معرفی
Jai Prakash is a Full Professor at the University of Twente's Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Bioengineering Technologies, leading the Engineered Therapeutics section within the Advanced Organ bioengineering and Therapeutics (AOT) research group. He also serves as CSO of ScarTec Therapeutics BV, a spin-off company he founded to develop peptide therapeutics for fibrosis and tumor stroma.
Education:
- PhD (cum laude) in Pharmacology and Targeted Drug Delivery, University of Groningen (2006)
His research integrates peptide chemistry, nanomedicine, molecular biology, and bioengineering to develop engineered therapeutics targeting fibrosis and the tumor microenvironment. Key focuses include reprogramming cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and immune cells, creating 3D bioengineered tumor models, and advancing immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer. His work bridges fundamental science with clinical translation for cancer, fibrotic diseases, and inflammatory conditions.
Scientific awards:
- ERC Advanced Grant (2024)
- Swedish Cancer Foundation grant
- Marie Curie Career Integration Grant
- Swedish Research Council young researcher grant
- NWO Take-off phase-1 and phase-2
- H2020 SME phase-1
Prakash founded ScarTec Therapeutics and the Nanomedicine meets Tumor Microenvironment conference (NanoTME). He chairs the Advanced in vitro models theme for the European Society of Molecular Imaging and serves on 30+ grant review panels. His supervisees include PhD candidates Ahmed Ahmed, Chen Chen, Nirmayi Homkar, Remya Valoor, and Master's student Nikolas Mersinis. Current ERC-funded work focuses on extracellular matrix remodeling to enhance pancreatic cancer immunotherapy.
The Engineered Therapeutics section develops targeted nanomedicines using imaging-guided delivery approaches, emphasizing industry-academia-clinic partnerships to accelerate clinical translation for cancer and fibrosis applications.
