Therapeutic RNA Nanotechnology

Kirill A. Afonin is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, vice president and founding council member of the International Society of RNA Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine (ISRNN). He has focused his studies on RNA biology and nanotechnology with potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications in biomedicine. He has published more than 65 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, co-authored 16 book chapters, edited two books, and holds 12 US patents, two of which are licensed to biotech companies. He is also a member of several scientific societies and a reviewer for many international scientific journals and funding agencies. Dr. Afonin is a recipient of two NIH Fellows Awards for Research Excellence, a prestigious NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award, and two NIH R01s.

Morgan Chandler received her BS in biological sciences with honors from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte prior to joining the Nanoscale Science PhD Program there. Her work in The Afonin Lab has focused on the dynamic design, delivery, and immunostimulatory properties of nucleic acid nanoparticles and their interactions with other classes of biomolecules. Morgan has co-authored more than a dozen papers and four book chapters in the field.