Dr. Gopal Agarwal, Ph.D.

Post Doctoral Associate, University of Florida

1275, Center Drive, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING:

2022-Present: Post-Doctoral Associate, University of Florida (PI: Prof. Christine E. Schmidt)

2016-2021: Ph.D., National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research- Ahmedabad, India (PI: Dr. Akshay Srivastava)

2014-2016: M.S.Pharm (Biotechnology), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research-Mohali, India (PI: Dr. Abhay H.Pande)

2010-2014: Bachelors in Pharmacy, Gujarat Technological University, India

TERMIS Outstanding Postdoc Award (2025).
Awarded NIH R31 Travel Award to attend TERMIS-AM, Detroit, Michigan (2025).
Inducted to Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society (2025) .
Invited speaker, UF Innovate Post-Doc Appreciation Week Event (2025).
MBI Professional Development Fund Awardee (2024 and 2025).
Invited Speaker, UF BME Seminar Talks (2024).
Keynote Speaker, UF Biomaterial Symposium Day (2024).
Judge, Graduate Student Mentoring Award (2023).
Postdoc Excellence Award, University of Florida, Department of Biomedical Engineering (2023).
UF BME Industry Travel Award, awarded to attend the BMES conference (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025).
Selected Participant, Future Faculty Workshop funded by NSF, Texas A&M University (2023).
Travel Grant Recipient, Bio Fabrication International Conference, Italy (2022).

Academic Competitions

Third Prize, Poster Presentation at the International Conference on Neurological Disorders and Therapeutics, NIPER-Ahmedabad, India (2019).
Second Prize, Hindi Poem Writing Competition, NIPER-Ahmedabad (2020).
First Prize, Hindi Essay Writing Competition, NIPER-Ahmedabad (2019).
Star Performer, MS-NIPER81mgK16 Talent Hunt Competition, NIPER-Mohali (2015).

Entrance and Qualification Examinations

Qualified NIPER PhD Entrance Test, All India Rank (AIR) 2 (2016).
Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Life Science, AIR 341 (2015).
Qualified Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT), AIR 2645 (2015).

Submitted NIH K99/R00 Proposal to NINDS (Role: PI; Status: Under Review).
Awarded seed funding of 2380 $ to develop point-of-care devices for lipid estimation and kidney disease biomarker analysis (Funding agency: NIPER, Ahmedabad-India) (Role: Researcher)
Team leader for Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Student Teams, and awarded 3570 $ to develop punctal plugs for dry eye disease (Funding agency: Department of Biotechnology, Government of India) (Role: Team Leader)

Peer reviewer for (i) Journal of Applied Polymer Science; (ii) Smart Medicine; (iii) Plos One; (iv) Bioengineering and Translational Medicine; (v) Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine; (vi) Soft Matters; (vii) Bioactive Materials; (viii) Biomaterial Science, (ix) Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine, (x) Journal of Material Chemistry B.
Abstract reviewer, Biomedical Engineering Society (2023 and 2024).
Reviewer for Society of Biomaterials abstracts (2024).
Poster judge at 12th Pruitt Research Day, UF BME (2023, 2024 and 2025).

Secretary/ Treasurer of Special Interest Group for Drug Delivery at Society for Biomaterials (2023-25).
Program Chair of Special Interest Group for Biomaterial Education at Society for Biomaterials (2023-25).
Elected Programming Chair for Society of Biomaterials, Young Scientist Group (2025-26).
Organized a 3-minute thesis session at BMES, San Diego, California (2025).
Session organizer for a 3-minute thesis competition at the Society for Biomaterials Conference, Chicago (2025).
Program Chair for UF Neuro Postdoctoral Professional Development Committee (2023-24).
Secretary, Alumni Association of NIPER-Ahmedabad (2019-21).
Joint Secretary, Alumni Association of NIPER-Ahmedabad (2018-19).
Student Member, Institute Innovation Club (an initiative by the Government of India) (2018-21).

Organized K-12 FLEX outreach training held at UF.
Organized alumni meet for the Alumni Association of NIPER-Ahmedabad.
Initiated loan schemes to assist economically disadvantaged master’s students with semester fee payments.