Principal Investigator
Niren Murthy
nmurthy@berkeley.edu
Dr. Niren Murthy is a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Murthy received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle in Bioengineering in 2001, and then did Postdoctoral research at U.C. Berkeley in Chemistry from 2001-2003. He started his academic career at Georgia Tech in 2003 and in 2012 moved back to U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Murthy’s laboratory is an interdisciplinary laboratory that focuses on the development of new materials for drug delivery and molecular imaging. Murthy laboratory has developed several new biomaterials and imaging agents, such as the maltodextrin based imaging agents, which are focused on improving the treatment and diagnosis of infectious diseases. In addition, Murthy laboratory has developed numerous reagents for detecting radical oxidants, such as the hydrocyanines.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dengpan Liang
liangdengpan@berkeley.edu
PhD: Biopharmaceutics, University of the Pacific
Research focus: My current research focuses on developing the carrier-free siRNA delivery systems with organ specificity, controlled release, and lower side effects. Discovering technology that stabilizes mRNA and improves the protein expression.
Rohit Sharma
rohit.sharma@berkeley.edu
PhD: University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras, San Juan, PR. 2018 (PI, Kai Griebenow)
Postdoctoral Researcher: Comprehensive Cancer Center San Juan, PR. 2019-2021 (PI, Pablo Vivas-Mejia)
Research focus: My research focuses on the in vivo use of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for nucleic acid delivery, with a specific emphasis on the delivery of genome editors. My goal is to optimize the LNP formulations to improve their stability, biodistribution, and target specificity. I am interested in developing strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of LNP to make them easier to use in gene therapy.
Hesong Han
hanhesong@berkeley.edu
PhD: Molecular and Genetics biology, 2017
Research focus: My research aims to address challenges in delivering therapeutic and genetic materials more effectively by leveraging lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology. By advancing LNP design, formulation techniques, and integrating AI and machine learning, my goal is to enhance the safe and efficient delivery of drugs, DNA, RNA, and gene editing tools.
Kundansingh Pardeshi
kapardeshi@berkeley.edu
PhD: Medicinal Chemistry, (PI. Prof. Harinath Chakrapani), IISER Pune
Research focus: My current research work in Prof. Murthy’s lab is focused on development of efficient and promising methods for the delivery of mRNA, siRNA, Antisense oligonucleotides and Proteins. Also, I have keen interest in developing the therapeutics for infectious diseases.
Atip Lawanprasert
atip@berkeley.edu
PhD: Bioengineering, Pennsylvania State University – University Park
Research focus: My current research focuses on improving AAV vectors for gene delivery through a variety of approaches, including targeted delivery, controlled release and manufacturing.
Frank HP Truong
hptruong@berkeley.edu
PhD: Materials – University of California, Santa Barbara
Research focus: My research focuses on engineering DNA materials for the delivery of proteins, mRNA, and nanoparticles.
Ruxing Fu
ruxingfu24@berkeley.edu
PhD: Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Research focus: My research focuses on the development of bio responsive drug delivery systems, including nano/microparticles and devices, based on macromolecules. These systems can be activated by physiological stimuli and release drugs with higher spatial-temporal precision.
Srijani Sarkar
sarkarsrijani@berkeley.edu
PhD: Bioorganic Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University
Research Focus: My research goals are to advance mRNA and antisense oligonucleotides (ASO)-based drug development by addressing their existing delivery, stability, and toxicity challenges. I am incorporating chemical modifications in mRNA to improve their stability and modifying lipid-based formulations to increase their delivery with minimal toxicity.
Mateusz Krzyscik
mkrzyscik@berkeley.edu
PhD: Molecular biology, University of Wroclaw
Research Focus: My work focuses on lipid nanoparticle (LNP) decoration, as well as the engineering and bioconjugation of nanobodies, RTK ligands, and base editor proteins, to enable highly specific editing of immune cells and targeted anticancer activity.
Yejun Liu
yejun@berkeley.edu
PhD: Chemical Biology, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Research Focus: My research focuses on the development of selective drug delivery systems through LNP decoration.
Kentaro Hatanaka
kentaro.hatanaka@berkeley.edu
Visiting Scholar from Kyowa Kirin
PhD: Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka
Research Focus: My research focuses on developing tissue-targeted LNP for therapeutic genome editing. I aim to engineer next-generation delivery vehicles that overcome physiological barriers to achieve efficient and precise in vivo gene therapy.
Graduate Students
Albert Liu
Graduate Student, Bioengineering
Research focus: Developing new lipid nanoparticle mRNA delivery vectors that are non-immunogenic and can be injected into patients multiple times.
Undergraduate students
Stacy Widyono
Undergraduate Student, Bioengineering
Research focus: My research involves creating and enhancing formulations of solid lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of mRNA, for both in vitro and in vivo therapeutic applications.
Alumni
| Name | Time | Position | Current Position |
| Teena Bajaj | 2018-2024 | Ph.D. Student | Postdoctoral Fellow,UC San Fransisco |
| Dayna Chowdhury | 2022-2024 | Master Student | |
| Yumiao Zhang | 2016-2018 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Professor, Tianjin University |
| Corinne Sadlowski | 2015-2017 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Scientist, R2M Pharma, Inc. |
| Abhinav Acharya | 2012-2015 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Assistant Professor, Arizona State University |
| Jingtuo Zhang | 2015-2017 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Scientist, PaxVax Inc, |
| Bora Park | 2015-2017 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Research Scientist, Impossible Food Inc. |
| Subhamoy Das | 2016-2017 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University |
| Kunwoo Lee | 2011-2016 | Ph.D. Student | CEO of GenEdit |
| Vanessa Mackley | 2016-2017 | Master Student | GenEdit |
| Xiaojian Wang | 2013-2016 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Faculty at Nanjing Tech University |
| Giri K. Vegesna | 2015-2016 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Scientist, Profusa Inc |
| Mike Webb | 2013-2014 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Faculty at Montana State University |
| Kiana Aran | 2012-2018 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Assistant Professor, University of San Diego |
| Carlo Lo Sterzo | 2013- | Postdoctoral Fellow | |
| Xinghai Ning | 2008- | Postdoctoral Fellow | Faculty at Nanjing University |
| Mikhail Zibinsky | 2012-2014 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Scientist, Flexus Biosciences |
| Jianping Zheng | 2013 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Postdoctoral Fellow, Dophen Biomed |
| Kousik Kundu | 2007-2011 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Senior Scientist, LI-COR Biosciences |
| Madhuri Dasari | 2005-2011 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Jason Lee | 2008-2011 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Research Scientist, Kimberly-Clark |
| John Perng | 2008-2011 | Ph.D. Student | Research Scientist, Siemens |
| Scott Wilson | 2006-2011 | Ph.D. Student | Professor, John Hopkins School of Medicine |
| Khalilah Reddie | 2009-2011 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Lecturer, UMass-Lowell |
| Dongin Kim | 2008-2010 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Prof of university of Texas A&M |
| Jay C. Sy | 2006-2010 | Ph.D. Student | Faculty at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey |
| Yash Kolambkar | 2010 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Tech |
| Alex Cooper | 2010 | Undergraduate | Georgia Tech |
| Chen-Yu Kao | 2007-2009 | Ph.D. Student | Assistant Professor of BME, Taiwan National University of Engineering |
| Sungmun Lee | 2005-2009 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Khalifa University (UAE) |
| Mike Heffernan | 2003-2008 | Ph.D. Student | Postdoctoral Fellow, NIH | Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine |
| Dongwon Lee | 2006-2008 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Professor of Material Science, Chonbuk University |
| Stephen Yang | 2003-2008 | Ph.D. Student | Research Scientist, Merck |
| Siraj Khaja | 2005-2007 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Research Scientist, Cambridge Pharmaceuticals |