{"id":18,"date":"2019-03-05T05:27:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T05:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.che.ufl.edu\/jain\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2025-08-11T08:14:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T13:14:22","slug":"dr-jain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/dr-jain\/","title":{"rendered":"PI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"title-block w-100\"><div class=\"container-fluid page-title-container\"><div class=\"title-wrapper\"><h1 class=\"font-heading\"><strong>Piyush K. Jain, PhD<\/strong><br>Principal Investigator<\/h1><hr \/><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"fullwidth-text-block\"><div class=\"container px-0\"><div class=\"row align-items-start\"><div class=\"col-12\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/549\/2025\/01\/Jain-Piyush-Headshot.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2195\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Piyush K. Jain, PhD<\/strong><br>Exxon Mobil Gator Alumni Faculty Endowed Professor &amp; Associate Professor<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Principal Investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Dr. Jain<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>As a Shah Rising Star Professor and Associate Professor at UF, Dr. Jain\u2019s team is developing next-generation diagnostics and genome-editing technologies. His work is routinely published in high-impact journals and has been highlighted by over 10,000 news websites including a <strong>TEDx<\/strong> talk. He has over 40 pending or issued patents and co-founded multiple startups, including <strong>CasNx<\/strong>. His research endeavors have been generously funded, with his projects securing <strong>15\u00a0<\/strong>NIH, CDC, and USDA grants, raising substantial funding of up to <strong>$20 million<\/strong>. Dr. Jain has been honored as the <strong>Senior Member<\/strong> of the <strong>National Academy of Inventors<\/strong> <strong>(NAI)<\/strong>, the <strong>Exxon Mobil Gator Alumni Faculty Endowed Professor<\/strong>, the <strong>Shah Rising Star Endowed Professor<\/strong>, the <strong>UF Provost Excellence Award for Assistant Professors<\/strong>, and the <strong>NIH MIRA-ESI award (R35)<\/strong> by the NIGMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Jain received a bachelor\u2019s in pharmacy from India and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in <strong>Prof. Simon Friedman<\/strong>&#8216;s lab, where he pioneered light-responsive biochemical tools. Subsequently, as a postdoc at MIT in <strong>Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia<\/strong>\u2019s lab, Dr. Jain continued to develop light-responsive nanosensors and gene-editing technologies. His work on CRISPR-based genome editors and diagnostics has been profiled broadly by over <strong>10,000 websites<\/strong> in the scientific news, blogs, and media including <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/piyush-k-jain-884131\/articles\"><strong>The Conversation<\/strong><\/a>, <strong>Yahoo News, Google News, F1000 Prime, CBS, NBC, CBC, News Tribune, MIT News, UF News, International Business Times, TED Blog, ChemistryViews, Futurism, Sina News, Phys.org<\/strong>, etc.<br>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Employment<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Exxon Mobil Gator Alumni Faculty Endowed Professorship<\/strong> August 2024-Present<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Associate Professor,<\/strong> University of Florida (UF), Department of Chemical Engineering, August 2024-Present<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Shah Rising Star Professor,<\/strong> University of Florida (UF), Department of Chemical Engineering, March 2021-2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Assistant Professor,<\/strong>\u00a0University of Florida (UF), Department of Chemical Engineering, August 2018-2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Research Scientist,<\/strong>&nbsp;Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, March 2018-August 2018 (Advisor:&nbsp;<em><strong>Prof. Sangeeta N. Bhatia<\/strong><\/em>)&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Postdoctoral Associate,<\/strong>&nbsp;Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, June 2013- March 2018 (Advisor:&nbsp;<em><strong>Prof. Sangeeta N. Bhatia<\/strong><\/em>)&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Education<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>PhD,&nbsp;University of Missouri-Kansas City,&nbsp;Pharmaceutical Sciences\/Chemistry,&nbsp;May 2013&nbsp;(Advisor:&nbsp;<em>Prof. Simon H. Friedman)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bachelors of Pharmacy,&nbsp;Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (Central University), India,&nbsp;June 2006<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grantsmanship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Active Research Support<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), R61\/R33, <strong>PI: Jain <\/strong>(2024-2029); R61AI181016 (Total: Up to $2.8M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NIH, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), MIRA R35, <strong>PI: Jain <\/strong>(2022-2027); R35GM147788 (Total: Approx. $1.8M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), R21, <strong>PI: Jain <\/strong>(2022-2025); R21AI168795 (Total: Approx. $0.4M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>USDA, Agricultural Research Service, NACA, <strong>PI: Jain <\/strong>(2022-2025); 58-6066-2-044 (Total: Approx. $0.2M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), R0, <strong>PI: Juliano <\/strong>(2022-2027); R01AI165537 (Total: Approx. $3.4M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), <strong>PI: Dinglasan <\/strong>(2021-2026); GH002338 (Total: Up to $10M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>UF, Research Opportunity Seed Fund, <strong>PI: Kladde<\/strong> (2023-2025); 00132775 (Total: Approx. $0.1M)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>UF, Excellence Award for Assistant Professors, <strong>PI: Jain<\/strong> (2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Endowment, Shah Rising Star Professorship,&nbsp;<strong>PI: Jain<\/strong>&nbsp;(2020-2024)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Completed Research Support<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),&nbsp;<strong>PI: Jain&nbsp;<\/strong>(2021-2024); R21AI156321, Total Award Amount: $419,375<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>UF Health Cancer Center, GU Cancers Pilot Grant, <strong>PI: Jain<\/strong> (2022-2024); AWD007779 (Total:$100,000)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NIH, Office of the Director (OD),<strong> PI: Maden <\/strong>(2019-2022), R21OD028211, Total Award Amount: $419,375<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sarepta Therapeutics, <strong>PI: Vulpe <\/strong>(2020-2022), AGR00018125 TO No. 3, Total Award Amount: $761,593<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>United States-India Science &amp; Technology Endowment Fund, <strong>PI: Jain <\/strong>(2020-2021), USISTEF\/COVID-I\/247\/2020, Total Award Amount: $68,027<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Florida Breast Cancer Foundation, <strong>PI: Jain<\/strong> (2020-2021), P0175159, Total Award: $100,000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Selected publications<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As <strong>corresponding\/co-corresponding<\/strong> author (a full list is available <u><a href=\"http:\/\/piyushjain.mit.edu\/list-publications-0\">here<\/a><\/u>)&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nguyen LT<sup>\u00a7<\/sup>, Rakestraw NR<sup>\u00a7<\/sup>, Pizzano BL, Young CB, Huang Y, Beerensson KT, Fang A, Antal SG, Anamiss KV, Peggs CM, Yan J, &nbsp;Jing Y, Burdine RD, Adamson B, Toettcher JE, Myhrvold C*, and Jain PK*, Efficient Genome Editing with Chimeric Oligonucleotide-Directed Editing. <em><strong>bioRxiv<\/strong><\/em>. 2024 Jul 10:2024-07. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2024.07.09.602710v2\">[View]<\/a> [<sup>\u00a7<\/sup><strong>Equal contributions<\/strong>][*<strong>Corresponding authors<\/strong>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nguyen LT, Macaluso NC, Rakestraw NR, Carman DR, Pizzano BLM, Hautamaki RC, and Jain PK* Harnessing Non-canonical crRNAs to Improve Functionality of Cas12a Orthologs&#8221;, <em><strong>Cell Reports<\/strong>,<\/em> 2024- <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell-reports\/fulltext\/S2211-1247(24)00105-0\">[View]<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2021.07.21.21260653v1\">[medRxiv-2021]<\/a> [*<strong>Corresponding author<\/strong>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rananaware SR, Vesco EK, Shoemaker GM, Anekar SS, Sandoval LSW, Meister KS, Macaluso NC, Nguyen LT, and Jain, PK*, Programmable RNA detection with CRISPR-Cas12a. <em><strong>Nature Communications<\/strong><\/em>, 2023, 14 (5409), doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-023-41006-1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-023-41006-1\">[View]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchsquare.com\/article\/rs-2549171\/v1\">[<em>Research Square, 2023<\/em>]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2023.01.29.525716v1.full\">[<em>bioRxiv,<\/em> 2023]<\/a> <strong>[*Corresponding author]<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nguyen LT<sup>\u00a7<\/sup>, Rananaware SR<sup>\u00a7<\/sup>, Yang LG<sup>\u00a7<\/sup>, Macaluso NC<sup>\u00a7<\/sup>, Ocana-Ortiz JE, Meister KS, Pizzano BLM, Sandoval LSW, Hautamaki RC, Fang ZR, Joseph SM, Shoemaker GM, Carman DR, Chang L, Rakestraw NR, Zachary JF, Guerra S, Perez A, Jain PK*, Engineering Highly Thermostable Cas12b via De Novo Structural Analyses for One-Pot Detection of Nucleic Acids <em><strong>Cell Reports Medicine<\/strong>,&nbsp;<\/em>2023, 4(5), 101037 <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.xcrm.2023.101037\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.xcrm.2023.101037<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.xcrm.2023.101037\">[View]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/issue\/S2666-3791(22)X0006-2#fullCover\">[Highlighted on the cover]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2022.10.02.22280626v1\">[medRxiv, 2022]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4309028\">[SSRN, 2023] <\/a>[*<strong>Corresponding author<\/strong>][<sup>\u00a7<\/sup><strong>Equal contributions<\/strong>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nguyen, LT, Macaluso N, Pizzano B, Cash M, Spacek J, Karasek J, Miller MR, Lednicky JA, Dinglasan RD, Salemi M, and Jain PK* A Thermostable Cas12b from Brevibacillus Leverages One-pot Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern <em><strong>eBioMedicine- THE LANCET<\/strong><\/em><em>, <\/em>2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ebiom.2022.103926\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ebiom.2022.103926<\/a> [*<strong>Corresponding author<\/strong>] [<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/34704101\/\"><em>medRxiv<\/em><\/a>]&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4008146\">[Preprints with THE LANCET]<\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/action\/showPdf?pii=S2352-3964%2822%2900110-4\"> [Download pdf]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/ebiom\/article\/PIIS2352-3964(22)00110-4\/fulltext\">[View]<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nguyen, LT, Rananaware SR, Pizzano BLM, Brandon ST, and Jain PK* Clinical validation of engineered CRISPR\/Cas12a for rapid SARS-CoV-2 detection.<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s43856-021-00066-4\"><\/a><em><strong>Communications Medicine- Nature, <\/strong>2022, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s43856-021-00066-4\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s43856-021-00066-4<\/a>&nbsp;[*<strong>Corresponding author<\/strong>] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s43856-021-00066-4.pdf\">[Download pdf]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s43856-021-00066-4\">[View]<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nguyen, LN, Smith, BM, <strong>Jain PK*<\/strong> Enhancement of trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a with engineered crRNA enables amplified nucleic acid detection <em><strong>Nature Communications<\/strong>, <\/em>2020, 11<strong>,&nbsp;<\/strong>4906 [<strong>*Corresponding author<\/strong>] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-020-18615-1.pdf\">[Download pdf]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-020-18615-1\">[View]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.04.13.036079v1\">[BioRxiv version]<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jain PK*<\/strong>, Lo JH, Rananaware S, Downing M, Panda A, Tai M, Raghavan S, Fleming HE and Bhatia SN*. Non-viral delivery of CRISPR\/Cas9 complex using CRISPR-GPS nanocomplexes. <strong><em>Nanoscale<\/em><\/strong>,<em> 2019; <\/em>11, 21317-21323 [<strong>*Co-corresponding author]<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/piyushjain.mit.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/Jain_et_al-2018-ChemBioChem.pdf\">[Download pdf]<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/cbic.201800028\/full\">[View]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Selected Honors and Awards<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Academy of Inventors (NAI)<\/strong> | <strong>Senior Member<\/strong> (2025-Current)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exxon Mobil Gator Alumni Faculty Endowed Professorship<\/strong> (2024-Current)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UF Provost Excellence Award<\/strong> for Assistant Professors (2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UF HWCOE Excellence Award<\/strong> for Assistant Professors (2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>NIH-NIGMS MIRA,&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Maximizing Investigators&#8217; Research Award <\/strong>(2022)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>TEDx Speaker <\/strong>(2022)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Shah Rising Star Professorship\u00a0<\/strong>(2021-2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dissertation Research Fellowship <\/strong>(2011-2012)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship <\/strong>(2008-2011)&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Courses Taught<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Department of Chemical Engineering,&nbsp;<\/em><em>University of Florida,&nbsp;<\/em><em>Gainesville FL, USA<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Introduction to Biomolecular Engineering (BME3406)<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fall 2022, Fall 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Biology for Engineers (ABE2062)<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fall 2021<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pharmaceutical BioEngineering (ECH4905, ECH6937)<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spring 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2024<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Material and Energy Balance (ECH3023)<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fall 2018, Spring 2020<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":468,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2741,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions\/2741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.eng.ufl.edu\/piyush-jain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}