickle-cell gene therapy that was approved a couple of years ago, but it still costs a lot of money to engineer the cell product for that. And while it is an amazing intervention, it comes at an astronomical expense."
Jonas envisions a future where technology-driven interventions like cell and gene therapy manufacturing become broadly accessible — not only at major academic medical centers like UCLA but also at county hospitals and in rural communities. "We look to future physician-engineers who can tackle these accessibility and equity challenges," he said.
Training the Next Generation
Beyond his own research, Jonas draws inspiration from his students and trainees. He highlighted an undergraduate trainee recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship who plans to establish Ethiopia's first pediatric cancer (搜索) registry — an initiative the student conceived independently based on his clinical exposure. "It's exciting, especially because he came up with the idea on his own, based on what he saw spending time with me. And that is why I do this job," Jonas said.
A Collaborative Ecosystem at UCLA
Jonas credits UCLA's collaborative environment as essential to his work. "This campus is a vortex of collaboration, so if you love to surf those interfaces and think outside the box, this place is for you. And so far, I have not had anyone say 'no' to one of my crazy ideas," he remarked.
When asked how he hopes his work changes the world, Jonas returned to the theme of incremental yet meaningful impact: "I hope we can make a contribution — even a tiny, nanosized one — to helping our clinicians and researchers probe and understand childhood diseases more deeply. And hopefully, those discoveries impact the care of our kids."