BioE Seminar Series: Tejal Desai,PhD

In the UC San Francisco lab of Tejal Desai, PhD, research focuses on the design, fabrication, and use of advanced microtechnology and nanotechnology to create new medical therapeutics. We are fundamentally interested in how alterations in microstructure and nanostructure can be used to modulate molecular and cellular behavior, and we use this knowledge to develop better technologies and therapies for patients. Our projects fall into three broad groups:

Cellular integration and tissue engineering-using engineering to recreate or repair the tissues of the body

Biomimetic architectures for functional biomaterials-copying the physical cues of biology with engineering techniques

Therapeutic drug targeting and delivery-novel approaches to long-term drug release and targeted cell-specific drug delivery

Our work is based on the idea that if we can understand and manipulate the world at the microscale and nanoscale, we can engineer biomedical technologies that interact directly with cells, drugs, and biomolecules.

By interacting directly with biology on its own scale, we can explore the connections between microtechnology and nanotechnology in the improvement of human health.