Meet our Team
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Principal Investigator
Dipanjan Pan, PhD, FRSC, FAIMBE, FAHA, FACC
Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Huck Chair Professor in Nanomedicine
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor of Nuclear Engineering
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Prof. Pan is a recognized expert in nanomedicine. He is presently a Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Huck Chair Professor in Nanomedicine and tenured Full Professor in the Pennsylvania State University. He is the founder/co-founder of four University based early start-ups, including Vitruvian Bio, dedicated to developing HIV-companion diagnostics; InnSight Technologies dedicated for ocular diseases and KaloCyte, Inc, to develop...
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Entrepreneurship
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
KaloCyte, Inc.
InnSight, Inc.
Faculty & Senior Scientist
André Van Der Vlies
André van der Vlies received his master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Switzerland, on the understanding of the sulfidation reaction of tungsten oxides using different spectroscopic techniques. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor Jeffrey Hubbell at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, and worked on developing polymeric materials for use as synthetic vaccines and drug delivery applications.
Parikshit Moitra
Parikshit Moitra is currently working as Assistant Research Professor in Prof. Dipanjan Pan’s laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Thereafter he joined Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, India, as a Scientist D where he was affiliated to the Technical Research Centre. He then joined as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine. Subsequently he was promoted to research associate (junior faculty) while working under the supervision of Prof. Pan.
Maha Alafeef
Maha Alafeef is a highly accomplished individual who earned both her Master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Dr. Alafeef holds the position of Research Scientist at Pennsylvania State University, USA. Throughout her career, she has been working under the guidance of Prof. Dipanjan Pan. Dr. Alafeef specializes in the field of biosensor development, focusing on creating innovative solutions for the early detection of infectious diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders.
Teresa Aditya
Dr. Teresa Aditya is a postdoc at the Pennsylvania State University working in nanomedicine, cancer therapy, tissue engineering, and sensors along with radiation and nuclear plasma irradiation interactions. She is passionate about developing material for therapeutics and sensing applications for human sustainability. She did her doctoral studies in Chemistry from IIT, Kharagpur, India. She brings strong experience in physico-chemical characterization of materials with microscopic and spectroscopic techniques.
Richard Brown
Richard Brown received his Ph.D from University of Maryland Baltimore County where he studied photoluminescent semiconductor nanocrystal core/shell quantum dots. His focus was on finding ways to synthesize and replace toxic materials like CdSe/ZnS, with safer alternatives such as InP/ZnS quantum dots and understanding how surface chemistry affected their photoluminescent properties. After completing his Ph.D, Richard came to Penn State University as a biochemistry postdoctoral scholar in 2020 to further develop his organic synthesis skills making antibiotics which target trans-translation.
Graduate Students
Zachary Sheffield
Zach is a graduate research assistant enrolled in the Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Maryland Baltimore-County. His research interest is the development of biosensors for applications in neuropsychiatric medicine. His current project involves the inkjet-printing of organic electrochemical transistors for the multiplex detection of cortisol and neuropeptide-y.
Matthew Molinaro
Matthew graduated from the University of Florida in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.
He is currently an MD/PhD student in his G2 year with the Engineering Science and Mechanics program. His research interests include drug delivery, medical imaging, and radiation therapy. Outside the lab, Matthew enjoys cycling, running, and following Philadelphia sports.
Nivetha Gunaseelan
Nivetha Gunaseelan is a BME PhD student in Prof. Dipanjan Pan’s lab and is currently focused on developing novel imaging nanoprobes for quantitative, multiplexed in vivo detection of diseases such as traumatic brain injury using next-generation photon counting CT technology. During the pandemic, her work was focused on developing translational sensing platforms for at-home Covid-19 detection. She also worked as an R&D engineer at a biomedical startup to develop a novel, ophthalmic biosensor for the...
David Skrodzki
David Skrodzki is a Materials Science and Engineering graduate student working in Prof. Dipanjan Pan’s laboratory. Prior to starting graduate school, he was a Research Fellow in Prof. Pan’s laboratory and worked on different electrochemical biosensing techniques and applications. His current research focuses on synthesis, characterization, and application of inorganic nanoparticles in translational medicine. Additional research and scientific interests include radiation therapy and material synthesis for novel biomedical applications.
Ketan Dighe, MEng
Ketan Dighe is a graduate student in Prof Pan’s laboratories in the Department of Biomedical engineering. Ketan Dighe received his B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication with a minor in Biotechnology from Shiv Nadar University, India (2015). The course “Bio-Analytical Techniques” during his undergraduate studies kindled his interest to explore a career in Bioinstrumentation. It inspired him to explore different instruments to investigate the application of Semiconductor and Microsystems in fields like Life Science and was captivated by its huge research potential. During his bachelor’s degree he worked on a research project involving the fabrication of an organic semiconductor based thin film transistor and characterizing them to be later used in diverse medical applications.