Chandrasekaran lab in 2025

MAJOR UPDATES

Arun became a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at UAlbany. Our primary affiliation and home is now the Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in the College of Nanotechnology, Science and Engineering at UAlbany.

People

We continue to grow, with a total of 11 lab members at the end of 2025, including a research scientist, a postdoctoral associate, 2 research associates, 2 PhD students, 3 undergraduate researchers and 1 high school researcher. Check out our team members here.

  • Nada Kabbara joined the lab as a full-time research associate in May 2025.

  • Sarah Youssef joined the lab as a post-doctoral associate in November 2025.

  • Mengyao Zheng, former undergrad researcher in the lab, joined as a full-time research associate in December 2025.

Chandrasekaran lab in the media

We were highlighted in several media and news outlets for our work this year.

  • The College Tour, Amazon Prime Show featuring lab alumni Leann Nicholas and the laboratory (2025). Catch a glimpse of life and learning at the University at Albany on The College Tour Season 15 premiere episode, streaming now on Amazon Prime video. In this series, hosted by Emmy-nominated presenter Alex Boylan, each 30-minute episode showcases a U.S. university through engaging student stories and captivating campus footage.

Publications

PREPRINTS

  • Paranemic cohesion of DNA molecules in different counter ions at room and physiological temperatures.
    L Anderson, H Talbot & AR Chandrasekaran
    bioRxiv 2025.08.21.671517 (2025).

  • Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) and DNA hybrid three-way junctions and mesojunctions.
    BR Madhanagopal, A Patel, H Talbot, JA Geary, KN Ganesh & AR Chandrasekaran
    bioRxiv, 2025.05. 15.653195 (2025).

  • Mechanistic insights into crossover-dependent stability and exceptional resistance of PX/JX nanostructures to DNase I using enhanced sampling.
    S Mandal, AR Chandrasekaran & PK Maiti
    bioRxiv, 2025.04.17.649409 (2025).

JOURNAL ARTICLES

  • Controlled reassociation of multistranded, polycrossover DNA molecules into double helices.
    N Kabbara, L Anderson, S Singha & AR Chandrasekaran
    Nano Letters 25: 16658 (2025).

  • DNA nanostructure self-assembly in an aqueous ionic liquid solution with enhanced stability and target binding affinity.
    D Gandavadi, H Talbot, A Dwivedy, S Umrao, A Rodriguez, H Cho, M Zheng, AR Chandrasekaran & X Wang
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 147: 42635 (2025).

  • DNA nanocarriers for nucleic acid drug delivery
    BR Madhanagopal & AR Chandrasekaran
    Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery DOI: 10.1080/17425247.2025.2565418 (2025).

  • Mismatch-induced toehold-free strand displacement used to control a DNA nanodevice.
    H Talbot & AR Chandrasekaran
    ACS Synthetic Biology, 14: 1931 (2025).

  • Isothermal assembly of DNA nanostructures
    AR Chandrasekaran
    Chemical Communications, 61: 7983 (2025).

  • Counterions influence the isothermal self-assembly of DNA nanostructures.
    A Rodriguez, BR Madhanagopal, K Sarkar, Z Nowzari, J Mathivanan, H Talbot, A Patel, V Morya, K Halvorsen, S Vangaveti, JA Berglund & AR Chandrasekaran
    Science Advances, 11: eadu7366 (2025).

  • Tuning the stability of DNA tetrahedra with base-stacking interactions.
    JA Punnoose, D Cole, AR Chandrasekaran & K Halvorsen
    Nano Letters, 25: 3605 (2024).

  • DNA nanotechnology in the undergraduate laboratory: Toehold-less strand displacement in switchback DNA.
    BR Madhanagopal & AR Chandrasekaran
    JACS Au 5: 1069 (2024).

BOOK CHAPTERS

 

Awards

  • Hannah Talbot, Best Podium Presentation Award, Life Science Research Symposium 2025, UAlbany.

  • Shubhajit Singha, Best Poster Award, Life Science Research Symposium 2025, UAlbany.

  • Antoinette Mastrangelo, Best Poster Award, Life Science Research Symposium 2025, UAlbany.

  • Lauren Anderson, Best Poster Award, RNA Day Poster Session, UAlbany.

  • Lauren Anderson, Best Poster Award, Annual RNA Institute Retreat.

  • Gwenyth Gallagher, SUNY Chancellor’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in RNA, UAlbany.

  • Aleena Saleem, Linda Austin DNA Science and Technology Award, Regeneron Greater Capital Region Science & Engineering Fair, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • Leah Punnoose, 2025 President’s Award for Undergraduate Research, UAlbany.

  • Leah Punnoose, 2025 President's Award for Leadership: Outstanding Senior Award, UAlbany.

  • Leah Punnoose, 2025 Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence, Leah Punnoose, SUNY-wide award.

 

Grants

Arun received UAlbany’s Minerva Center Innovation Funding to undertake research project with undergraduate researchers.

Presentations

Lab members gave seminars, talks and poster presentations at various events in 2025.

  • Madhan Bharath Raj, Oral presentation, Gordon Research Seminar on RNA Nanotechnology.

  • Madhan Bharath Raj, Poster presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Madhan Bharath Raj, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.

  • Madhan Bharath Raj, Poster presentation, Gordon Research Seminar on RNA Nanotechnology.

  • Hannah Talbot, Oral presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Hannah Talbot, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.

  • Shubhajit Singha, Poster presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Shubhajit Singha, Poster presentation, American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2025 Meeting.

  • Shubhajit Singha, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.

  • Nada Kabbara, Poster presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Nada Kabbara, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute Summer Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Antoinette Mastrangelo, Poster presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Antoinette Mastrangelo, Poster presentation, Regeneron Capital Region Showcase, Hudson Valley Community College.

  • Antoinette Mastrangelo, Poster presentation, Biology Undergraduate Symposium.

  • Gwenyth Gallagher, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute Summer Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Gwenyth Gallagher, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.

  • Gwenyth Gallagher, Poster presentation, Showcase Day 2025, UAlbany.

  • Gwenyth Gallagher, Poster presentation, Regeneron Capital Region Showcase, Hudson Valley Community College.

  • Lauren Anderson, Poster presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Lauren Anderson, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute Summer Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Lauren Anderson, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.

  • Mengyao Zheng, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute Summer Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Mengyao Zheng, Poster presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.

  • Mengyao Zheng, Poster presentation, Life Science Research Symposium, UAlbany.

  • Leah Punnoose, Poster presentation, Showcase Day 2025, UAlbany.

  • Aleena Saleem, Poster presentation, Regeneron Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • Arun Richard Chandrasekaran, Invited talk, NANOvember Lecture Series, UAlbany.  

  • Arun Richard Chandrasekaran, Oral presentation, The RNA Institute’s Annual Retreat.