The NAI Fellows Program recognizes academic inventors who have made significant contributions to society through their innovative creations and facilitation. These inventions have positively impacted the quality of life, economic growth, and overall welfare of society. Being elected as an NAI Fellow is the highest honor awarded exclusively to academic inventors.

Prashant Mali is a leader in the field of genome engineering and regenerative medicine. He is recognized for his pioneering work to engineer tools for enabling gene- and cell-based therapeutics. He has helped develop CRISPRs and ADARs as powerful tools for DNA and RNA editing, respectively, with wide applications in both basic biology and human therapeutics. Mali’s research group has developed a new RNA editing technology that could make it simpler to repair disease-causing mutations in RNA without compromising precision or efficiency. The technology is the first proof-of-concept in vivo RNA editing for treating genetic diseases using RNA editing enzymes, known as ADARs, that are native to the body’s cells. His research group has also developed a CRISPR-based gene therapy for chronic pain, which could offer a safer and non-addictive alternative to opioids.

The Mali lab has a strong translational focus, evidenced by the licensing and ongoing development of several gene therapy technologies by biotechnology startup companies such as Navega Therapeutics and Shape Therapeutics, both of which Mali co-founded. He is also the scientific co-founder of other biotechnology companies, including Boundless Biosciences and Engine Biosciences.

This year, Mali was once again named among the world’s most influential researchers in his field, according to the Clarivate listing of Most Highly Cited Researchers in the World. This marks the fifth consecutive year that Mali has earned this distinguished recognition. In 2022, he was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Mali has received several other noteworthy awards, including the Siebel Scholars Award; the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface; the Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award from the March of Dimes; the Kimmel Scholar Award; election as a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow; and the Young Alumnus Achiever Award from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Karen Christman is an expert in hydrogels and biomaterials that heal tissues inside the body. Most recently, her lab has developed a new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously to reduce inflammation and promote cell and tissue repair. Applications include treating tissue damage caused by heart attacks, traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension. 

Christman also cofounded Ventrix Bio, a startup that aims to commercialize a hydrogel that helps repair damage and restore cardiac function in heart failure patients who have previously suffered a heart attack. In 2019, Ventrix Bio successfully conducted a first-in-human, FDA-approved Phase 1 clinical trial of the hydrogel. 

Another startup, Karios Technologies, is working to commerciale another hydrogel, which forms a barrier to keep heart tissue from adhering to surrounding tissue after surgery. The hydrogel, which was developed in Christman’s lab, was successfully tested in rodents and in a pilot study on porcine hearts. 

Michael Heller is known for developing technology for detecting and measuring cell free DNA in blood for “liquid biopsy” cancer diagnostics. He and his team developed a new microarray technology that uses an oscillating electric field to quickly isolate cell free DNA, exosome biomarkers and drug-delivery nanoparticles rapidly from small volumes of blood. The technology could serve as a general tool to separate, recover and analyze a range of important disease related biomarkers directly from blood, plasma, serum and other complex fluids for biomedical, environmental, and industrial applications.

 San Diego-based startup Biological Dynamics licensed technologies developed in Heller’s lab for early detection of a range of conditions, from cancer to tuberculosis to Alzheimer’s. The company is getting ready to commercialize a lab-on-a-chip test that uses blood plasma to detect pancreatic cancer. 

Heller is Professor Emeritus on Recall in bioengineering and a professor emeritus in the Department of Nanoengineering. He is currently collaborating on cancer research with Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schonbein and Dr. Rebekah White at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.