Principal Investigator
N
iren 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
Tara deBoer
tdeboer@berkeley.edu
Dr. Tara deBoer received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz in June of 2015 and joined the Murthy group in August of 2015. Her thesis work focused on the synthesis of metal-based therapeutics and the design of modular systems to explore the biochemistry of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species. Her current research focuses in the Murthy group include (1) the synthesis of hyperpolarized MRI contrast agents and (2) the design of innovative drug delivery vehicles for the delivery of RNA-directed nuclease system CRISPR-Cas9 as a potential gene therapy option.
Maomao He
mmhe1989@berkeley.edu
Maomao obtained his Ph.D. from School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University in 2015, where he completed the total synthesis of a series of amaryllidaceae and erythrina alkaloids. After his Ph.D., he did his postdoctoral research at University of Georgia School of Pharmacy, focusing on the development of chemical probes and strategies to investigate the epigenetic functions of lysine acetyltransferases. He then joined Professor Murthy’s lab in the Spring of 2018 as a postdoctoral scientist and is currently working on developing new molecules and materials for molecular imaging and drug delivery.
Jie Li
lijiesteve@berkeley.edu
2010 Bachelor of Science, Chemistry, Nankai University
2010 Bachelor of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University
2015 PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
My current research focuses on DNA-free genome editing using non viral vector for intracellular delivery of Cas9-RNP.
My previous research interest at City of Hope focused on nanoparticle/neural stem cell hybrids for targeted tumor therapy. Specifically, paclitaxel nanocrystal was encapsulated with a thin layer of silica and loaded into neural stem cells with excellent tumor tropism for ovarian cancer treatment. I’m also developing nanoparticles targeting tumor associated macrophages to deliver potential immunotherapeutics to tumor microenvironment.
My previous research interests at UCLA focused on biomacromolecules delivery based on synthetic materials. Specifically, in-situ polymerization of proteins, DNAs, gold nanoparticles for intracellular delivery and long drug circulation. Also, organic-inorganic composite bearing bioactive functions were explored, particular, enzyme nanocapules as building blocks for highly bioactive and stable silica composite synthesis.
Kyle Giesler
kgiesle@berkeley.edu
Kyle received his PhD in medicinal chemistry from Emory University in 2017 under the mentorship of Dennis C. Liotta, a world-renown leader in academic drug discovery. During his time at Emory, Kyle designed novel prodrug strategies for tenofovir and other antiviral nucleoside analogues that rivals well-accepted prodrug strategies currently used in the clinic. From 2015-2017, Kyle interned with the former Senior Vice President and Chief Patent Counsel at GlaxoSmithKline, Ms. Sherry Knowles. He joined the Murthy group in 2018 with an eye on protein delivery and high risk drug discovery ventures to develop cutting edge therapies for the treatment of human disease.
Graduate Students
Joachim Justad Roise
joroei@berkeley.edu
Joachim was born in Drammen, Norway, and earned his B.Sc. in Chemistry at the University of Oslo, where he worked with monolithic HPLC columns under Prof. Elsa Lundanes. After graduating, he decided to continue his education someplace warmer, and joined the Murthy lab at Berkeley in Fall 2015. He is currently starting up his research on Cas9 delivery.
Jeremy Adams
jdadam19@berkeley.edu
Jeremy Adams is a Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He received a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University in May 2017, where he did undergraduate research in the field of protein engineering under Prof. Brent Nannenga. Jeremy joined the Murthy Lab in January 2018 and is currently working on developing intracellular protein delivery methods as well as enzyme-based signal amplification strategies for point-of-care diagnostics. In his free time, he enjoys water sports and travelling.
Undergraduates
Lucas Kerr
lucaskerr@berkeley.edu
Lucas Kerr is a third year Chemical Biology undergraduate student working with Corinne Sadlowski, and joined in the spring of 2017. He is currently working on proflavine synthesis derivatives.
Alumni
| Name | Time | Position | Current Position |
| 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 | 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 | Faculty at KGI Insititute |
| 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 | Postdoctoral Fellow, EPFL |
| Khalilah Reddie | 2009-2011 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Lecturer, UMass-Lowell |
| Dongin Kim | 2008-2010 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale |
| 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 | Assistant 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 | Assistant 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 |