Labs

Agrawal Laboratory

About the Lab

Different grades of gliomas are frequent and the most common type of brain tumors in children as well as adults. These tumors are often aggressive and possess the ability to spread across other regions of the brain. Furthermore, screening and identification of effective drugs demonstrating synergy against these tumors under normal or hypoxic conditions remain a challenge and are generally accomplished by standard multiwell assays that require large quantities of biological and pharmaceutical samples and are prone to errors.

The Agrawal Laboratory is not only investigating the roles of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and Endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways in cancer progression but also developing advanced lab-on-a-chip microdevices for ultra-high-throughput drug screening and real-time cell migration studies. Research efforts are also focused on developing liposome and cell-based immunoengineering techniques for targeted delivery of antigens, pharmaceuticals and other biologics to the tumor microenvironment minimizing their degradation as well as the associated side effects. These research projects are funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Featured Publications

  • Microstencil-based spatial immobilization of individual cells for single cell analysis

    Zaidi, K. , and Agrawal N. Biomicrofluidics 12(6) (2018)

  • Rapid generation and detection of biomimetic oxygen concentration gradients in vitro

    Khan, D.H., Roberts, S.A., Cressman, J.R., and Agrawal, N. Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13886-z (2017)

  • SPIN: Rapid synthesis, purification, and concentration of small drug loaded liposomes

    Roberts, S.A., Parikh, N., Blower, R.J., and Agrawal, N. Journal of Liposome Research DOI: 10.1080/08982104.2017.1381115 (2017)

  • Development of a single-cell migration and extravasation platform through selective surface modification

    Roberts, S.A., Waziri, A. E. and Agrawal, N. Analytical Chemistry DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b04391 (2016)

  • Neutrophil migration assay from a drop of blood

    Agrawal, N., Toner, M. and Irimia, D. Lab on a Chip 8(12):2054-61 (2008)