Murthy Lab at UC Berkeley

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Members

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.

 

Hema Choudhary
hema994@berkeley.edu

PhD: University of Maryland College Park, USA
Joined Murthy group: August 2022

Research focus: I am developing polymer nanoparticles for mRNA delivery. I am also fabricating new microfluidic devices to make smaller lipid nanoparticles and microgels for encapsulating and delivering large biomolecules.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Sheng Zhao

sheng-zhao@berkeley.edu

PhD:Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University

Research focus: My current research focuses on developing new molecules and materials for mRNA stabilization and drug delivery overcoming anti-infectious or anti-viral.

 

 

 

     Yalin Qi

yalinqi@berkeley.edu

PhD: School of life science, Nanjing University 2022, China

Research focus: My main emphasis is on advancing the field of mRNA delivery through the development of polymer and polypeptide nanoparticles. Additionally, I am actively investigating RNA ligations to enhance our understanding in this area.

 

  Babak Mosavati                                       

   bmosavati@berkeley.edu

 PhD : Florida Atlantic University

  Research focus: My research focused on Deep learning/AI  for drug discovery and microfluidic devices for drug delivery.

 

 

 

 

        Atip Lawanprasert
        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.

 

 

 

 

Graduate Students

Teena Bajaj
bajajtiya@berkeley.edu

M.S: Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences

Research focus: My current research work is discovering the drugs against essential proteins of SARS-CoV-2 (PLpro and Nsp15). Besides this, I am also working on using site-specific fusion proteins to deliver drugs.

 

 

 

 

Danya Chowdhury

B.S: University of Maryland, College Park (2019)

Graduate Student, Bioengineering
Research focus: My research focuses on screening libraries of LNPs in vitro to target specific cell types such as HSPCs and primary T cells.

 

 

 

 

Albert Liu

Graduate Student, Bioengineering
Research focus:Research focus: Developing new lipid nanoparticle mRNA delivery vectors that are non-immunogenic and can be injected into patients multiple times.

 

 

 

Undergraduate student

 

Rushil Desai 

Undergraduate Student:   bioengineering.

Research focus: My research involves using recombinant protein purification to generate site-specific fusion proteins and use those to transfect cells and deliver drugs.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Dimple Amitha Garuadapuri
Undergraduate Student: Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Research Focus: My research involves organic chemistry synthesis, including synthesizing polymer nanoparticles for applications in mRNA and protein-based drug delivery systems.

Alumni

Name Time Position Current Position
Yumiao Zhang  2016-2018  Postdoctoral Fellow  Professor, Tianjin University
Chad Altobelli 2017-2018 B.S. Student  Undergraduate researcher, Nomura lab
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- Postdoctoral Fellow  Assistant Professor, University of San Diego
HyunJin Kim Postdoctoral Fellow
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