Balaji Narasimhan

Balaji Narasimhan

Title(s):

Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, Vlasta Klima Balloun Faculty Chair

Office

5001 ATRB
2213 Pammel Dr.
Ames, IA 50011-1101

Information

Selected Honors and Awards

  • Fellow, American Institute for Chemical Engineers, 2021
  • Chartered Member, Vaccines against Microbial Diseases Study Section, NIH, 2021-25
  • Fellow, National Academy of Inventors, 2020
  • Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2019
  • Society of Biomaterials Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature, 2019
  • ISU Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research, 2015
  • ISU College of Engineering David R Boylan Eminent Faculty Award for Research, 2015
  • Vlasta Klima Balloun Faculty Chair, 2015-
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011
  • Plenary Speaker for Area 15, Annual AIChE Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 2011
  • IITSINE Alumni Service Award, 2011
  • Vlasta Klima Balloun Professor of Engineering, 2010 Iowa State University
  • Award for Mid-Career Achievement in Research, 2008 Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2008
  • Named by MIT’s Technology Review Magazine as one of the World’s Top 100 Young Innovators with the TR100 Award, 2003
  • ISU Foundation Early Excellence in Research Award, 2003
  • 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, 2003
  • ISU Engineering Student Council Leadership Award, 2002
  • Whitaker Foundation Biomedical Engineering Research Award, 2000
  • Best Doctoral Dissertation in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering, Purdue University, 1996

Education

  • Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 1996
  • B.S. Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 1992

Research Interests

RESEARCH PAGE

Balaji Narasimhan is an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering and holds the Vlasta Klima Balloun Faculty Chair. He has been at ISU since 2001 before which he was on the faculty of the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Rutgers University. He served as Associate Dean of Research in the ISU College of Engineering from 2007 to 2013 and oversaw record growths in the college’s research portfolio and doctoral degree production. Currently, he directs the Nanovaccine Institute, an interdisciplinary consortium of 87 researchers from 27 universities, national laboratories, research institutes, companies, and hospitals that is focused on the design and development of next generation vaccines and therapeutics. He is a co-founder of a startup called ImmunoNanoMed Inc.
 
Narasimhan’s research is focused on the molecular design of nanoscale polymer systems and biomaterials to precisely control molecular architecture and functionality in these systems. His research has received funding from NIH, DOD, NSF, USDA, VA, DOE, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Whitaker Foundation, the Roy J. Carver Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and industry. His current research thrusts are in the areas of engineered biomaterials for controlled delivery of drugs, peptides, and vaccines, metabolically optimized nanovaccines, and functionalized nanomedicines. Narasimhan has published over 330 refereed journal papers, book chapters, and proceedings papers, co-invented 14 patents, edited three textbooks, and delivered over 460 invited and contributed national and international lectures. 

Publications

Selected Recent Publications 

  • MT Brewer, M Mertens, A Colina-Iturralde, JJ Chelladurai, KA Martin, K Chinchilla-Vargas, SM Kelly, B Narasimhan, RW Griffith, and DE Jones, “Implantation of a vaccine platform for extended antigen release (VPEAR) induces long-term immunity against Haemonchus contortus in sheep,” Sci Rep 15, 12168 (2025). doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-95929-4. PMC11480889
  • EA Grego, SM Kelly, JL McGill, MJ Wannemuehler, and B Narasimhan, “Bovine RSV nanovaccine induces long-lasting humoral immunity in mice,” ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci 7(10), 3205-15 (2024). doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.4c00375. PMC11480889
  • KA Ross, SM Kelly, KS Phadke, N Peroutka-Bigus, SK Mallapragada, MJ Wannemuehler, BH Bellaire, and B Narasimhan, “Next-generation nanovaccine induces durable immunity and protects against SARS-CoV-2,” Acta Biomater 183, 318-29 (2024). doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2024.05.048.
  • CE Lopez, ZR Zacharias, KA Ross, B Narasimhan, TJ Waldschmidt, and KL Legge, “Polyanhydride nanovaccine against H3N2 influenza A virus generates mucosal resident and systemic immunity promoting protection,” NPJ Vaccines 9, 96 (2024). doi: 10.1038/s41541-024-00883-3. PMC11143372
  • C Meyer, EA Grego, SS Vasanthi, NS Rao, N Massey, C Holtkamp, J Huss, L Showman, B Narasimhan, and T Thippeswamy, “The NADPH oxidase inhibitor, mitoapocynin, mitigates DFP-induced reactive astrogliosis in a rat model of organophosphate neurotoxicity,” Antioxidants 12(12), 2061 (2023). doi: 10.3390/antiox12122061
  • AC Siddoway, BM White, B Narasimhan, and SK Mallapragada, “Synthesis and optimization of next-generation low molecular weight pentablock copolymer adjuvants,” Vaccines 11(10), 1572 (2023). doi: 10.3390/vaccines11101572
  • BW Schlichtmann, BN Palanisamy, E Malovic, P Padhi, M Hepker, J Wurtz, M John, B Ban, V Anantharam, AG Kanthasamy, SK Mallapragada, and B Narasimhan, “Aggregation-inhibiting scFv-based therapies protect mice against AAV1/2-induced A53T-α-synuclein overexpression,” Biomolecules 13(8), 1203 (2023). doi: 10.3390/biom13081203
  • KA Ross, A Tingle, S Senapati, KG Holden, MJ Wannemuehler, SK Mallapragada, B Narasimhan, and ML Kohut, “Novel nanoadjuvants balance immune activation with modest inflammation: implications for older adult vaccines,” Immunity & Ageing 20(1), 28 (2023). doi: 10.1186/s12979-023-00349-5
  • AM Binnebose, AS Mullis, SL Haughney, B Narasimhan, and BH Bellaire, “Nanotherapeutic delivery of antibiotic cocktail enhances intra-macrophage killing of Mycobacterium marinum,” Front Antibiotics 2, 1162941 (2023). doi: 10.3389/frabi.2023.1162941
  • T Maina, EA Grego, SR Broderick, K Rajan, B Narasimhan, and JL McGill, “Immunization with a mucosal, post fusion F/G protein-based polyanhydride nanovaccine protects against BRSV infection in neonatal calves,” Front Immunol 14 (2023). doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1186184
  • A Ananya, KG Holden, Z Gu, D Nettleton, SK Mallapragada, MJ Wannemuehler, ML Kohut, and B Narasimhan, “”Just right” combinations of adjuvants with nanoscale carriers activate aged dendritic cells without overt inflammation,” Immunity & Ageing 20(1), 10 (2023). doi: 10.1186/s12979-023-00332-0
  • AS Mullis, SR Broderick, KS Phadke, N Peroutka-Bigus, BH Bellaire, K Rajan, and B Narasimhan, “Data analytics-guided rational design of antimicrobial nanomedicines against opportunistic, resistant pathogens,” Nanomed: Nanotechnol Biol Med 48, 102647 (2023)
  • LM Stephens, KA Ross, JS McLellan, B Narasimhan, and SM Varga, “Long-lasting protection induced by a polyanhydride-based nanovaccine against respiratory syncytial virus in an outbred mouse model,” J Virol 96(22), e01502-22 (2022). doi: 10.1128/jvi.01502-22 (2022). PMC9683007
  • Y Phanse, S Puttamreddy, D Loy, JV Ramirez, KA Ross, I Alvarez-Castro, M Mogler, SR Broderick, K Raja, B Narasimhan, and LC Bartholomay, “RNA nanovaccine protects against white spot syndrome virus in shrimp,” Vaccines 10(9), 1428 (2022). doi: 10.3390/vaccines10091428
  • AC Siddoway, D Verhoeven, KA Ross, MJ Wannemuehler, SK Mallapragada, and B Narasimhan, “Structural stability and antigenicity of novel equine H3N2 hemagglutinin trimer upon release from polyanhydride nanoparticles and pentablock copolymer micelles,” ACS Biomater Sci Eng 8(6), 2500-07 (2022). doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.2c00219
  • BW Schlichtmann, B Kalyanaraman, RL Schlichtmann, MG Panthani, V Anantharam, AG Kanthasamy, SK Mallapragada, and B Narasimhan, “Functionalized polyanhydride nanoparticles for improved treatment of mitochondrial dysfunction,” J Biomed Mater Res B 110(2), 450-9 (2022). doi: 10.1002/jbm.b.34922
  • L Liu, P Kshirsagar, SK Gautam, M Gulati, EI Wafa, J Christiansen, B White, SK Mallapragada, SK Batra, JC Solheim, MJ Wannemuehler, AK Salem, M Jain, and B Narasimhan, “Nanocarriers for pancreatic cancer imaging, treatments, and immunotherapies,” Theranostics 12(3), 1030-60 (2022). doi: 10.7150/thno.64805
  • L Liu, MJ Wannemuehler, and B Narasimhan, “Biomaterial nanocarrier-driven mechanisms to modulate anti-tumor immunity,” Current Opinion Biomed Eng 20, 100322 (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.cobme.2021.100322
  • RP Dassanayake, BM Atkinson, AS Mullis, SM Falkenberg, EM Nicholson, E Casas, B Narasimhan, and SMD Bearson, “Bovine NK-lysin peptides exert potent antimicrobial activity against multidrug-resistant Salmonella outbreak isolates,” Sci Rep 11, 19276 (2021). doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98860-6
  • S Senapati, RJ Darling, KA Ross, MJ Wannemuehler, B Narasimhan, and SK Mallapragada, “Self-assembling synthetic nanoadjuvant scaffolds crosslink B cell receptors and represent new platform technology for therapeutic antibody production,” Sci Adv 7(32), eabj1691 (2021). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj1691
  • MM Hasibuzzaman, KA Ross, AK Salem, B Narasimhan, and AL Simons, “Evaluation of the in vivo antitumor activity of polyanhydride IL-1α nanoparticles,” J Vis Exp 172, e62683, (2021). doi: 10.379/62683
  • SM Kelly, KR Larsen, R Darling, BH Bellaire, MJ Wannemuehler, and B Narasimhan, “Single-dose combination nanovaccine induces both rapid and durable humoral immunity and toxin neutralizing antibody responses against Bacillus anthracis,” Vaccine 39(29), 3862-70 (2021)
  • LM Stephens, KA Ross, KL Legge, JS McLellan, B Narasimhan, and SM Varga, “Prefusion F-based polyanhydride nanovaccine induces both humoral and cell-mediated immunity resulting in long-lasting protection against respiratory syncytial virus,” J Immunol 206(9), 2122-34 (2021). doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2100018
  • AS Mullis, N Peroutka-Bigus, KS Phadke, BH Bellaire, and B Narasimhan, “Nanomedicines to counter microbial barriers and antimicrobial resistance,” Current Opinion Chem Eng 31, 100672 (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.coche.2021.100672
  • BW Schlichtmann, M Hepker, B Palanisamy, M John, V Anantharam, AG Kanthasamy, B Narasimhan, and SK Mallapragada, “Nanotechnology-mediated therapeutic strategies against synucleopathies in neurodegenerative disease,” Current Opinion Chem Eng 31, 100673 (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.coche.2021.100673
  • L Liu, P Kshirsagar, J Christiansen, SK Gautam, A Aithal, M Gulati, S Kumar, JC Solheim, SK Batra, M Jain, MJ Wannemuehler, and B Narasimhan, “Polyanhydride nanoparticles stabilize pancreatic cancer antigen MUC4β,” J Biomed Mater Res 109A(6), 893-902 (2021)
  • E Grego, A Siddoway, M Uz, L Liu, J Christiansen, SM Kelly, KA Ross, SK Mallapragada, MJ Wannemuehler, and B Narasimhan, “Polymeric nanoparticle-based vaccine adjuvants and delivery vehicles,” Current Topics Microbiol Immunol 433, 29-76 (2021). doi: 10.1007/82_2020_226

Primary Strategic Research Area

Engineered Medicine

Departments

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