Rate My Professor Nikhil Aggarwal

Dr Nikhil Aggarwal is a Senior Research Fellow in the Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from the National University of Singapore and a Master’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on synthetic biology and microbiome engineering, with particular emphasis on the development of engineered live biotherapeutics for therapeutic applications.

Aggarwal has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications in the field. Notable works include the 2022 review “Microbiome and human health: Current understanding, engineering, and enabling technologies” published in Chemical Reviews, the 2017 article “Designer probiotics for the prevention and treatment of human diseases” in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, the 2020 paper “Engineering probiotics for therapeutic applications: recent examples and translational outlook” in Current Opinion in Biotechnology, the 2025 study “Engineered commensals for targeted nose-to-brain drug delivery” in Cell, the 2024 article “Microbial engineering strategies to utilize waste feedstock for sustainable bioproduction” in Nature Reviews Bioengineering, and the 2026 paper “Engineered commensals for metabolic modulation of the gut-liver-brain axis” in Cell. He is also a co-author on works such as “Prodrug-conjugated tumor-seeking commensals for targeted cancer therapy” in Nature Communications (2024) and “FELICX: A robust nucleic acid detection method using flap endonuclease and CRISPR-Cas12” in Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2023). His contributions support advancements in programmable microbial therapies and metabolic modulation using engineered commensals.