Prof. Narasimhan received his PhD in Chemical Engineering (1996) from Purdue and undertook postdoctoral studies at MIT. After starting his academic career at Rutgers, he joined the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at Iowa State in 2001. His lab studies engineered biomaterials for controlled delivery of drugs, peptides, and vaccines, age-optimal nanovaccines, and functionalized nanomedicines. He currently directs the Nanovaccine Institute and is an Associate Editor of Science Advances and Scientific Reports. He co-founded a startup called ImmunoNanoMed Inc.

2024 CME NASA Symposium Abstract

The 21st century has already witnessed multiple pandemics. The increased pace of global travel, commerce, and displaced wildlife pose threats that are surpassing control measures. Our over-dependence on antibiotics has led to anti-microbial resistant pathogenic strains. All these factors have created a perfect storm that is severely straining our healthcare. New advances in materials chemistry, nanotechnology, immunology, and data science can be exploited to create next-generation countermeasures. This presentation will focus on novel nano-based vaccine technologies to combat infectious disease.