(4i) 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