معرفی
Lohitash Karumbaiah is a Professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He joined UGA in 2013 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019, and became a full Professor in 2025. He serves as director of the Translational Glycomaterials and Neural Repair Laboratory and holds multiple affiliations across UGA research centers.
- Regenerative Bioscience Center Program Faculty and Steering Committee Member
- UGA Cancer Center Program Faculty Member
- UGA Neuroscience Program Faculty Member
- UGA Bio-Imaging Research Center – Associate Director of Animal Imaging
- UGA NSF CMaT Engineering Research Center Site – Testbed 2 Co-Lead
- Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Partnership – Executive Board Member
Dr. Karumbaiah's research focuses on developing novel glycomaterials that regulate growth factor binding, stem cell maintenance, and neural tissue repair. His laboratory pioneered the development of the first tissue-engineered glycomaterial 'brain glue' for traumatic brain injury treatment and demonstrated the use of insulin excipients for treating Glioblastoma. His work has been featured in prominent media outlets including NPR and UGA Today. The Karumbaiah lab currently explores glycomaterials for brain repair after injury and therapeutic approaches to block brain tumor invasion, with ongoing research focused on overcoming therapeutic delivery bottlenecks and developing clinically translatable strategies.
Analysis of Dr. Karumbaiah's recent publications reveals a strong focus on glycomaterials for neural repair, brain tumor microenvironment modeling, and innovative approaches to CAR-T cell therapy for glioblastoma. His work bridges engineering, neuroscience, and clinical applications, with particular emphasis on creating physiologically relevant models for testing therapeutic interventions. The research demonstrates consistent progression from fundamental glycomaterial development to sophisticated in vitro and in vivo testing platforms.
- 2024 CAES Alumni Award of Excellence, University of Georgia
- 2023 Appointed member of Bioengineering of Neuroscience and Vision Technologies (BNVT) NIH Study Section
- 2022 Student Career Success Influencer Award, University of Georgia
- 2020 UGA Faculty Innovation Fellow
- 2019 UGA Aspire Fellow
- 2017 Best Early-Stage Investigator Abstract Award, 12th World Congress on Brain Injury
- 2016 Southern Translational Education and Research (STaR) Young Investigator Award
Dr. Karumbaiah has successfully mentored numerous undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees into research and industry positions worldwide. His research is supported by significant funding from federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and National Science Foundation, as well as nonprofit foundations. Current projects include developing a perfusable multi-niche glioblastoma-on-chip platform and investigating cerebrovascular dysfunction after traumatic brain injury. He teaches courses including RBIO 8220 as primary instructor and provides guest lectures for several other neuroscience and regenerative bioscience courses.
The Translational Glycomaterials and Neural Repair Laboratory operates at the intersection of glycomaterials engineering, neural tissue repair, and cancer therapeutics. The lab has developed specialized platforms including the AutoRG motor function assessment system and glioblastoma-on-chip models for therapeutic testing, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for translational neuroscience research.
