Rate My Professor Asha Patel

Dr. Asha Patel is an Associate Professor in Advanced Therapies at the National Heart and Lung Institute within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine. Trained as a pharmacist, she holds an MPharm and obtained her PhD in Biomaterials for Stem Cell Differentiation from the University of Nottingham in 2014. Following her PhD, Patel undertook four years of postdoctoral training as an EPSRC Early Career Term (ETERM) fellow at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in the laboratory of Professor Daniel Anderson. There, she developed degradable polymeric vectors for nebulised delivery of mRNA to the lungs. She joined Imperial College London in 2018 as a Lecturer in Cell and Gene Therapy and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Advanced Therapies in 2024.

Patel's research specializes in nucleic acid therapeutics and gene therapy for respiratory diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer, and genetic lung disorders. Her work focuses on inhaled nanoformulated mRNA polyplexes for protein replacement therapy and epithelial repair using RNA technology. Key publications include 'Inhaled Nanoformulated mRNA Polyplexes for Protein Production in Lung Epithelium' (2019), 'Polymer-Lipid Nanoparticles for Systemic Delivery of mRNA to the Lungs' (2016), and 'High throughput screening for discovery of materials that control stem cell fate' (2016). With over 1,700 citations across 23 research items, her contributions have advanced biomaterials and nanomedicine for regenerative applications. Patel has secured funding from the Medical Research Council, including the MICA project investigating mRNA-encoded growth factors for pulmonary fibrosis repair, and holds an MRC New Investigator award. She received the Elsie Widdowson Fellowship in 2020 to support research following maternity leave, enabling focus on RNA delivery strategies and gene construct engineering. Patel leads a research team, supervises students, and contributes to teaching in advanced therapies, influencing the field through innovations in lung-targeted delivery systems.