(7jr) Chemically-Modified Biomolecules & Nanosystems to Sense & Modulate Biology

My research focuses on engineering new light-responsive tools to control biological processes and on developing nanotechnology- based platform to deliver large biomolecules for diagnostics and therapeutics. During my graduate research in Prof. Simon H. Friedman's lab at UMKC, I developed a set of photochemical tools to achieve light activated RNA interference by modifying the ends of siRNA with photocleavable groups and applied the technology to pattern gene expression in cells using light. Later, I created a light activated insulin depot that can release insulin on demand for type I diabetics and reduce painful injections by developing a photocleavable crosslinker containing clickable functionality to link insulin and resin via photocleavable groups. As a part of my postdoctoral research in Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia's lab at MIT, I have been interested in advancing the light-controllable systems for in vivo applications and in developing nanoparticle systems for the delivery of peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids. I developed a light- activatable CRISPR/Cas9 system using photocleavable oligonucleotide complements of sgRNAs and applied them to control genome editing of multiple genes concurrently using light with improved specificity. In another project, we developed a photoresponsive protease nanosensors carrying synthetic peptide substrates for more reliable detection of secreted protease activity in the tumor microenvironment in a mouse model of colorectal cancer in the urine. More recently, we have successfully developed an efficient targeted nanoparticle approach to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 in vivo. Given my experience with the delivery and modification of nucleic acids and proteins, including CRISPR/Cas9, I am interested in engineering new genome editing tools with higher specificity and efficiency as well as in developing delivery technologies using biochemical approaches. I would like to then apply these tools for a range of applications including drug delivery, diagnostics, and treatment of genetic diseases including cancer. My long-term goal is to translate these systems into patients for better disease diagnosis and treatment.

Teaching Interests:

With my training and experience in chemistry and biomedical engineering, I will be enthusiastic to teach following core courses:
 Transport phenomena
 Chemical reaction engineering
 Polymers materials
 Materials chemistry
In addition, I will be passionate to teach as well as develop the following electives and graduate courses:
 Biomaterials
 Biochemical, molecular, and cellular engineering
 Nanotechnology
 Genetic engineering
Courses taught during my career as trainee:
 Medicinal chemistry I (as a guest instructor for Pharm D. and undergrad students as a part of preparing future faculty fellowship)
 Medicinal chemistry I & II (as a teaching assistant for Pharm D. and undergrad students)
 Organic chemistry II (as an official peer tutor for undergraduates appointed by Prof. Kathleen Kilway, UMKC)
 Chemistry, Physics, & Mathematics (as a professional tutor for high school students for 6 years)
Mentoring:
 Hired, supervised, and mentored 3 undergraduates and 1 summer student at MIT and all of them are pursuing higher degrees in the STEM.
 Hired, trained, and mentored 2 graduate students at UMKC on various techniques.
Teaching certificates received:
 Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program, MIT (June 2016)
 Graduate Certificate College Teaching & Career Preparation, UMKC (May 2013)
Teaching Fellowship
 Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship, UMKC (2008-2011)
o Awarded to only 5 PhD students in the University for three consecutive years. Learned and implemented innovative ways to assess students’ success by applying Bloom's Taxonomy. The fellowship provided me with a unique opportunity to teach a course on medicinal chemistry to a class of over 100 students spread over two campuses as a guest instructor teaching four review classes. Received excellent feedbacks from students and scored 95% positive comments as a teacher.
Grantsmanship
Awarded competitive personal fellowships
 Dissertation Research Fellowship, UMKC (2011-2012)
 Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship (PFF), UMKC (2008-2011)
Contribution to Funded Awards & Grants Reporting
 NSF award 1052871, (2011-2015)
 DARPA Cooperative Agreement HR0011-13-2-0017 (2013-2016)
 NIH DP3 NIDDK award 1DP3DK106921-01 (2015-2019)
Education:
 Interdisciplinary PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemistry, 2013, University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA
 Bachelor of Pharmacy, 2006, Dr. H.S. Gour University, India
Research/Work Experience:
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, 2013-Present o Postdoctoral Associate, 2013-2017, Advisor: Prof. Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, PhD
• University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), 2006-2013
o Graduate Research Assistant, 2006-2013, Advisor: Prof. Simon H. Friedman,PhD
o Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2007-2008, Medicinal Chemistry I & II
o Guest Instructor, Fall 2009, Medicinal Chemistry I (as a part of the Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship)
Google Scholar link
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qtpo58sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Publications (8 published, 1 manuscript under revision, 3 manuscripts under preparation):
1. Jain PK, Ramanan V, Schepers AG, Dalvie N, Panda A, Fleming HE and Bhatia SN. Development of light-activated CRISPR using photocleavable protectors of guide RNAs. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55(40), 1521-3773 (2016).
• Highlighted on the 100+ scientific media and Altmetrics ranked it #32 over 20,000+ articles ever published by the journal.
2. BR Sarode, PK Jain, and SH Friedman. Polymerizing Insulin with Photocleavable Linkers to Make Light‐Sensitive Macropolymer Depot Materials, Macromolecular Bioscience, 16 (8), 1138-1146 (2016).
• Highlighted on the back cover of the journal.
3. Dudani JS, Jain PK, Kwong GA, Stevens KR and Bhatia SN. Photoactivated Spatiotemporally-Responsive Nanosensors of in Vivo Protease Activity. ACS Nano, 9(12), 11708-11717 (2015).
• Highlighted as an important approach for Moonshot Initiative by Prof. Paula Hammond at MIT in an editorial.
4. Kala A, Jain PK, Karunakaran D, Shah S and Friedman SH. The synthesis of tetra-modified RNA for the multidimensional control of gene expression via light-activated RNA interference. Nature protocols, 9(1), 11-20 (2014).
5. Kala A, Jain PK and Friedman SH. Patterning of cells through patterning of biology. Molecular BioSystems, 10, 1689-1692 (2014).
6. Jain PK, Karunakaran D and Friedman SH. Construction of a Photoactivated Insulin Depot. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 52, 1404-1409 (2013).
• Highlighted on the frontispiece and covered by numerous scientific media and local news.
7. Jain PK, Shah S and Friedman SH. Patterning of gene expression using new photolabile groups applied to light activated RNAi.
Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133(3), 440-446 (2011).
8. Shah S, Jain PK, Kala A, Karunakaran D and Friedman SH. Light-activated RNA interference using double-stranded siRNA precursors modified using a remarkable regiospecificity of diazo-based photolabile groups. Nucleic Acids Research, 37(13), 4508-4517 (2009).
• Highlighted on the front cover of the journal.
Patents (2 filed patents and multiple disclosures)
 US Patent App. 14/410,606, 2013, “Photocleavable drug conjugates.” Friedman SH, Jain PK, Karunakaran D and Sarode B (2013).
 U.S. Provisional Application No.: 62/332,096, “Methods and uses for remotely triggered protease activity measurements.” Bhatia SN, Kwong GA, Jain PK, Dudani JS and Schurle S (2016).