illustration of gene editing technology from Gersbach lab

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

Pranam D. Chatterjee

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Integration of computational and experimental methodologies to design novel proteins for applications in genome editing, targeted protein modulation, and reproductive bioengineering

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.

Emma Chory

Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, starting August 2023

Research Interests: Directed Evolution, therapeutic discovery, epigenetics and genomics, High-throughput automation, synthetic biology, protein engineering

Charles Gersbach

John W. Strohbehn Distinguished 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…

Cameron M Kim

Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering

Michael D Lynch

Associate 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.

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: Principles and mechanisms of delivery for drugs, genes, and vaccines; pharmacokinetics; electrotransfer or electroporation technology; 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

Faculty Emeritus

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.

Wanda Krassowska Neu

Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Electroporation-mediated drug delivery and gene therapy; Control of cardiac arrhythmias using nonlinear dynamics