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Mukesh Gupta

Research Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering


Biomedical Engineering


Intellectual Neighborhoods

Research Focus

The overarching overall goals of Dr. Gupta’s research is to develop advanced multi-functional stimuli-responsive degradable biomaterials (such as micelles, shear-thinning hydrogels, scaffolds, nanofibers, shape memory polymers, etc.) through combined approaches of living/controlled polymerization methods, standard organic synthesis, and bioconjugation techniques for targeted drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. My current research primarily focuses on reactive oxygen species (ROS)/enzymatically degradable shear-thinning/bioadhesive hydrogels as injectable delivery platforms. To achieve this, we developed a micellar nanoparticle-based drug-loadable shear-thinning hydrogel platform that preserves the viability of cells under syringe-induced applied shear force and elevated oxidative environment. These 3D matrices are formed through dynamic and reversible interaction between precursor synthetic and biological polymers. The broad therapeutic applications of current systems include drug delivery, tissue engineering, tissue sealants, and 3D bioprinting.  

Select Publications:

1.     Reactive Oxygen Species-Degradable Polythioketal Urethane Foam Dressings to Promote Porcine Skin Wound Repair. P Patil, KA Russo, JT McCune, AC Pollins, MA Cottam, BR Dollinger, JM Colazo, F Yu, JR Martin, MK Gupta, NL Cardwell, MG Bezold, CJ DeJulius, R D’Arcy, JM Davidson, CM Thompson, A Barbul, AM Hasty, SA Guelcher, CL Duvall, Science Translational Medicine, 2022, 14, 641.

2.     Top-Down Fabricated microPlates for Prolonged, Intra-articular Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 siRNA Nanocarrier Delivery to Reduce Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis, SK Bedingfield, JM Colazo, MD Francesco, Fang Yu, DD Liu, VD Francesco, LE Himmel, MK Gupta, H Cho, KA Hasty, P Decuzzi, and CL Duvall, ACS Nano 2021, 15 (9), 14475-14491.

3.     JR Martin, P Patil, F Yu, MK Gupta*, CL Duvall*. Enhanced Stem Cell Retention and Antioxidant Protection with Injectable ROS-degradable PEG Hydrogels. Biomaterials 2020, 263, 120377. *Co-corresponding author.

4.     Tuning Ligand Density To Optimize Pharmacokinetics of Targeted Nanoparticles for Dual Protection against Tumor-Induced Bone Destruction, JP Vanderburgh, JL Hill, MK Gupta, KA Kwakwa, K Moyer, SK. Bedingfield, AR Merkel, R D’Arcy, SA Guelcher, JA Rhoades, CL Duvall. ACS Nano, 2020, 14, 1, 311-327.

5.     JP Vanderburgh, KA Kwakwa, TA Werfel, AR Merkel, MK Gupta, SA Guelcher, CL Duvall, JR Sterling Systemic Delivery of a Gli Inhibitor via ROS-Responsive Nanocarriers Blocks Tumor-Induced Bone Disease, J Control Release. 2019, 311, 257-272.

6.     KP O’Grady, TE Kavanaugh, H Cho, H Ye, MK Gupta, MC Madonna, J Lee, MC Skala, KA Hasty, and CL Duvall, Drug-Free ROS Sponge Polymeric Microspheres Reduce Tissue Damage from Ischemic and Mechanical Injury ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng, 2018, 4 (4), 1251.

7.     MK Gupta, JR Martin, B Dollinger, ME Hattaway, and CL Duvall, Thermogelling, ABC Triblock Copolymer Platform for Resorbable Hydrogels with Tunable, Degradation-Mediated Drug Release, Advanced Functional Materials, 2017, 27, 1704107.

8.     MK Gupta, DA Balikov, YK Lee, DB Sawyer, and HJ Sung, Gradient Release of Cardiac Morphogen by Photo-responsive Polymer Micelles for Spatiotemporal Control of Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation, 2017 Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2017, 5, 5206.

9.     MK Gupta, YK Lee, TC Boire, LH Hofmeister, and HJ Sung, Recent strategies to design vascular theranostic nanoparticles, Nanotheranostics 2017; 1(2):166-177.

10.   MJ Uddin, TA Werfel, MK Gupta, LJ Marnett, and CL Duvall Uddin MJ, Werfel TA, Crews BC, Gupta MK, Kavanaugh TE, Kingsley PJ, Boyd K, Marnett LJ, Duvall CL, Fluorocoxib A Loaded Nanoparticles Enable Targeted Visualization of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Inflammation and Cancer, Biomaterials,2016, 92, 71-80.

11.   MK Gupta, SH Lee, SW Crowder, CE. Nelson, CL Duvall, and HJ Sung, Oligoproline-Derived Nanocarrier for Dual Stimuli-Responsive Gene Delivery, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2015, 3, 7271 – 7280.

12.   TC Boire*, MK Gupta*, AL Zachman, SH Lee, DA Balikov, AP Marshall, R J Guzman, K Kim, and HJ Sung Tuning of Pendant allyl crosslinking as a tunable shape memory actuator for vascular applications, Acta Biomaterialia 2015, 24, 53-63 (*equal contribution).

13.   MK Gupta, JR Martin, TA Werfel, T Shen, JM Page, and CL Duvall, Cell Protective, ABC Triblock Polymer-Based Thermoresponsive Hydrogels with ROS-Triggered Degradation and Drug Release Journal of the American Chemical Society 2014, 136, 14896–14902.

14.   MK Gupta, TA Mayer, CE Nelson, and CL Duvall Poly(PS-b-DMA) Micelles for Reactive Oxygen Species triggered drug release Journal of Controlled Release, 2012, 162(3), 591-598.

15.   MK Gupta, JM Walthal, R Venkataraman, SW Crowder, DK Jung, SS Yu, X Wang, TD Giorgio, CC Hong, FJ Baudenbacher, AK Hatzopoulos, and HJ Sung   Combinatorial Polymer Electrospun Matrices Promote Physiologically-Relevant Cardiomyogenic Stem Cell Differentiation, PLoS ONE 2011, 6(12), e28935.