Molecular Pharmacology Program

The Daniel Heller Lab

Research

Daniel A. Heller, PhD

Member, Molecular Pharmacology Program, SKI

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

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

Video Details

Heller Lab members at Cycle for Survival 2025

Featured News

Education

MSK scientists Daniel Heller and Kayvan Keshari with a confocal microscope.

MSK’s Cancer Engineering Focus Draws Top Scientists

Learn how a new cancer engineering PhD program is attracting leading scientists to come to MSK.

Education

MSK biochemist and imaging specialist Kayvan Keshari and biomedical engineer Daniel Heller.

A New Breed of Cancer Fighters

Read about a first-of-its kind PhD program that enables aspiring scientists to tackle tough cancer problems.

SKI biomedical engineer Dr. Daniel Heller

Getting Drugs Across the Blood-Brain Barrier Using Nanoparticles

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

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Publications Highlights

Handbook of Carbon Nanomaterials (In 2 Volumes) Volume 11: Carbon Nanotubes in Biomedicine: From Fundamentals to Therapeutic Applications; Volume 12: Advances in Carbon Nanotube Chemistry, Safety, and Applications in Biomedical Research. Pages: 656 Edited by: Daniel A Heller (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA) and Mijin Kim (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) (2025)

N Berisha, A Farahpour, M Ramakrishnan, C Chen, SA McPhee, T Wang, T-D Li, K Hema, M Panagiotakopoulou, V Athiyarath, M Coste, Y Marciano, E Sherman, RV Ulijn*, DA Heller*. “Directed discovery of high-loading nanoaggregates enabled by drug-matched oligo-peptide excipients.” Chem (2025) 102404.

Highlighted in: MSK news, Chemical & Engineering News, and Chem.

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).

Highlighted in: MSK News and Nature Materials News & Views

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People

Daniel A. Heller, PhD

Member, Molecular Pharmacology Program, SKI

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

hellerd@mskcc.org: Email Address
646-888-3419: Office Phone
Download CV: PDF File

Members

Daniel A. Heller

Lab Head

Philip Asamani

Graduate Student, CUNY Chemistry PhD Program

Olivia Barr

NE WGS Student Graduate Studies. Program: Neuroscience PhD

Atena Farahpour

CUNY Chemistry/Nanotechnology PhD Program Student

Christian Figueroa-Espada

Research Scholar

Dana Goerzen

Graduate Student, Weill Cornell PBSB PhD Program

Alec Goffin

Graduate Student

Logan Hillger

Research Technician

Annie Ikemoto

GSK Graduate Student

Arianna Izawa-Ishiguro

Pharmacology PhD Graduate Student

Erin Keblish

Graduate Student, Weill Cornell PBSB PhD Program

Dohyeon Kim

Research Scholar

Mijin Kim

MSKCC Visiting Investigator; Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology

Quincey LaPlant

Assistant Attending L1, Radiation Oncology

Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos

Senior Scientist

Stanislav Piletsky

Postdoctoral Scholar

Boglarka Racz

Laboratory Manager

Kaitlyn Ramdhany

Clinical Research Coordinator

Raashed Raziuddin

Graduate Student, Weill Cornell Pharmacology PhD Program

Isabella Richter

Graduate Student

Leon Wagner

NE WGS Student Graduate Student

Laura Wilson

Senior SKI Administrative Assistant

Jaina Wollowitz

Graduate student, Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology

Takeshi Irie

Assistant Attending, Anesthesiology and Critical Care

Ana Marie Perea

GSK PhD student

Ashley Sullivan

GSK PhD student

Kristen Vogt

Scientist - Immuno-oncology

Stephen Ruiz

Research at RTW Investments, LP

Cynthia Almonte

Clinical Nurse

Merav Antman-Passig

Chief Executive Officer, Life Therapeutics

Elana Apfelbaum

Graduate Student, Weill Cornell Pharmacology PhD Program

Hanan Baker

Resident in Anesthesiology, Bonica Scholars Program, University of Washington

Naxhije Berisha

Process Development Scientist, New England Biolabs

Gavin Black

Associate Consultant, Triangle Insights Group, LLC

Januka Budhathoki-Uprety

Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University

Chen Chen

Postdoctoral Fellow, Genentech

Christian Cupo

Graduate Student, Columbia University

Ron Feiner

Equity Research Associate - smidcap Biotechnology at J.P. Morgan

Rune Frederiksen

Manufacturing Development Engineer, Zoetis Denmark

Thomas Galassi

Director, Scientific Affairs, Pfizer

Emma Grabarnik

Scientist, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Declan Gwynne

Senior Associate Scientist at Generation Bio

Jackson Harvey

Principal, Deerfield

Christopher Horoszko

Application Scientist, On-Line Instrument Systems, Inc. (OLIS)

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 II, SalioGen Therapeutics

Rachel Langenbacher

Associate Medical Writer – PPD

Mandana T. Manzari

Founder and Principal, Honu Consulting

Ewelina Randall

Associate Scientist, Merck

Daniel Roxbury

Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island

Janki Shah

Biomarker Operation Manager, BioNTech SE

Yosef Shamay

Associate Professor, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

Ramya Sridharan

Consultant, Prescient

Daniel Tylawsky

Senior Scientist, Celldex Therapeutics

Jas Wallas

Patent Law Clerk at Foley Lardner LLP and JD Candidate

Ryan Williams

Associate Professor of Medicine at Stony Brook University

Zvi Yaari

Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy, Department of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Achievements

Dr. Christian Figueroa-Espada named 2025 STAT Wunderkind (2025)
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Young Alumni Award, University of Illinois (2024)
Life Sciences Invention of the Year, UM Ventures (2023)
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

https://twitter.com/HellerLab

Accolades

Team Recognitions

Congratulations to Dr. Christian Figueroa-Espada on being named a 2025 STAT Wunderkind! STAT Wunderkinds recognize the top early-career researchers in health and medicine.
Congratulations to Erin Keblish for receiving the award for her poster presentation titled "Applications of Novel Nanotube Functionalization Chemistries for Cytokine Storm Sensing" at the ECS 2025 Meeting!
Congratulations to Janina Wollowitz for receiving the award for her poster presentation titled "Machine Perception-Based Prediction of Pregnancy Loss," at the Vincent du Vigneaud Symposium!
Congratulations to Dana Goerzen for receiving the award for his oral presentation titled "Machine Learning-Enabled Liquid Biopsy Identifies Brain Tumors via Systemic Immune and Tumor Microenvironment Signature" at the Vincent du Vigneaud Symposium!
We are very excited to share that Rein Ulijn and Naxhije Berisha, in collaboration with Daniel Heller, have published an article in Chem by Cell Press. Chem, 2025-01, p.102404, Article 102404
Congratulations to Erin Keblish for winning the 2024 Three Minute Thesis competition!
Congratulations to Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos for winning the AI in Drug Delivery award at CRS 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo!
Congratulations to Jaina Wollowitz on her poster award at the 245th Electrochemical Society Meeting!
Congratulations to Dana Goerzen for being awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Research Award (Funding Number 193220)!
Congratulations to Dana Goerzen for being awarded the General Atlantic Graduate Research Fellowship Award!
Congratulations to Atena Farahpour - awarded the Fall 2023 NanoBioNYC student award in Biomedical Materials!
Congratulations to Dr. Mijin Kim for being selected as a 2023 STAT Wunderkind! The award recognizes the work of early-career scientists and clinicians.
Congratulations to Chen Chen on the Best Poster Award at the 19th Annual Tri-institutional Chemical Biology Symposium!
Congratulations to Mijin Kim on winning the 2023 MSK Postdoctoral Researcher Award!
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
Congratulations to Erin Keblish on winning the 2023 Electrochemical Society Best Poster Award for Industrial/Applied Science
Congratulations to Magdalini Panagiotakopoulos for winning 2nd place and the People's Choice Award in the 2023 MSK Postdoc Slam
Congratulations to Stephen Ruiz for winning the 63rd International Conference on the Bioscience of Lipids Oral Communication Award!!
Congratulations to Mijin Kim for winning the 2023 STAT Wunderkind Award!!

Open Positions

To learn more about available postdoctoral opportunities, please visit our Career Center

To learn more about compensation and benefits for postdoctoral researchers at MSK, please visit Resources for Postdocs

Get in Touch

hellerd@mskcc.org

Lab Head Email
646-888-3419

Office Phone

Disclosures

Members of the MSK Community 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. These activities outside of MSK further our mission, provide productive collaborations, and promote the practical application of scientific discoveries.

MSK requires doctors, faculty members, and leaders 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. Not all disclosed interests and relationships present conflicts of interest. MSK reviews all disclosed interests and relationships to assess whether a conflict of interest exists and whether formal COI management is needed.

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

Celine Therapeutics
Equity; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Concarlo Therapeutics, Inc.
Professional Services and Activities
Lime Therapeutics, Inc.
Equity; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Mediphage Bioceuticals, Inc.
Equity; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
METiS Therapeutics Inc.
Professional Services and Activities

Nanorobotics, Inc.
Equity; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Nine Diagnostics, Inc.
Equity; Fiduciary Role / Position; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Selectin Therapeutics, Inc.
Equity; Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology
Professional Services and Activities
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd
Intellectual Property Rights

The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and 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, 2024 through disclosure submission in spring 2025). 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 ecoi@mskcc.org.

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