Biography:
Dr. Swami is currently a Research Associate in Harvard Medical School (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) with Prof. Omid Farokhzad and research fellow in the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT with Prof. Robert Langer. Dr. Swami did her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR) in 2009. Dr. Swami’s primary research goals are to develop: i) targeted nanoparticles for spatio-temporal drug delivery, ii) nanocarriers to manipulate the tumor microenvironment for overcome metastasis and multidrug resistance of cancer cells, and iii) nanodevices to improve surgical implants for enhanced osseointegration. Her research experience in the field of advanced biomaterials, surface chemistry, biotechnology, nano and microfabrication of polymeric, inorganic and hybrid nanoparticles is vast. Her current research focuses on developing nanotechnologies for therapeutic applications, with functionalities such as: ability to home in target organs (e.g., bone, which is one of the major organs for homing of metastatic cancer cells); with ability to deliver drug molecules (chemotherapeutics, siRNA, proteins) in a site specific and controlled manner. . These engineered nanoparticles are biocompatible and biodegradable polymers mixed with inorganic materials such as calcium phosphate and silicates, along with some lipid molecules that facilitate sub-cellular redistribution of encapsulated drugs. These multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles are being studied for treatment of osteotropic metastatic cancer and tackle multi-drug resistance in cancer. Another challenging problem that Dr. Swami has tried to tackle is siRNA delivery, which will create options to target multiple pathways, with a single nano-bullet, to treat cancer. She has been able to develop bone regenerating nanodevices, which have potential application in treatment of osteoporosis, healing of bony wounds and creating better surgical implants for joining of fractures. This lead to several peer-reviewed research articles, patents and reviews. Many more manuscripts based of the research work on cancer therapy and bone regeneration are in process of being communicated. Dr. Swami’s long term goal is to make use of the skill sets obtained in past one decade, to serve the community and give her part in creating better therapeutic options to treat the diseases.
Academic positions:
Harvard Medical School (BWH), (2009 - Current) Advisor: Prof. Omid Farokhzad AND
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2009 - Current) Advisor: Prof. Robert Langer
Research interests:
Advanced Biomaterials, Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery, Cancer THerapy, RNAi Therapy, Chemotherapy, Polymer and Inorganic Nanoparticles, Bone targeting, Bone regeneration, Modifying Surgical Implants, Hydrogels, Hybrid nano-materials, Chemical Synthesis, Surface Modification at nano and micro scale, Characterization of Materials, Nano and Microfabrication, 2D & 3D Cell culture.
What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:
Out of the box thinking! I am excited about it.
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