Empowering Professionals Profile of Dr. Patricia A. Broderick
The brain is a living miracle, but we’re getting closer to understanding the brain, both biologically and chemically, thanks to remarkable advances by dedicated, innovative and open-minded scientists like Dr. Patricia Broderick.
Dr. Broderick is a Medical Professor in Molecular Cellular and Biomedical science at The City University of New York School of Medicine and has served as Adjunct Professor in Neurology at NYU-Langone Medical Center. She is also Founder of Eazysense Nanotechnologies Inc.
Dr, Broderick has invented, patented and trademarked a revolutionary technology The BRODERICK PROBE® that will change the face of science and medicine.
Dr. Broderick has spent a career working on neurodegenerative diseases like epilepsy, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as well as biopsychiatric conditions like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders.
EP: What inspired The BRODERICK PROBE®? Where does an idea like this come from?
Dr. Broderick: I study the brain. I wanted to explore the neurotransmitters of the brain in their natural state and compare the differences in neurochemistry with a brain disorder we would want to heal.
EP: How does the BRODERICK PROBE® work?
Dr. Broderick: Our brains have something called neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, which indicate all manner of information regarding the health of our brain.
So the question becomes “How do we observe the chemistry of the brain without opening the brain?”
The BRODERICK PROBE is a photosensitive, electro-active polymer sensing device that converts photonic energy into electrochemical energy, so we can live-image and video track in real-time the release of neurotransmitters in neuropsychiatric, neurodegenerative diseases. With this technology, we will be able to see neurotransmitters as they are actually released in real time on the computer or even a mobile device.
Without opening the brain, the device provides significant insights for diseases like epilepsy, stoke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
EP: Has it always been your intention to be able to communicate complex ideas to regular people?
Dr. Broderick: This just comes to me. When I’m talking with a person who is in the field, knows the art, then I will speak in a different fashion, yet very naturally. You see, I direct my thoughts toward the person’s needs and bring the person’s mind to a more sophisticated level, yet again very naturally. That’s why, for example, my innovative approachable, yet effective style, of teaching brings me right now teaching physician’s assistants at the same time as teaching 200 freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors all together in a medical school course called
“Science for Non-Science Majors.” Interestingly, I’ve converted this course into “The Neuropsychology of Drug Abuse and Addiction” and the course has attracted all subtypes of majors as well as science majors including medical students.
EP: It serves you well. You’re not only employed at a teaching hospital, but you’re also out there trying to seek investment in this revolutionary technology.
Dr. Broderick: That’s exactly right. There’s a book called Restoring Eden, and in that book I found a sentence that was absolutely what I live by: “The material creation is a fundamental of our worth.” In other words, what we create is who we are.
EP: In what way is the technology that you’re working on with Eazysense a reflection of who you are?
Dr. Broderick: Eazysense Nanotechnologies is about marketing my fundamental work. This is my material creation and it has been my work all my life. I’m creating a way to reach people’s minds.
EP: You’re not just coming up with ideas for the future, you’re actively pursuing how we can go from point A to point Z and create a future.
Dr. Broderick: That’s exactly right. The key word is the implementation.
EP: Was the patent process difficult?
Dr. Broderick: I’ve done it many, many times. All of the patent attorneys want me to work directly right with them. We have always had a marvelous relationship. I really enjoy the whole process. In fact, I plan to take the patent law test online and become a
patent agent.
EP: It’s a long, arduous process to go from a brilliant idea to something you can hold it in your hand, let alone seeing physicians use it one day. When you first had this idea, were you aware it was going to take the next 15-20 years of your life?
Dr. Broderick: Yes, I did know and have always known the inherent value of the BRODERICK
PROBE®. What I did not do, is to assume my rising stature in the scientific world globally in simply doing what I consider such a natural way to heal the suffering of the diseased brain. I did not think of myself as so unique as it really is and this part of myself is fascinating to me, entirely fascinating. You see, the entire process of development, patents to applications is so wholly integrated in my mind. I was surprised how easily I have found it to have already had the experience of standing right next to a neurosurgeon explaining exactly what do to, where
to do it, how to handle the sensor that’s smaller than a human hair and where to put it. It’s a fabulous feeling that I have come to in its realization. Again, it is fascinating to me that I find it so natural and appealing.
EP: I understand you will be a keynote speaker in Stockholm, Sweden at Nanotech 2018 this September. What is this event? What will you be speaking about?
Dr. Broderick: Officially it is the 30th Annual Congress on Nanotechnology & Nanomaterials. This year our theme is “Modern Solutions for a Healthier Planet.” Being asked to give a Keynote Speech to the scientists in the world of sensors and sensing the brain as an expert at the home of the Nobel Award, Stockholm, Sweden is an honor I had not anticipated at all! I was simply praying my work would be accepted as I always pray.
EP: You have also been recently honored by the Bronx Times Reporter for its 9th Annual 25 Bronx Influential Women Awards. What does that mean to you as someone who has dedicated their life to education?
Dr. Broderick: As Jesus says, the prophet is never known in his own town and the prophet should then “shake the sand from his sandals and move to another place who will support his prophecy.” The award that the Bronx Times Reporter has kindly given to me shows that the prophet happily is accepted and admired not only in the global world but in her own town! And that the struggle, the difficult yet wondrous journey, the evolution, from in vivo electrochemistry in the brain to its inventive form as “Neuromolecular Imaging” and further to my inventive “Voltaic Photonics” has been worth it.