Meet our Team
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.
Vitruvian Bio, LLC
Faculty & Senior Scientist
André Van Der Vlies
Dr. 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.
Teresa Aditya
Dr. Teresa Aditya is a assistant research professor 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.
Pranay Saha
Dr. Pranay Saha is a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State with 9 years interdisciplinary experience in organic and peptide synthesis, 2D nanomaterials (COFs, borophene), quantum dots, and functional nanocrystals. He develops electrochemical and photophysical sensors, intracellular drug-delivery systems, and in-vivo theranostic platforms. Trained in chemical synthesis, NMR/drug design, molecular cancer biology, and animal research, he integrates computational modeling, virtual screening, and biomolecular docking to guide experiments.
Satheesh Natarajan
Dr. Satheesh Natarajan is a postdoctoral researcher at Pennsylvania State University whose career centers on immunodiagnostic and biomedical devices. He engineers high-sensitivity lateral-flow and CRISPR-assisted point-of-care assays, harnessing nanobody and aptamer recognition, europium or graphene-oxide fluorescence labels, and 2-D material coatings to detect various biomarkers. Trained in immunology, biochemistry, and molecular biology, he translates bench discoveries into rapid diagnostic platforms
Mecit Altan Alioglu
Dr. Mecit Altan Alioglu is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Dipanjan Pan’s laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from the Pennsylvania State University. During his Ph.D., his research focused on developing novel techniques for the fabrication of microfluidic devices and lab-on-a-chip models. He is passionate about translational biomedical research and is currently working on the development of biosensors and biomaterials.
Graduate Students
Ketan Dighe
Ketan Dighe is a PhD student in Prof. Pan’s Biomedical Engineering lab. He earned a BSc in Electronics and Communication with a biotechnology minor from Shiv Nadar University, India. An undergraduate Bio-Analytical Techniques course sparked his passion for bioinstrumentation and the use of semiconductors and microsystems in life science. 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.
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...
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 with the Engineering Science and Mechanics program at Penn State. His research interests include drug delivery, medical imaging, and radiation therapy. Outside the lab, Matthew enjoys cycling, running, and following Philadelphia sports.
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.
Nada Maher Kerba
Nada Maher Kerba is a PhD student in Nuclear Engineering at Penn State working in Prof. Dipanjan Pan’s group. Her research blends nanomedicine with spectral photon-counting X-ray imaging, designing high-Z metal nanoparticles for ‘K-edge’ contrast enhancement and quantitative CT. Trained at the intersection of nuclear engineering, nanomaterials, and machine learning, she develops next-generation diagnostic agents and imaging workflows that push resolution while maintaining biocompatibility, advancing the lab’s vision for precision “nuclear nanomedicine” platforms.
Shraddha Krishnakumar
Shraddha Krishnakumar is a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Penn State University and a graduate research assistant in the Pan Lab. Her research focuses on the development of electrochemical biosensors for disease diagnostics, with ongoing projects targeting conditions such as dry eye disease, syphilis, and diabetic retinopathy. She works with novel 2D nanomaterials and engineered nanoparticles to enhance diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Outside the lab, Shraddha is trained in Hindustani classical music and enjoys painting and sketching.