2010, Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay 

2010-2011, Post-Doc in Bioinorganic Chemistry at Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore

2011-2013, Post Doc Fellow at the Department of Polymer Chemistry, Uppsala University, Sweden

2013-2016, Forskare (Senior Researcher), Department of Polymer Chemistry, Uppsala University, Sweden

Sept 2016- July 2020 Assistant Professor, Group Leader-Bioengineering and Nanomedicine Group, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University-Finland

Aug 2020- Associate Professor, Group Leader-Bioengineering and Nanomedicine Group, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University-Finland

Host immune response against the drug delivery systems or implanted scaffolds significantly limits the therapeutic potential of the nanocarrier or the implanted devices. By tuning the host immune response, we could enhance the graft integration of the implanted 3D scaffolds or augment the pharmacokinetics and drug delivery efficacy of the nanoparticles.  My group harness the immunomodulatory properties of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to engineer ECM mimetic 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering applications or nanocarriers for drug and nucleic acid delivery applications. GAG-based nanocarriers target CD44 receptors overexpressed on several solid tumors and suppress systemic inflammation by suppressing complement and coagulation cascade activation in human whole blood. By incorporating specific chemical cues to the 3D scaffolds, we manipulate the precise immunological responses and achieve M1 macrophage polarization for anti-tumor applications or immunosuppressive M2 macrophage polarization for regenerative medicine applications. Exploiting these ECM mimetic hydrogels, we develop bioinks for 3D bioprinting, engineer immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment to study complex cellular events such as immune cell-cancer cell crosstalk, and tailor in-vitro disease models for faithful prediction of new therapeutic modalities and delivery systems. Thus, our work is at the forefront of the chemistry-material science-biology interface that brings together the expertise in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, material science, drug delivery, and biomedical engineering. We are keen to establish new collaborations to expand the horizon of biomaterial research.

For personal webpage please visit

https://webpages.tuni.fi/oommen-lab/index.html

Dr. Vijay Singh Parihar

English, Hindi, Malayalam

Ph.D. students

Mr. Vigneshkumar Rangasami

Mr. Sumanta Samanta

Mr. Austin D. Evans