Rate My Professor Jayandharan Rao

Rao's research centers on gene therapy and human molecular genetics, with a focus on engineering adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to treat monogenic diseases such as hemophilia and retinal degeneration, as well as cancers like hepatocellular carcinoma and leukemia. His laboratory has developed indigenous gene therapy vectors, including those licensed to Reliance Life Sciences for hereditary eye diseases and hemophilia B. Key publications include the edited volume "Gene and Cell Therapy: Biology and Applications" (Springer, 2018), "AAV-mediated combination gene therapy of inducible Caspase 9 and miR-199a-5p is therapeutic in hepatocellular carcinoma" (Cancer Gene Therapy, 2024), "Development of an Optimized Promoter System for Exosomal and Naked AAV Vector-Based Suicide Gene Therapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma" (ACS Omega, 2024), and "Suppressing microtubule detyrosination augments AAV2 endosomal escape and gene delivery" (Journal of Cell Science, 2025). Among his numerous honors are the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Senior Fellowship (2017-2022), B.M. Birla Science Prize in Biology (2015), Swarnajayanti Fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (2012-2017), Senior Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award from the Department of Biotechnology (2014-2017), Bayer Hemophilia Early Career Investigator Award (2010), and Joy Gill Chair Professorship at IIT Kanpur (2015-2018). Rao serves on editorial boards of journals including Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Human Gene Therapy, and Cancer Gene Therapy, and has chaired global outreach and training committees for the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis.