Ram I. Mahato is a Parke-Davis endowed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the Department of

Pharmaceutical Sciences Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...

University of Nebraska Medical Center The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) is a Public university, public Academic health science centre, academic health science center in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1869 and chartered as a private medical college in 1881, UNMC became p ...

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He served as the chair of this Department from 2013 to 2025. He was Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and

Biomedical Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

at the

University of Tennessee Health Science Center The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is a public medical school in Memphis, Tennessee. It includes the Colleges of Health Professions, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Since 1911, the Uni ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

. He was

Research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

Assistant Professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, Senior Scientist at GeneMedicine Inc and a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

, and

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

. He received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

drug delivery Drug delivery involves various methods and technologies designed to transport pharmaceutical compounds to their target sites helping therapeutic effect. It involves principles related to drug preparation, route of administration, site-specif ...

from the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

and BS from China Pharmaceutical University. He is a CRS Fellow, AAPS Fellow, Permanent Member of BTSS/NIH Study section (2009–2013), and ASGCT Scientific Advisor (nonviral vectors, 2006–2009).

Research activities

He has expertise in molecular and

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

polymer chemistry Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are also applic ...

, colloid science,

pharmaceutics Pharmaceutics is the discipline of pharmacy that deals with the process of turning a new chemical entity (NCE) or an existing drug into a medication to be used safely and effectively by patients. The patients could be either humans or animals. Ph ...

, and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

. It allowed him to take a multidisciplinary approach for successful research and training students and post-doctoral fellows. His research is focused on the following areas: (i)

micelle A micelle () or micella () ( or micellae, respectively) is an aggregate (or supramolecular assembly) of surfactant amphipathic lipid molecules dispersed in a liquid, forming a colloidal suspension (also known as associated colloidal system). ...

and

nanoparticulate A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is a particle of matter 1 to 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 100 nm in only two directions. At ...

drug delivery, (ii) oligonucleotides,

siRNA Small interfering RNA (siRNA), sometimes known as short interfering RNA or silencing RNA, is a class of double-stranded non-coding RNA molecules, typically 20–24 base pairs in length, similar to microRNA (miRNA), and operating within the RN ...

miRNA Micro ribonucleic acid (microRNA, miRNA, μRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21–23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals, and even some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcri ...

shRNA A short hairpin RNA or small hairpin RNA (shRNA/Hairpin Vector) is an artificial RNA molecule with a tight hairpin turn that can be used to silence target gene expression via RNA interference (RNAi). Expression of shRNA in cells is typically acc ...

and

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

delivery (iii) synthesis of novel polymers, lipopeptides, lipopolymers and cationic lipids (iv) construction of plasmid and adenovirus-based gene and shRNA expression systems. These systems are being tested in various disease areas such as improving islet transplantation to treat type 1 diabetes, cancer (pancreatic, prostate and breast) and liver fibrosis.

Research accomplishments

*Delivery and targeting of oligonucleotide and siRNA-based therapies: contributed extensively on the use of antisense and antigene oligonucleotides as well as siRNA for treating liver fibrosis, diabetes and cancer. *Cell-based therapeutics: contributed extensively on genetic modification of human islets for improved islet transplantation. *Polymeric nanomedicines and combination therapy. Contributed extensively on polymeric micellar delivery using novel polymers and combination therapy for treating advanced prostate cancer. *Cytokine gene therapy: Contributed extensively on the use of interleukin-12 (IL-12), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and growth hormone gene delivery to tumor and diabetes animal models. *Design of gene delivery systems: Developed polymer, lipid, lipopolymer and peptide-based systems to deliver and transfect oligonucleotides and genes to specific organs in vivo and different cell lines in vitro. *Formulation sciences: formulated various small drugs, proteins, oligonucleotides and plasmids for in vitro and in vivo studies. *Drug delivery and pharmacokinetics: determined the pharmacokinetic profiles of small molecules, proteins, oligonucleotides and genes using mice, rats and rabbits. *Synthesis: synthesized water-soluble and insoluble lipopolymers, soluble steroidal peptides, cationic lipids, and conjugated galactose, mannose and FITC to polylysine for gene delivery. *Particulate carrier systems: developed various polymeric nanoparticulate carrier systems. *Lyophilization: lyophilized anticancer drugs and lipid/plasmid complexes. *Intracellular trafficking: Investigated the mechanism of cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking of plasmids and oligonucleotides. *More recently he has worked on the development of novel phosphodiesterase inhibitors for treating alcohol and metabolic-dysfunction associated liver disease (PMID: 38950389 and PMID: 36145643). *He has also recently published on the role of miRNAs in acute myeloid leukemia (PMID: 39369272). *His current work on pancreatic cancer has focused on the role of miRNAs (PMID: 33177098) and small molecules as anti-cancer therapies (PMID: 38813771) * His work on medulloblastoma also focuses on combination therapy of BRD4, PI3K, and Hedgehog inhibitors (PMID: 36599397) as anti-neoplastics and radiosensitizers. A full list of his published work can be found on Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IjtzdLQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahato, Ram 1963 births Living people Nepalese scientists University of Southern California fellows Washington University in St. Louis fellows Alumni of the University of Strathclyde China Pharmaceutical University alumni University of Tennessee faculty University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty