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.
Hesong Han
hanhesong@berkeley.edu
I graduated Nov. 2017 with a Ph.D. in Molecular and Genetics biology. I am currently a postdoc in UC Berkeley. I am working on several different projects, from protein evolution to drug screening. Most of my work is based on cell biology and animal model.
I-Che Li
icheli@berkeley.edu
I-Che received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rice University in 2018. He studied self-assembly of multidomain peptides and collagen triple helices. He joined the Murthy group in 2018 summer and started his current research, including delivery of RNA and regulation of RNA functions. He is also developing a method to synthesize ribonucleic acid (RNA) with chemical modifications.
Stefano Di Marco
sdimarco@berkeley.edu
I received my PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Zurich in 2016. I joined the Murthy group in September 2018 focusing my research on Cre recombinase directed evolution, aptamers screening for therapeutic purposes, and novel methods to detect latently infected T-cells.
Sören Reinhard
Sören received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany in 2019. During his time at LMU Munich, he designed and developed novel carriers for nucleic acid and protein delivery into tumors and the brain. Sören joined the Murthy Lab in April 2019. His research focuses on the development of nucleic acid-, antisense- and gene-editing therapeutics for the treatment of genetic diseases.
Eli Espinoza
Eli received his PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Riverside with research emphasis in physical organic chemistry. He specialized in synthesis of chromophores for photoinduced dipole-mediated charge transfer systems in bioinspired molecular electrets. He joined the Murthy group in April 2019. His research currently focuses on the synthesis of AIBN and Mitomycin C derivatives.
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.
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 | 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 |