Engineering Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery and Imaging

Research Overview

My primary research interest is in the development of synthetic nanoparticles for the treatment and diagnosis of a disease associated with complex cellular microenvironment such as cancer. My goal is to investigate how geometric modifications of a nanoparticle can significantly impact targeted drug delivery to cancer microenvironment, and non-invasive molecular scale imaging. In Professor Samir Mitragotri's laboratory at University of California, Santa Barbara, I worked on the design of nanoparticle geometry, particularly nanoparticle shape to enhance biological interactions of macromolecular drugs with target cells. My Ph.D. thesis research under the guidance of Professor Kaushal Rege at Arizona State University focused on designing cationic polymers for gene delivery to cancer cells in combination with chemotheraputic drug molecules. I will utilize my experience and knowledge gained from these research projects to propel my future research endeavors in the fields of cancer therapy and diagnostics.

Education:

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 2011

M.S., Chemical Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 2007        

B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2003

Experience:

Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Santa Barbara, CA, 06/2011-present

Teaching (Lecturer), Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 02/2003- 07/2004

                    

Selected Publications:

Barua, S.; Yoo, J.W.; Kolhar, P.; Wakankar, A.; Gokarn, Y.; Mitragotri, S., Particle Shape Enhances Specificity of Antibody-displaying Nanoparticles. PNAS, 2013, 110 (9), 3270-3275

Barua, S.; Rege, K., The influence of Mediators of Intracellular Trafficking on Transgene Expression Efficacy of Polymer-plasmid DNA Complexes. Biomaterials, 2010, 31 (22), 5894-5902

Barua, S.; Joshi, A.; Banerjee, A.; Matthews, D.; Sharfstein, S. T.; Cramer, S. M.; Kane, R. S.; Rege, K., Parallel Synthesis and Screening of Polymers for Nonviral Gene Delivery. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2009, 6 (1), 86-97

Selected Awards/Honors:

Daryl and Marguerite Errett Discovery Award in Biomedical Research, UCSB, 2012

Outstanding Research Assistant Award, Arizona State University, 2009

Participant, 57^th Lindau meeting with 18 honorable Nobel Laureates, Germany, 2007

Inland Northwest Research Alliance fellowship, Montana State University, 2005-2007