Molecular Pharmacology Program

The Daniel Heller Lab

Daniel A. Heller, PhD

Bristol-Myers Squibb/James D. Robinson III Junior Faculty Chair

Cancer Nanomedicine Laboratory

We are a biomedical engineering laboratory that develops nanotechnologies to advance breakthroughs in the research, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer and allied diseases. We develop drug delivery technologies to target therapies to disease sites, advanced diagnostics to detect disease at earlier stages, and nanosensors to accelerate the discovery of new therapies. Please check out our recent innovations using the “View Lab Overview” button below…

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Research Projects

VIDEO | 02:10

Inside My Lab: Daniel Heller

Go inside the lab of Daniel Heller from SKI’s Molecular Pharmacology Program.

Video Details

The Daniel Heller Lab — Members of the Daniel Heller Lab

Featured News

SKI biomedical engineer Dr. Daniel Heller

Getting Drugs Across the Blood-Brain Barrier Using Nanoparticles

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Learn how MSK researchers are investigating the use of nanoparticles to carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier.

A Sensor Sniffs for Cancer, Using Artificial Intelligence

Thursday, May 12, 2022

By detecting molecular signatures in the blood, the sensor may help improve cancer screenings.

To Detect Ovarian Cancer Early, Researchers Look to Nanotechnology

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Could an implantable IUD help detect cancer early, when it is most curable? Scientists at the Sloan Kettering Institute are betting yes.

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Publications

D Tylawsky, H Kiguchi, J Vaynshteyn, J Gerwin, J Shah, T. Islam, J Boyer, D Boué, M Snuderl, M Greenblatt, Y Shamay, P Raju, DA Heller*, “P-selectin-targeted nanocarriers induce active crossing of the blood–brain barrier via caveolin-1-dependent transcytosis. Nature Materials. 22,391-399 (2023).

M Kim, C Chen, P Wang, JJ Mulvey, Y Yang, C Wun, M Antman-Passig, H-B Luo, S Cho, K Long-Roche, LV Ramanathan, A Jagota, M Zheng, Y Wang, DA Heller*. “Machine-Learning-Based Detection of an Ovarian Cancer Disease Fingerprint from Serum via Quantum Defect-Modified Carbon Nanotube Arrays.” Nature Biomedical Engineering (2022). https://www.mskcc.org/news/sensor-sniffs-cancer-using-artificial-intelligence

D Tylawsky, H Kiguchi, J Vaynshteyn, J Gerwin, J Shah, T Islam, M Snuderl, M Greenblatt, D Boué, Y Shamay, P Raju*, DA Heller* “P-selectin Targeting Stimulates Caveolin-1-Mediated Endothelial Transcytosis in Medulloblastoma.” (2021) Preprint. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-658944/v1

Z Yaari, Y Yang, E Apfelbaum, C Cupo, A Settle, Q Cullen, W Cai, K Long Roche, DA Levine, M Fleisher, L Ramanathan, M Zheng, A Jagota, DA Heller*. ”A Perception-Based Machine-Perception Nanosensor Platform to Detect Cancer Biomarkers.” Science Advances 7 (2021) eabj0852. MSK News: https://www.mskcc.org/news/detect-ovarian-cancer-early-researchers-look-nanotechnology

TV Galassi, PV Jena, J Shah, G Ao, E Molitor, Y Bram, A Frankel, J Park, J Jessurun, DS Ory, A Haimovitz-Friedman, D Roxbury, J Mittal, M Zheng, R E Schwartz, DA Heller*. “An Optical Nanoreporter of Endolysosomal Lipid Accumulation Reveals Enduring Effects of Diet on Hepatic Macrophages In Vivo.” Science Translational Medicine 10 (2018) eaar2680.

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People

Daniel A. Heller, PhD

Bristol-Myers Squibb/James D. Robinson III Junior Faculty Chair

Biomedical engineer Daniel Heller is Head of the Cancer Nanotechnology Laboratory, which invents disruptive technologies to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and allied diseases.
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

[email protected]: Email Address
646-888-3419: Office Phone
Download CV: PDF File

Members

Daniel A. Heller, PhD — Daniel A. Heller
Lab Head

Merav Antman-Passig
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Philip Asamani
Graduate Student, CUNY Chemistry PhD Program

Naxhije Berisha
CUNY Chemistry/Nanotechnology PhD Program Student

Chen Chen
Tri-institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology

Dana Goerzen
Graduate Student, Weill Cornell PBSB PhD Program

Declan Gwynne
Senior Research Technician

Takeshi Irie
Assistant Attending, Anesthesiology and Critical Care

Arianna Izawa-Ishiguro
Pharmacology PhD Graduate Student

Erin Keblish
Graduate Student, Weill Cornell PBSB PhD Program

Mijin Kim
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Quincey LaPlant
Assistant Attending L1, Radiation Oncology

Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Ewelina Randall

Undergraduate Researcher

Raashed Raziuddin
Graduate Student, Weill Cornell Pharmacology PhD Program

Ramya Sridharan
PhD Pharmacology Program Weill Cornell, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Ashley Sullivan

MSK Bridge Program Scholar

Daniel Tylawsky
Graduate Student (Weill Cornell Medicine; Pharmacology PhD Program)

Kristen Vogt
Tri-institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology

Laura Wilson
Senior SKI Administrative Assistant

Lab Alumni

Elana Apfelbaum
Graduate Student, Weill Cornell Pharmacology PhD Program

Hanan Baker
Resident in Anesthesiology, Bonica Scholars Program, University of Washington

Gavin Black
Associate Consultant, Triangle Insights Group, LLC

Januka Budhathoki-Uprety, PhD — Januka Budhathoki-Uprety
Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University

Christian Cupo
Graduate Student, Columbia University

Ron Feiner
Equity Research Associate - Medical Devices at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc

Rune Frederiksen
Platform Scientist, Zoetis Denmark

Thomas Galassi
Managing Director, Investor Communications at LifeSci Advisors LLC

Emma Grabarnik
Scientist I, Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health

Christopher Horoszko
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Prakrit Jena, PhD — Prakrit Jena
CTO, Lime Therapeutics, Inc.

Brian J. Joseph
Healey ALS Scholar at Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Hiro Kiguchi
Attending Physician, Division of Oncology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Jaclyn Kubala
Scientist I, SalioGen Therapeutics

Pictured: Rachel Langenbacher — Rachel Langenbacher
Associate Medical Writer – PPD

Mandana T. Manzari
Business Development at Resilience

Daniel Roxbury
Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island

Yosef Shamay
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

Maria Sirenko

Graduate Student, GSK PhD Program

Jasmine Wallas — Jas Wallas
Patent Agent at Smith Baluch LLP

Ryan Williams, PhD — Ryan Williams
Assistant Professor, CCNY

Zvi Yaari, PhD — Zvi Yaari
Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy, Department of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Lab Affiliations

Achievements

American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow (2021)
Pharmacology Teaching and Mentoring Award, Weill Cornell Graduate School (2020)
American Cancer Society Research Scholar (2018)
NSF CAREER Award (2018)
Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Innovators in Cancer Research (2017)

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2012)
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010)
Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowship (2006)

Lab News & Events

Upcoming event

Two Tales in Cancer: Colloidal Drug Aggregates for Drug Delivery & 3D Microenvironments for Drug Discovery

Tuesday, April 25, 2023 - 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Zuckerman Research Center
417 East 68th Street
Room ZRC-105
New York, NY 10065

Accolades

Team Recognitions

Congratulations to Dr. Mijin Kim - NIH K99/R00 awardee!
Congratulations to Naxhije Berisha - Tow Fellowship Awardee!
Congratulations to Dr. Mijin Kim - Kravis WiSE Postdoctoral Fellowship Winner!
Congratulations to Stephen Ruiz - awarded the MERIT Mandel Graduate Fellowship!
Congratulations to Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos – Tow Postdoctoral Fellowship Awardee!
Congratulations to Dr. Mijin Kim – MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35 Innovator!
Congratulations to Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos on winning the Controlled Release Society Poster Prize

Get in Touch

[email protected]

Lab Head Email
646-888-3419

Office Phone

Disclosures

Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.

MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.

Daniel A. Heller discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

Concarlo Holdings, LLC
Provision of Services
Goldilocks Therapeutics Inc.
Fiduciary Role/Position; Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services
Lime Therapeutics, Inc.
Fiduciary Role/Position; Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services (uncompensated)
Mediphage Bioceuticals, Inc.
Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services (uncompensated)

Nanorobotics, Inc.
Ownership / Equity Interests
Nirova BioSense, Inc.
Ownership / Equity Interests
Resident Diagnostics, Inc.
Ownership / Equity Interests; Provision of Services (uncompensated)

The information published here is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.

This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2021 through disclosure submission in spring 2022). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].

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