Samagya Banskota

Precision genome editing technologies have the potential to treat the root causes of many genetic diseases by enabling precise and targeted DNA modification. However, safe and effective delivery remains a major barrier to clinical translation. My lab’s research lies at the intersection of synthetic biology, protein engineering, drug delivery, and gene editing, with a focus on developing cross-disciplinary solutions to delivery challenges. We create tools to probe and manipulate macromolecular transport in order to identify key delivery barriers and opportunities. We integrate these insights with synthetic biology and protein engineering to design genetically encoded and stimuli-responsive delivery systems. By overcoming delivery bottlenecks, our goal is to make transformative therapeutics such as genome editors safe, accessible, and affordable, particularly for rare genetic diseases.

In parallel, my lab develops molecular engineering and screening platforms to accelerate therapeutic discovery and optimization for rare genetic diseases. We combine protein engineering, drug delivery, and high-throughput screening approaches to design, evolve, and evaluate biomolecules and delivery vehicles with improved function. These efforts enable the rapid identification of more efficient, specific, and clinically translatable therapeutic systems, while also generating broadly useful tools for the research community.