Divya Bijukumar, PhD, MS

Divya Bijukumar, PhD, MS, is Assistant Professor (RT) at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford and the Principal Investigator of the College of Medicine’s Blazer Nanomedicine Lab in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Her major research focus is on the mechanism of cell-nanomaterial interaction and biocompatibility studies on biomedical implants. She was trained as a nanobiotechnologist and nano surface modification of implants, nanotoxicology and drug delivery. Her lab has focused on developing a nano-drug delivery system for retinal diseases, arthritis and cancer. She has worked on developing transcytosis receptor-targeted hybrid nanomaterials that can cross the blood-retinal barrier for brain tumor therapy. She has previously worked on different nano systems for leukemia and prostate cancer therapeutics. Additionally, she has collaborated and worked on a novel lipid nanoparticle delivery system for T-oligo to treat melanoma.