Research Areas

Microneedle patches for transdermal theranostics: The research is focused on development of microneedle patches made from polymers which are designed to be applied to the skin. These patches aim to improve the way we deliver treatments and monitor health in a more convenient and non-invasive way. By using these microneedles, we develop dual-purpose system that not only delivers medication through the skin but also helps with diagnostic testing, allowing for real-time monitoring of health conditions. Ultimately, our goal is to make medical treatments more effective and accessible, while also improving how we track and diagnose diseases.

Injectable hydrogels as biomaterial for cancer therapeutics: We have successfully synthesized injectable pH and thermoresponsive hydrogel that undergoes gelation when injected at a target tumor site. The injected hydrogel undergoes quick sol-gel transition at body temperature and upon NIR irradiation, results in triggered drug release. The synthesized hydrogel network is capable of incorporating different chemotherapeutic agents that can be released upon varying the NIR irradiation dosage. Presently we are focusing to investigate the real time distribution of hydrogel in more realistic conditions.

Plasmonic photothermal-assisted multimodal cancer therapeutics:  This research focuses on the design and development of multifunctional nanoformulations for multimodal cancer therapeutics, integrating plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) with other treatment modalities like photodynamic therapy (PDT), chemotherapy, immunotherapy, etc. into a single nanoplatform. This approach aims to achieve the desired therapeutic effects with low dosages of therapeutic agents (nanoparticles/photosensitizers/chemotherapeutic drugs) and NIR irradiations. The therapeutic performance of the designed nanoformulations is evaluated on tissue-mimicking phantoms, cancer cell lines and tumor-bearing mice models. Presently, we are aiming to integrate such plasmonic-photothermal-based multimodal cancer therapeutics with point-of-care devices for its clinical translation to further contribute towards the advancements of cancer therapeutics.

Numerical investigation for thermal damage during PTT  : This research focused on the development of numerical codes to obtain induced thermal damage within the subsurface tumor-tissue domain during photothermal therapy. Here, indocyanine green (organic dye) and gold nanorods (inorganic nanomaterial) are considered as photothermal agents that absorb the incident radiation to give temperature rise of the tumor tissue domain and eventually lead to thermal damage. The numerical codes were successfully validated with experimental results incorporating tumor-tissue mimicking phantoms. Various therapeutic parameters were successfully optimized to obtain the desired thermal damage induced to the tumor with minimum damage to surrounding healthy tissue.