Team

I previously invented four medical devices which became companies and made it to clinical studies, with one already having gained FDA approval and acquisition. Additionally, I have invented multiple nanomedicine / targeted drug delivery technologies, one of which was acquired by a pharmaceutical company for further co-development with my lab.

After an MD and PhD at Stanford’s MSTP and Chemical & Systems Biology Department (developing high-throughput drug screening tools), I started in nanomedicine in 2014 when I did my postdoc in Vlad Muzykantov’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).

​In July 2018, I became a tenure-track assistant professor at Penn, where I started my lab. I spend 15% of my time taking care of patients in the ICU, and the other 85% is developing medical technologies. Our lab’s research mission is to use the tools of nanomedicine and genetic medicine to engineer novel therapeutics. This process requires both engineering and science, as we explore the biological mechanisms that impede genetic medicine, and use that information to guide our engineering.

Our lab works closely with industry. Before starting my lab, I spun out multiple medical device companies based on my inventions, including Pelvalon, which gained FDA approval and was acquired by Laborie Medical Technologies. After starting my lab, we have spun out nanomedicine / genetic medicine companies, including NanoMuse (focused on mRNA-LNPs for acute critical illnesses) and ClearXpression (based on our invention of the first safe & effective DNA-LNPs for common, chronic diseases). In addition to spinning out companies, we work with many large companies, with past or present collaborators including Insmed, Boehringer Ingelheim, and BioNTech. These industry interactions are a great opportunity for our trainees to get experience working in industry, as about half of our trainees want to pursue industry careers.

We enjoy working with trainees from diverse backgrounds. We take graduate students from many departments, such as Penn graduate groups for Bioengineering, Pharmacology, and Cell & Molecular Biology, and we have multiple students from Penn’s MSTP (Medical Scientist Training Program for MD/PhD students). Our postdocs have backgrounds ranging from biophysics to organic chemistry, and we’re interested in any approach that will help create novel therapeutics. We encourage trainees to pursue whatever career path they want, whether in industry or academia.