Shilpa Sant
Professor of Pharmaceutical Scieces, Pharmaceutical Sciences
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About
Overview:
Shilpa Sant, PhD is a full Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Retzky College College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois Chicago with a membership in Translational Oncology program at the University of Illinois Cancer Center. She is a faculty member at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Sant is a pharmaceutical scientist by training (BPharm Pharmaceutical Science, MPharm Pharmacology and PhD Pharmaceutical Technology) with a strong background in biomaterials, bioengineering, micro/nanoscale technologies, and cancer biology.
Dr. Sant has contributed over 75 research/review articles including edited book on nanomaterials, edited journal issue and 5 awarded US patents. Her research is funded by NIH. She is an elected Fellow of The American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She has also been recognized by prestigious fellowships and awards including 2017 Young Innovator’s Award, 2016 Rising Star Early Career Faculty Award and 2013 Rising Star Fellow Award from Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering Society. She has served on many NIH, NSF, DoD as well as international grant review panels. She serves as an editorial board member of Scientific Reports, review editor for Frontiers Bioengineering and Biotechnology/Biomaterials and review editor for Frontiers Cell and Developmental biology/signaling. Dr. Sant is a member of TERMIS, Society for Biomaterials, American Association of Cancer Research, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the Indian Pharmaceutical Association.
Research Interests:
The primary research interest in the Sant laboratory is to engineer three-dimensional disease microenvironments and organoids by developing novel biomaterials- and micro-/nanotechnology-based approaches. Our disease focus includes breast cancer, ectopic calcifications, and infectious diseases. The major goals are: 1) to elucidate molecular mechanisms by which microenvironmental factors drive disease progression and tissue repair/regeneration and 2) to design therapeutic strategies to halt or promote such processes.
Sant laboratory has developed innovative technologies to build three-dimensional physiologically relevant disease or regenerative microenvironments. We have leveraged these technologies to recapitulate the hallmarks of primary breast cancer, specifically, to study the biological role of various microenvironmental factors in driving progression from non-invasive to invasive disease. We are specifically interested in the early mechanisms in the primary tumor microenvironment that drive tumor heterogeneity, epithelial-mesenchymal plasicity and metastatic phenotypes. As an example, we have engineered controlled hypoxic microenvironments to mimic hallmarks of breast tumor progression in the same non-invasive cell lines and patient-derived cells without genetic modification or artificial culture conditions. We have adapted this technology to develop the first-of-its-kind tri-culture human brain organoid platform incorporating primary human neurons, astrocytes, and microglia to model HIV-induced neuropathogenesis. Under the research theme of regenerative microenvironments, we have developed mineralized collagen-mimetic hydrogels as a growth factor-free approach to promote bone regeneration. Our research has been funded by external and internal grant funding, resulting in multiple high-impact research papers and patent applications and receiving numerous awards.
Teaching and Supervision
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
Pharm Sciences Rotation (PSCI 592), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
Pharmaceutics II: Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms & Calculations (PHAR 432), 1/17/2025 – 5/9/2025
PDAT 9: Hematology/Oncology (PHAR 509), 1/13/2025 – 5/2/2025
PDAT 9: Hematology/Oncology (PHAR 509), 1/13/2025 – 5/2/2025
PDAT 9: Hematology/Oncology (PHAR 509), 1/13/2025 – 5/2/2025
PDAT 9: Hematology/Oncology (PHAR 509), 1/13/2025 – 5/2/2025
PDAT 9: Hematology/Oncology (PHAR 509), 1/13/2025 – 5/2/2025
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 1/13/2025 – 5/2/2025
Selected Grants
Three-dimensional organoid models to study breast cancer progression, National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute)., 7/1/2023 - 6/30/2025, Obligated Amount: $826717; Anticipated Amount: $847965
Modeling HIV-1 Neuropathogenesis and neuronal dysregulation using 3D-organoids containing multiple CNS cell lineages, University of Pittsburgh., 6/1/2023 - 8/31/2024, Obligated Amount: $99792; Anticipated Amount: $99792
Selected Publications
Wang, Huijing, Ardila, Catalina, Jindal, Ajita, Aggarwal, Vaishali, Wang, Weikang, Vande Geest, Jonathan, Jiang, Yi, Xing, Jianhua, Sant, Shilpa. (2025). Protrusion force and cell-cell adhesion-induced polarity alignment govern collective migration modes. Biophysical Journal, 124, (10), 1674-1692. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2025.04.010.
Boulton, Dillon P, Hughes, Connor J, Vaira, Valentina, Jindal, Ajita, Raza, Masoom, Purdy, Stephen Connor, Sant, Shilpa, Ford, Heide L, Caino, M Cecilia. (2024). Abstract 2770: A novel MIRO2/MYO9B/RhoA signaling axis controls tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Cancer Research, 84, (6_Supplement), 2770-2770. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.am2024-2770.
Gaharwar, Akhilesh K, Mihaila, Silvia M, Swami, Archana, Patel, Alpesh, Sant, Shilpa, Reis, Rui L, Marques, Alexandra P, Gomes, Manuela E, Khademhosseini, Ali. (2023). Bioactive Silicate Nanoplatelets for Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Advanced Materials, 35, (22), e2300774. doi:10.1002/adma.202300774.
Patel, Akhil, Kosanovich, Jessica, Sansare, Sameera, Balmuri, Sricharani, Sant, Vinayak, Empey, Kerry M, Sant, Shilpa. (2023). In vitro and in vivo evaluation of cerium oxide nanoparticles in respiratory syncytial virus infection. Bioactive Materials, 24, 124-135. doi:10.1016/j.bioactmat.2022.12.005.
Li, Zhong Alan, Sant, Shilpa, Cho, Sung Kwon, Goodman, Stuart B, Bunnell, Bruce A, Tuan, Rocky S, Gold, Michael S, Lin, Hang. (2023). Synovial joint-on-a-chip for modeling arthritis: progress, pitfalls, and potential. Trends in Biotechnology, 41, (4), 511-527. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.07.011.
dos Reis, Roberta S, Sant, Shilpa, Ayyavoo, Velpandi. (2023). Three-Dimensional Human Brain Organoids to Model HIV-1 Neuropathogenesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, 2610, 167-178. doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-2895-9_14.
Aggarwal, Vaishali, Sahoo, Sarthak, Donnenberg, Vera S, Chakraborty, Priyanka, Jolly, Mohit Kumar, Sant, Shilpa. (2022). P4HA2: A link between tumor-intrinsic hypoxia, partial EMT and collective migration. Advances in Cancer Biology – Metastasis, 5, 100057. doi:10.1016/j.adcanc.2022.100057.
Gadag, Shivaprasad, Narayan, Reema, Nayak, Archana S, Catalina Ardila, Diana, Sant, Shilpa, Nayak, Yogendra, Garg, Sanjay, Nayak, Usha Y. (2021). Development and preclinical evaluation of microneedle-assisted resveratrol loaded nanostructured lipid carriers for localized delivery to breast cancer therapy. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 606, 120877. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.120877.
Aggarwal, Vaishali, Montoya, Catalina Ardila, Donnenberg, Vera S, Sant, Shilpa. (2021). Interplay between tumor microenvironment and partial EMT as the driver of tumor progression. iScience, 24, (2), 102113. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102113.
Professional Leadership
AIMBE Cellular and Tissue Engineering Review Committee, 8/5/2024 - 8/28/2024
Awards Committee, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society- Americas (TERMIS-AM), 1/1/2020 - 12/31/2024
Notable Honors
2024, Inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
Education
Degrees:
PhD, University of Montreal Faculty of Pharmacy, Canada
Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bombay College of Pharmacy, University of Mumbai, India
Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bombay College of Pharmacy, University of Mumbai, India
Postgraduate Training:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, United States