Samagya Banskota

Biography:

Precision genome editing technologies can potentially treat the root causes of several genetic diseases by making precise and targeted edits to the DNA. However, safe and effective delivery methods are needed to translate this potential into a therapeutic reality. Banskota’s research interests lie in the intersection of synthetic biology, protein engineering, drug delivery, and gene editing, with a focus on using a cross-disciplinary approach to solving delivery challenges for therapeutics. Towards that goal, her team is developing tools that allow them to probe and manipulate macromolecular transport to understand delivery barriers. They integrate that knowledge with synthetic biology and protein engineering to design genetically-encoded and stimuli-responsive delivery systems. By providing solutions that can overcome delivery challenges, Banskota’s team hopes to make enabling therapeutics such as genome editors safe, accessible, and affordable.

Banskota is also interested in the development of molecular tools to elucidate the biological function of the genomic dark matter (transposable elements or TEs). TEs comprise nearly half of the human genome but their roles and functions in many diseases are not fully understood. Banskota’s team is developing genome and epigenome editing technologies that act as molecular recorders to study their biological function at scale. The resulting findings will help them understand the phenotypic consequences of TEs to inspire new therapeutic strategies.

Research Interests:

Drug delivery, biomolecular engineering, biomaterials design, genome editing, synthetic biology, functional genomics and protein engineering