Principal Investigator

Dr. Ashish Kulkarni is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst. Prior to that, he was an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Bioengineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He obtained his B. Tech. in Chemical Technology from the Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. During his Ph.D., he worked on the design and development of biologically-inspired and chemically-defined synthetic glycans for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. After his Ph.D., he joined Harvard Medical School and MIT as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Shiladitya Sengupta. In Prof. Sengupta laboratory, his research efforts were focused on the development of structure-activity relationship-inspired nanomedicine for cancer therapy.

As an independent Faculty Member at UMass Amherst, he is working on the development of platform technologies for immunotherapy applications. His work has been published in very high-impact journals and also gathered a lot of attention, and featured in several science media outlets. He is a recipient of the Hearst Foundation Young Investigator Award, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Career Development Award, American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Scholar-in-training Award, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Young Scientist Award, Junior Faculty Member Mentor Award and Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award.

Awards and Achievements:

• Elected Senior Member, National Academy of Inventors (NAI).2024
• Spotlight Scholar, UMass Amherst.2024
• Emerging Investigator, Biomaterials Science.2022
• R35 Outstanding Investigator Award (MIRA), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), NIH.2022
• NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation.2022
• Manning/IALS Innovation Award, Institute for Applied Life Sciences, UMass Amherst.2021
• Research Scholar, American Cancer Society.2019
• Young Innovator Award, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering Society.2019
• Finalist, Beckman Young Investigator Award.2019
• NextGen Star in Cancer Research, American Association for Cancer Research.2019
• Best Oral Presentation Award, Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting.2018
• Technology Impact Award, Cancer Research Institute.2018
• C&EN’s Talented 12, Featured as one of the Top 12 Rising Stars in Chemistry by ACS Chemical & Engineering News.2017
• Young Investigator Award, Melanoma Research Alliance.2017
• Hearst Young Investigator Award, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.2016
• Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Career Development Award, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School.2016
• Center for Faculty Member Development and Diversity Pillar Award, Junior Faculty Member Mentor Award, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.2016
• AACR-Bristol-Myers-Squibb Scholar-In-Training Award, American Association for Cancer Research.2015
• Young Scientist Travel Award, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.2015
• Career Awards at the Scientific Interface, Semi-finalist, Burroughs Wellcome Fund.2014
• Nominated for Postdoctoral Research Fellow Leadership Award, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.2014
• AACR-Millennium Scholar-In-Training Award, American Association for Cancer Research.2014
• Young Scientist Travel Award, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.2014
• Travel Study Grant, The Cincinnati Branch of the English Speaking Union.2010
• University Research Council Fellowship, University of Cincinnati.2010
• Best Poster Award, Graduate Poster Forum, University of Cincinnati.2010
• Travel Award, The Society for Glycobiology Meeting in San Diego.2009
• Harry B. Mark, Jr. Advanced Standing Research Associate Award, Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati.2009
• Dover Publishing Award, Outstanding Communication Skills in Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati.2009
• Best poster Award, 4th Annual Midwest Carbohydrate and Glyco-biology Symposium.2008