Drug and Gene Delivery
The field of drug and gene delivery involves development and delivery of drugs, genes, and gene products that ultimately alter protein expression and function of the cells, tissues, and living organisms.
Important areas in this growing field include development of delivery vehicles such as plasmids, nanoparticles, viruses, liposomes, peptide/protein complexes, and biomaterial scaffolds, as well as studies of drug and gene transport, delivery strategies, delivery barriers, and immune response to delivery.
Duke BME is actively involved in understanding and developing new strategies for drug and gene delivery aimed at therapies for cancer, infectious and cardiovascular disease, muscle disease, gastrointestinal disease, and others.
Close collaborations with Duke University School of Medicine faculty and support from the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering (CBTE) are important contributors to the successful endeavors of this research community.
Primary Faculty
Ashutosh Chilkoti
Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Focused on biomolecular materials and biointerface science and emphasizes the development of applications that span the range from bioseparations, biosensors, biomaterials, and targeted drug delivery.
Charles Gersbach
Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Gene therapy, genomics and epigenomics, biomolecular and cellular engineering, regenerative medicine, and synthetic biology.
David F. Katz
Nello L. Teer, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering
Research Interests: Methods for prophylaxis against STD's, emphasizing topical microbicides and contraception; biofluid mechanics; rheology and transport phenomena; biophysical aspects of mammalian sperm motility, sperm transport, and fertilization; and biomechanical functioning of the vitreous of...
Michael D Lynch
Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Focused on genetically engineering microbes to shut off their growth circuits and turn on new pathways to produce different compounds—improving production of biofuels, pharmacological molecules and industrial chemicals.
Robert A. Malkin
Professor of Practice Emeritus in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Research and development of medical equipment in the developing world.
Daniel Reker
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Integration of active machine learning, biomedical data science, and biochemical experiments for the analysis and design of personalized therapeutic opportunities.
Tatiana Segura
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: The design of biomaterials to promote endogenous repair and reducing inflammation through the design of the geometry of the material, and delivering genes, proteins and drugs.
Michael Raphael Tadross
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Our goal is to bridge the gap between the study of brain as a computational device and the search for novel neuropathological treatments. We develop technologies to manipulate molecules, cells, and synapses in the brain, and deploy these reagents in mouse models of disease.
Lingchong You
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Quantitative biology, synthetic biology, machine learning, antibiotic resistance, microbiome
Fan Yuan
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Drug and gene delivery, mechanisms of molecular transport in cells and tissues, and tumor pathophysiology.
Secondary Faculty
Tony Jun Huang
William Bevan Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Acoustofluidics, microfluidics, lab-on-a-chip, biomedical micro-electro-mechanical systems (BioMEMS), optofluidics, plasmofluidics.
Bruce Alan Sullenger
Joseph W. and Dorothy W. Beard Distinguished Professor of Experimental Surgery, in the School of Medicine
Research Interests: Translational research to develop RNA-based therapeutic agents for the potential treatment of a range of diseases.
Emeritus Faculty
Wanda Krassowska Neu
Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Electroporation-mediated drug delivery and gene therapy; Control of cardiac arrhythmias using nonlinear dynamics