Krishanu Saha, PhD
Professor,Biomedical Engineering
Biography
PhD, University of California-Berkeley
Contact Information
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
330 North Orchard Street
Room 4164
Madison, WI 53715
608.316.4313
ksaha@wisc.edu
Saha Lab
Research Statement
Cellular reprogramming allows for the generation of a self-renewing and patient-specific cell source for drug discovery, cell therapies, and regenerative medicine through the generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). hiPSCs can grow indefinitely in culture and retain the ability to mature into any cell type of the human body.
By bringing together stem cell biology, genome engineering and biomaterials expertise, the Saha lab generates new tools for use with hiPSCs to ask unique questions about human biology and disease.
Selected Publications
Wei, S. C., Cantor, A. J., Walleshauser, J., Mepani, R., Melton, K., Bans, A., Khekare, P., Gupta, S., Wang, J., Soares, C., Kiwan, R., Lee, J., McCawley, S., Jani, V., Leong, W. I., Shahi, P. K., Chan, J., Boivin, P., Otoupal, P., Pattnaik, B. R., … Silverman, A. P. (2025). Evaluation of subretinally delivered Cas9 ribonucleoproteins in murine and porcine animal models highlights key considerations for therapeutic translation of genetic medicines. PloS one, 20(6), e0317387. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317387
Saxena, S., Kabra, M., Abdeen, A., Sinha, D., Zhu, M., Xie, R., Hanstad, G., Zepeda, M. A. F., Gamm, D. M., Pattnaik, B. R., Gong, S., & Saha, K. (2025). Genome-Wide CRISPR Screening Identifies Cellular Factors Controlling Nonviral Genome Editing Efficiency. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2025.03.12.642795. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.12.642795
Wei, S. C., Cantor, A. J., Walleshauser, J., Mepani, R., Melton, K., Bans, A., Khekare, P., Gupta, S., Wang, J., Soares, C., Kiwan, R., Lee, J., McCawley, S., Jani, V., Leong, W. I., Shahi, P. K., Chan, J., Boivin, P., Otoupal, P., Pattnaik, B. R., … Silverman, A. P. (2024). Evaluation of subretinally delivered Cas9 ribonucleoproteins in murine and porcine animal models highlights key considerations for therapeutic translation of genetic medicines. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2024.12.30.630799. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.30.630799
Logun, M., Colonna, M. B., Mueller, K. P., Ventarapragada, D., Rodier, R., Tondepu, C., Piscopo, N. J., Das, A., Chvatal, S., Hayes, H. B., Capitini, C. M., Brat, D. J., Kotanchek, T., Edison, A. S., Saha, K., & Karumbaiah, L. (2023). Label-free in vitro assays predict the potency of anti-disialoganglioside chimeric antigen receptor T-cell products. Cytotherapy, 25(6), 670–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcyt.2023.01.008
Metzger, J. M., Wang, Y., Neuman, S. S., Snow, K. J., Murray, S. A., Lutz, C. M., Bondarenko, V., Felton, J., Gimse, K., Xie, R., Li, D., Zhao, Y., Flowers, M. T., Simmons, H. A., Roy, S., Saha, K., Levine, J. E., Emborg, M. E., & Gong, S. (2023). Efficient in vivo neuronal genome editing in the mouse brain using nanocapsules containing CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoproteins. Biomaterials, 293, 121959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121959
Saha K. (2023). Accounting for diversity in the design of CRISPR-based therapeutic genome editing. Nature Genetics, 55(1), 6–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01272-z
Plant, A. L., Piscopo, N., Saha, K., Zylberberg, C., Roy, K., Tsokas, K., Schumm, S. N., & Beachy, S. H. (2022). Implementing systems thinking and data science in the training of the regenerative medicine workforce. NPJ Regenerative medicine, 7(1), 76. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41536-022-00271-2
Mueller, K. P., Piscopo, N. J., Forsberg, M. H., Saraspe, L. A., Das, A., Russell, B., Smerchansky, M., Cappabianca, D., Shi, L., Shankar, K., Sarko, L., Khajanchi, N., La Vonne Denne, N., Ramamurthy, A., Ali, A., Lazzarotto, C. R., Tsai, S. Q., Capitini, C. M., & Saha, K. (2022). Production and characterization of virus-free, CRISPR-CAR T cells capable of inducing solid tumor regression. Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 10(9), e004446. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-004446
Samimi, K., Pattnaik, B. R., Capowski, E. E., Saha, K., Gamm, D. M., & Skala, M. C. (2022). In situ autofluorescence lifetime assay of a photoreceptor stimulus response in mouse retina and human retinal organoids. Biomedical Optics Express, 13(6), 3476–3492. https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.455783
Molugu, K., Battistini, G. A., Heaster, T. M., Rouw, J., Guzman, E. C., Skala, M. C., & Saha, K. (2022). Label-Free Imaging to Track Reprogramming of Human Somatic Cells. GEN biotechnology, 1(2), 176–191. https://doi.org/10.1089/genbio.2022.0001
Movaghar, A., Page, D., Saha, K., Rynn, M., & Greenberg, J. (2021). Machine learning approach to measurement of criticism: The core dimension of expressed emotion. Journal of family psychology: JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 35(7), 1007–1015. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000906
Saha, K., & Roy, K. (2021). Integrating United States biomanufacturing across vaccines and therapeutics. NAM Perspectives, 2021, 10.31478/202104e. https://doi.org/10.31478/202104e
Carlson-Stevermer, J., Das, A., Abdeen, A. A., Fiflis, D., Grindel, B. I., Saxena, S., Akcan, T., Alam, T., Kletzien, H., Kohlenberg, L., Goedland, M., Dombroe, M. J., & Saha, K. (2020). Design of efficacious somatic cell genome editing strategies for recessive and polygenic diseases. Nature Communications, 11(1), 6277. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20065-8
Sinha, D., Steyer, B., Shahi, P. K., Mueller, K. P., Valiauga, R., Edwards, K. L., Bacig, C., Steltzer, S. S., Srinivasan, S., Abdeen, A., Cory, E., Periyasamy, V., Siahpirani, A. F., Stone, E. M., Tucker, B. A., Roy, S., Pattnaik, B. R., Saha, K., & Gamm, D. M. (2020). Human iPSC Modeling Reveals Mutation-Specific Responses to Gene Therapy in a Genotypically Diverse Dominant Maculopathy. American journal of human genetics, 107(2), 278–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.06.011
Wang, Y., Shahi, P. K., Xie, R., Zhang, H., Abdeen, A. A., Yodsanit, N., Ma, Z., Saha, K., Pattnaik, B. R., & Gong, S. (2020). A pH-responsive silica-metal-organic framework hybrid nanoparticle for the delivery of hydrophilic drugs, nucleic acids, and CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing machineries. Journal of Controlled Release, 324, 194–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.04.052
Shankar, K., Capitini, C. M., & Saha, K. (2020). Genome engineering of induced pluripotent stem cells to manufacture natural killer cell therapies. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 11(1), 234. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-020-01741-4
Molugu, K., Harkness, T., Carlson-Stevermer, J., Prestil, R., Piscopo, N. J., Seymour, S. K., Knight, G. T., Ashton, R. S., & Saha, K. (2020). Tracking and Predicting Human Somatic Cell Reprogramming Using Nuclear Characteristics. Biophysical journal, 118(9), 2086–2102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2019.10.014
Steyer B, Bu Q, Cory E, Jiang K, Duong S, Sinha D, Steltzer S, Gamm D, Chang Q, Saha K. (2018). Scarless Genome Editing of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells via Transient Puromycin Selection. Stem Cell Reports, 13;10(2):642-654. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.12.004.
Movaghar A, Mailick MR, Sterling A, Greenberg J, Saha K. (2017) Automated Screening for Fragile X Premutation Carriers Based on Linguistic and Cognitive Computational Phenotypes. Scientific Reports . 7(1):2674. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02682-4. PMCID:PMC5454004.
Li M, Zhao H, Ananiev GE, Musser MT, Ness KH, Maglaque DL, Saha K, Bhattacharyya A, Zhao X. (2017). Establishment of Reporter Lines for Detecting Fragile X Mental Retardation (FMR1) Gene Reactivation in Human Neural Cells. Stem Cells, 35(1):158-169. doi: 10.1002/stem.2463.
Steyer B, Carlson-Stevermer J, Angenent-Mari N, Khalil A, Harkness T, Saha K. (2016) High content analysis platform for optimization of lipid mediated CRISPR-Cas9 delivery strategies in human cells. Acta Biomaterialia, 34:143-158. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2015.12.036.
Carlson-Stevermer J, Goedland M, Steyer B, Movaghar A, Lou M, Kohlenberg L, Prestil R, Saha K. (2016) High-Content Analysis of CRISPR-Cas9 Gene-Edited Human Embryonic Stem Cells. Stem Cell Reports. 12;6(1):109-20. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2015.11.014.
Laperle A, Hsiao C, Lampe M, Mortier J, Saha K, Palecek SP, Masters KS. (2015) α-5 Laminin Synthesized by Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Promotes Self-Renewal. Stem cell reports, 5(2), 195–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2015.06.009
Harkness T, McNulty JD, Prestil R, Seymour SK, Klann T, Murrell M, Ashton RS, Saha K. (2015) High-content imaging with micropatterned multiwell plates reveals influence of cell geometry and cytoskeleton on chromatin dynamics. Biotechnology Journal. 10(10):1555-67. doi: 10.1002/biot.201400756.