Dennis L. Ko

Dennis L. Ko is a Staff Scientist in the Biolistics group at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), working in the Department of Chemical Engineering. He is currently funded by the Merkin Institute for his research on pharmacologic refractive correction through biolistic drug delivery to the cornea.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from California Institute of Technology
• M.S. in Chemical Engineering from California Institute of Technology
• B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University

Dennis's research focuses on innovative drug delivery systems, particularly for ocular applications. His work includes developing non-invasive methods for delivering drug particles into the cornea, with the goal of commercializing a clinical treatment for refractive correction. Additionally, he has experience in sustained drug delivery for local anesthetics and microrheology studies in cancer cells.

His primary research areas encompass Drug Delivery, Ophthalmology, Cancer Research, Biomaterials, and Biophysics.

He has been recognized with the following awards:

• Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
• Amgen Scholarship

Dennis has served as an Assistant Coach for the Caltech Women's Basketball team, demonstrating his commitment to student development beyond the lab. His current research is funded by the Merkin Institute, supporting his work on biolistic drug delivery for corneal applications.

He is part of the Kornfield Lab at Caltech, where he works on biolistics. Previously, he has been associated with Prof. Robert Langer's lab at MIT and Prof. Denis Wirtz's lab at Johns Hopkins University.