Team

Nano RED is about people. We believe in people, and we recruit the best. Each of our core team members is a dedicated and successful scientist with a background in biotechnology and business. Our team shares the collective goal of bringing these powerful platforms into the clinical realm to benefit patients. Nano RED's core team is supplemented by clinical oncologists, virology and molecular biology experts, venture capitalists and successful biotechnology entrepreneurs who serve as trusted advisors.

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Our History

In the fall of 2015, a group consisting of a graduate student and post-doctoral fellows at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Blood Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee saw an opportunity. A powerful new platform had the potential to deliver cancer therapeutics in an entirely new way to dramatically enhance tumor specificity. Gang Xin, PhD, Karthika Divakaran, PhD, and Johnathan Ebben, MD, PhD, came together to participate in the Nanotechnology Startup Challenge in Cancer, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Center for Advancing Innovation. 

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Dr. Ebben worked on the frontlines in the ICU setting caring for patients afflicted with COVID-19. He saw the disproportionate impact that the virus has on the immunocompromised. This fueled a passion to innovate the work being done at NANO RED to address the pandemic. The result is an entirely new platform that may fundamentally change the way we treat respiratory viral illnesses, providing new options to patients and new tools to address emerging pandemics. The NSF has recognized the significant promise of this work with a Phase I SBIR award.