Dr. Kannan Rangaramanujam Prinicipal Investigator, Professor of Opthtalmology

Professional Titles
Co-Director, Center for Nanomedicine

Primary Academic Title
Professor of Ophthalmology

Dr. Kannan Rangaramanujam is the Arnall Patz distinguished professor of ophthalmology, and co-director of center for nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He holds joint appointments in Physiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is a chemical engineer by training [PhD (Caltech)]. His research interests are in the field of translational nanomedicine centered on novel approaches to target specific cells at the site of injury. His team has developed and extensively validated the hydroxyl dendrimer and glucose dendrimer platforms through Hopkins-wide collaborations in many animal models of ocular, brain disorders, pain, depression, and cancer. These have the opportunity to address long standing challenges in the field and will lead to medicines that are easy to administer (e.g., oral pills for AMD and diabetic retinopathy), have minimal side effects, and are affordable to large fractions of the world population. He is leading the translation of his research to the clinic, through start-ups and partnerships.  He is the co-founder of Ashvattha Therapeutics Inc. and Samata Therapeutics (>$130M raised) – Johns Hopkins spinoffs that are translating some of his team’s patented dendrimer technologies to the clinic, with three products that have completed, or in Phase 2 trials. Dr. Rangaramanujam is an author of >190 patents (issued and pending, licensed), more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, and is supported by significant NIH and federal funding. He has won several recognitions, including fellowship of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE), Controlled Release Society, and Distinguished Alumni Award from BITS (Pilani). He is on the editorial boards of Biomaterials, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and Theranostics.