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. 

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