PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
The Nanomedicine research group is led by Dr. Ratnesh Jain and Dr. Prajakta Dandekar Jain - two experienced scientists, research guides and passionate mentors.
Dr. Ratnesh Jain
Associate Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, ICT Mumbai Course Coordinator, M.Tech Bioprocess Technology
Dr. Ratnesh Jain started his research journey, right here at ICT Mumbai, with a PhD in Pharmaceutics, during which he worked on the ‘Development and Evaluation of Novel Brain Targeted Nasal Drug Delivery’. Next, he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the Helmholtz Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, Saarland, Germany. Here, his work centered around diverse research areas including nanotechnology, enhanced drug delivery and RNA-based therapies. Over the years, he has made significant contributions to the scientific community, with innovative research, particularly in the fields of biopharmaceuticals and drug delivery.
In 2012, Dr. Jain joined ICT, Mumbai as an Assistant Professor, and established the Nanomedicine Research Group (NRG) . During his tenure at ICT, he received the prestigious Ramanujan and Ramalingaswami fellowships. His lab’s research interests include biopharmaceutical product development (biosimilars, polymers recombinant protein, peptides, probiotics), upstream and downstream bioprocessing, and drug delivery. He has guided 13 PhD students and is also the Course Coordinator of the M.Tech Bioprocess Technology course at ICT, Mumbai.
Beyond his research endeavors, Dr. Jain is actively working on several industry and government-funded projects, primarily focusing on characterization and validation studies of biopharmaceuticals, development of affordable therapeutics, biosimilars and much more. He was recently appointed as a consultant at the Serum Institute of India. He has numerous international publications and patents to his credit; One of his notable patents is a microfluidic device for in-vitro co-cultures of mammalian tissues. His vision for NRG is to motivate his students to carry out path-breaking research and instill an entrepreneurial spirit within them.
In addition to this, Dr. Jain is a passionate science communicator - leading the social media campaigns and science -communication initiatives at ICT. He served as the project co-ordinator of DST-STUTI, a centrally funded program through which 22 training programs were conducted in various institutions across the country. With an aim to advance the Indian Biopharma sector, he started the ‘Biologics Workshop’, as a platform to bridge the gap between industry and academia.
Dr. Prajakta Dandekar Jain
UGC Assistant Professor, Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, ICT Mumbai Course Coordinator, MTech Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
Dr. Prajakta Dandekar Jain is a UGC Assistant Professor with the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. She obtained her PhD from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai (Then known as University Institute of Chemical Technology) in 2009, where she worked on ‘Development of nanocarriers for improved drug delivery’. This was followed by a brief stint as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Organic Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Saarland, where her work focused on ‘Hydrophobic starch polymer-based Nanocarriers for the delivery of anti-cancer agents’. She was then appointed as ERS (European Respiratory Society) Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Helmholtz Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, Saarland. Here, the primary focus of her research was development of nanocarriers made of novel cationic polymers for the delivery of nucleic acids to treat infectious pulmonary diseases.
As is evident from Dr. Prajakta Dandekar Jain’s research portfolio, her research interests span from biomaterials for drug and nucleic acid delivery, pulmonary infections and inflammations, to RNA therapeutics and Nanomedicine. Over the years, she has developed immense expertise in the development of High-Throughput 2D and 3D cellular models for preclinical investigations that are better at mimicking the in-vivo microenvironment of human tissues. These models serve as a pathway towards more ethical research practices, by reducing our reliance on animal models. Under the same realm, some other technologies that her research group works on are Tissue engineering, 3D Bioprinting, Microfluidic devices and Organ-on-Chip devices.
All through her academic career, Dr. Prajakta Dandekar Jain has contributed immensely to the scientific community with her innovative and path-breaking research in the field of cellular models and nanomedicine. 3D cell culture and Organ-on-Chip technology is set to revolutionize the drug discovery pipeline, by providing accurate, efficient, high throughput cellular models for toxicity and efficacy studies. Over the course of her stellar career, she has amassed several accolades for her research and publications.
She is the convenor of the Advances in 3D Cell Culture Workshop, which started with an aim to equip researchers and industry professionals in India with expertise in 3D cell culture and OOC technologies and create a platform for professionals from industry to academia network and collaborate.