Raman Bahal

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Educational Background

B.Pharma; Punjabi University, Pharmacy
MS Pharma; National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Medicinal Chemistry
Ph.D; Carnegie Mellon University, Chemistry
Postdoc; Yale University, Department of Therapeutic Radiology

Research Interests

1. New delivery strategies for myriads of synthetic nucleic acid analogues.
2. Target genetic diseases using gene correction based technology
3. Selectively target oncogenic microRNAs using novel delivery methods for cancer therapy.

Honors and Awards

• Recipient, NIPER Fellowship through M.S. program, 2004
• Outstanding Poster Presentation Award in Gordon Bioorganic Research Conference, 2011
• Recipient, Alexander Brown Coxe Fellowship in Medical Sciences, 2013
• Promising Scientist award- UIPS, Panjab University, 2015
• Recipient, Regenerative Medicine Research Fund, CT Innovations, 2016
• Best poster Presentation award in Yale Chemical Biology retreat, 2016

Selected Publications

1. Bahal R, McNeer NA, Quijano E, L Yanfeng,   Sulkowski P, Bhunia DC, Manna A, Greiner DL, Brehm MA, Cheng CJ, -Giráldez FL, Beloor J, Krause DS, Kumar P, Gallagher PG, Braddock DT , Saltzman WM, Ly DH, Glazer PM. In vivo correction of anemia in thalassemic mice by gPNA-mediated gene editing with stem cell factor treatment and nanoparticle delivery, Nature Communications 7, 13304, 2016. Research featured in the news (5 out of 29 news outlets): Mentioned in Faculty of 1000, The Washington Post, New gene-editing trick discovered just in time for J-Lo’s “CRISPR” TV series. 2016. Science Daily, Scientists edit gene mutations in inherited form of anemia. 2016‎. Bioscience Technology. Gene-editing Technology Cures Genetic Blood Disorder in Mice. 2016‎ ZME Science, Gene-editing technology successfully cures genetic disorder in mice – and it’s not CRISPR 2016
2. Cheng CJ, Bahal R, Babar IA, Pincus Z, Barrera F, Liu C, Svoronos A, Braddock DT, Glazer PM, Engelman DM, Saltzman WM, Slack FJ. MicroRNA silencing for cancer therapy targeted to the tumor microenvironment. Nature. 2015, 518, 107-10. Research featured in the news: Yale News, Yale Researchers Develop Method to Attack Cancer at Its Source, Bill Hathaway, 2014. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, microRNA Silencing Provides a Successful New Model for Cancer Therapeutics. 2014. Science Newsline. Team devises ingenious method to attack cancer at its genetic source. 2014. Recommended article in Faculty of 1000 (F1000) by Drs. Gabriele Varani, Yu Chen, K Mark Ansel. For commentary see: Alexandra Flemming, New delivery platform targets antimirs to tumours, Nature Review Drug discovery, 13, 888, 2014. E Wagner, Tumor-targeted delivery of anti-micrRNA for cancer therapy-pHLIP is key. Angewandte Chemie. 2015, 54, 5824-5826.
3. Bahal R*, Gupta A*, Glazer PM, Saltzman WM. Polymer nanoparticles for delivery of Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA). Journal of Controlled Release, 2016, 30004-30009.
4. McNeer NA, Anandalingam K, Fields RJ, Caputo C, Kopic S, Gupta A, Quijano E, Polikoff L, Kong Y, Bahal R, Geibel JP, Glazer PM, Saltzman WM, Egan ME. Correction of F508del CFTR in airway epithelium using nanoparticles delivering triplex-forming PNAs. Nature Communications, 2015, 6, 6952, 1-6.Research featured in the news: Yale News, Yale scientists use gene editing to correct mutation in cystic fibrosis. 2015. Lung disease news, Yale Researchers Effectively Correct Cystic Fibrosis Gene Mutation in Mice. 2015, Fierce biotech research, Yale collaborators use gene editing tech to fix a cystic fibrosis mutation. 2015. Cystic fibrosis news today, New strategies could correct genetic mutation responsible for cystic fibrosis. 2015.
5. Bahal R, Quijano E, McNeer NA, Liu Y, Bhunia DC, Giráldez FL, Fields RJ, Saltzman WM, Ly DH, Glazer PM. Single-stranded gPNAs for in vivo site-specific genome editing via Watson-Crick recognition. Current Gene Therapy, 2014, 14, 331–342.
6. Bahal R, McNeer NA, Ly DH, Saltzman WM, Glazer PM. Nanoparticles for delivery of antisense gPNA oligomers targeting CCR5. Artificial DNA PNA XNA, 2013, 4, 49-57.
7. Bahal R, Sahu B, Rapireddy S, Lee CM, Ly DH. Sequence-unrestricted, Watson-Crick recognition of double helical B-DNA by (R) miniPEG-gPNA. Chembiochem, 2012, 13, 56-60.
8. Delgado E, Bahal R, Yang J, Lee JM, Ly DH, Monga SPS. β-Catenin knockdown in liver tumor cells by a cell permeable gamma guanidine-based peptide nucleic acid. Current Cancer Drug Targets. 2014, 13, 867-78.
9. He G, Rapireddy S, Bahal R, Sahu B, Ly DH. Strand invasion of extended, mixed sequence B-DNA by gammaPNAs. Journal of American Chemical Society, 2009, 131, 12088-90.‎