Our Latest Updates
DEC 2024
Welcome to Our First PhD Student, Zitao!
We are excited to welcome Zitao as the first PhD student to join our lab! Zitao earned a BSc in Pharmacy from Xinhua College of Sun Yat-Sen University and an MSc in Pharmacology & Toxicology from LIU Brooklyn, where his master’s thesis focused on In-vitro study on cellular damage of chemobrain.
In our lab, Zitao will focus on Developing Cell- and RNA-based Immunoengineering Toolboxes for Enabling Gene Delivery & Therapy. We are thrilled to have Zitao on board and look forward to his contributions to advancing our research!
Let’s give Zitao a warm welcome!
NOV 2024
We thank the Research Foundation of SUNY for highlighting our recent award on [LinkedIn].
Oct 2024
We welcome Dr. Reena Jatyan to join the MEI lab as a postdoctoral research associate.
Reena is a pharmacist by training who holds an MSc in Pharm. Biotech. from the School of Pharmaceutical Education & Research at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. Reena did her PhD in Pharm. Sci. at the Department of Pharmacy, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (BITS-Pilani), specializing in synthesizing lipid-drug conjugates for targeted drug delivery to glioblastoma. At the MEI lab, Reena will work on synthesizing and discovering novel ionizable lipids and lipid drug-conjugates to enable precision therapeutic delivery and immunoengineering.
Sep 2024
🚨 New Publication from the Lab! 🚨
We are excited to share our lab’s first comprehensive review article on RNA-Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP) Delivery, which was recently published in the Journal of Controlled Release (Open Access).
This review, led by Pu-Sheng Wei and co-authored by an incredible team of students, Nagasri Thota, Greshma John, Evelyn Chang, Sunjae Lee, Yuanjun Wang, Zitao Ma, Arielle Tsai, explores the pivotal advancements in LNP-based delivery systems for RNA therapeutics.
🔬 Key Highlights:
🚩 A 60-year historical perspective on liposomes and LNP development, showing how these technologies evolved to support RNA delivery.
🚩 In-depth analysis of the current clinical trials for mRNA and siRNA-LNP therapeutics, mapping the landscape of FDA-approved therapies and the exciting new directions for RNA-based precision medicine.
🚩 Discussion on organ- and cell-specific LNP targeting and the novel application of DNA/RNA barcoding technologies aimed at improving delivery specificity and efficiency.
🚩 A roadmap for overcoming challenges that limit clinical translation, including strategies to enhance endosomal escape, reduce off-target effects, and boost therapeutic efficacy.
💡 We hope this review serves as both a resource and inspiration for researchers working on next-generation RNA delivery systems.
📄 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gtCi3v9G
A huge thank you to the entire team for their dedication and hard work!
Aug 2024
We’re in the Binghamton News today! Read the full story [here].
July 2024
Absolutely thrilled to announce that we've been awarded the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigator (MIRA/R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), which provides a 5-year research support in developing multiple biotherapeutic delivery platforms. Immense gratitude to the NIGMS and our fantastic team of students and postdocs. We’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries in gene delivery and immunoenginering!
We are looking for a Postdoc to join us now - if you’re interested, please feel free to reach out!
May 2024
Dr. Mei serves on the AAPS Awards Committee.
April 2024
Yuanjun (Biochem) and Arian (Neuroscience) have been awarded the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University School of Pharmacy to conduct innovative gene delivery and immunoengineering projects.
Evelyn (Neuroscience) will attend the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) of Academia Sinica Taiwan as a summer research intern studying viral immunology at the Cheng Lab.
Maeko (Biochem) and Sherman (Biochem) have been accepted to the SUNY Upstate Medical University 2024 SURF program.
Aarnav (Integrative Neurosciences) has been accepted as one of the 2024 Guthrie Scholars PreMed Interns.
Dec 2023
The MEI lab is awarded a research grant from the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne (FED) to work towards overcoming gene therapy barriers for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
We thank the FED for the generous support, and we will have more to share in the coming year.
Oct 2023
We welcome Dr. Pu-Sheng (Vincent) Wei to join the MEI lab as a postdoctoral research associate.
Vincent is a pharmacist by training who holds an MSc in Pharm. Sci. from the National University of Taiwan, where he studied the application of dual peptide conjugated nanoparticles in anticancer drug delivery. He also holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science from Taipei Medical University, where he studied thermosensitive hydrogels for the controlled release of bispecific T cell engager antibodies in cancer immunotherapies. At the MEI lab, Vincent will work on developing immunoengineering strategies using RNA-delivering lipid nanoparticles.
May 2023
Dr Mei joins the AACP 2023-2024 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee
April 2023
The MEI Lab is Awarded the 2023-24 Transdisciplinary Area of Excellence Seed Grants
Our lab has been awarded the 2023-24 Transdisciplinary Area of Excellence (TAE) Seed Grants from SUNY Binghamton!
We will collaborate on a Multi-omic Drug Target Discovery Project for Immunotherapy with Professors Yetrib Hathout (proteomics) and Matthew Emery (gene sequencing)!
April 2023
Sunny Receives The Undergraduate Research Awards!
Congrats to Sunny (BChem junior) for receiving the Binghamton University Undergraduate Research Awards (URA)!! This award would support Sunny’s independent research project in developing and testing new immune-modulating molecules for immunotherapy. The award is made available through a grant from the Binghamton University Foundation and through funds made available by the Dean of Harpur College and the ESURC office. We thank the URA committee and funding bodies for your generous support!
March 2023
Sunny (Biochem) has been accepted to SUNY Upstate Medical University - as one of the SURF Research Scholars.
Feb 2023
Greshma (Integrative Neurosciences) for being accepted as one of the 2023 Guthrie PreMed Scholars!
Sep 2022
The MEI Lab is established at SUNY Binghamton School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.