Pinunta Nittayacharn, PhD

Pinunta Nittayacharn received her B.Eng and M.Eng in Biomedical Engineering from Mahidol University, in Salaya, Thailand, in 2011 and 2014 with research distinction in biopolymer and local drug delivery systems for cancer treatment. After graduation, Pinunta held a position as a full time researcher and lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Mahidol University, for two years. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH and is supported by a scholarship from the Royal Thai Government. She joined Professor Agata Exner’s lab in the Fall of 2016 as a Ph.D. student and is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate. She has started to focus on her new research interests about developing drug-loaded nano-scale ultrasound contrast agents (nanobubbles) for image-guided and drug delivery in cancer treatment. Enhancements in drug accumulation and penetration will allow for greater therapeutic efficiency of cancers. In particular, she works on improving the drug loading capacity of nanobubbles. This approach has great potential for maximizing the treatment directly at the tumor site while minimizing systemic side effects.