Chandra Bhattacharya

Chandra Bhattacharya is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. As founder of the university's mRNA Nanomedicine Program, her research bridges bioengineering, drug delivery, and personalized medicine through carbohydrate-based molecular targeting.

• Assistant Professor, Medicinal Chemistry (UNLV, 2025)
• Postdoc, Bioengineering (MIT, 2022–2024)
• Postdoctoral Researcher (Caltech, 2009)
• PhD, Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry (Arizona State University)
• MSc, Chemistry (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)
• BSc, Chemistry (Presidency College, India)

Her research focuses on:

• Smart Biomaterials for glucose-responsive insulin delivery
• Glycochemistry to decode carbohydrate-protein interactions
• mRNA Delivery via lipid nanoparticles
• Cancer Immunotherapy using CAR T-cell engineering

Key article trends include:

• Organ-specific mRNA delivery systems
• Carbohydrate-functionalized nanocarriers
• Viscoelastic material characterization
• Immune cell targeting via glycolipids

Major awards:

• JDRF Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018–2021)
• DAAD Research Internship (2008)
• Mentioned in 2024 PhRMA Foundation grant for CAR T cell innovation

Lab team includes 4 graduate students and 1 post-baccalaureate researcher. Current projects focus on in vivo T-cell reprogramming with mRNA-loaded nanoparticles.