Daniel Gallego-Perez's Biography

Daniel Gallego-Perez, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University

Dr. Gallego-Perez is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and General Surgery at the Ohio State University (OSU). The Gallego-Perez lab has pioneered the use of non-viral nanotransfection technologies to control cell fate, in vivo, as a potential therapeutic approach for different disease conditions. Modulating cellular plasticity to induce fully differentiated fates is of tremendous interest for fundamental and translational/clinical applications. Direct reprograming is a promising strategy to achieve this goal, but has relied heavily on the use of viral vectors. Recognizing the translational barriers to the use of viruses, and the caveats of standard gene delivery technologies, the Gallego-Perez Lab has focused on developing non-viral, nanotechnology-based platforms, to enable cellular reprogramming, in vivo. This has led to the development of novel cell therapies to potentially treat different disorders, including stroke, nerve injury, diabetes, obesity, and cancer, among others. Dr. Gallego-Perez has ~70 publications, many in top tier journals. In addition to high impact publications, his research has resulted in ~20 patent filings, 3 of which have been issued or awarded already, and 11 of which were recently licensed to industry. Gallego-Perez is also the recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2018), the Distinguished Alumni Award from his undergraduate alma mater, the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator Award (2020), the OSU College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award (2020), Lumley Research Award (2020), Lumley Interdisciplinary Research Award (2017), and Institute for Materials Research Innovation Award (2017).