People

Ester J. Kwon is an Associate professor of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Kwon earned her B.S. in Bioengineering and B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. She went on to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Bioengineering with Suzie H. Pun, where she engineered polymeric nanoparticles that were grafted with peptides to give them biological function for the delivery of therapeutic nucleic acid into the central nervous system. Her postdoctoral research was completed in the laboratory of Sangeeta N. Bhatia at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, she engineered several nanomaterial scaffolds for application to cancer, bacterial infections, and traumatic brain injury. Her lab in the Bioengineering Department at UCSD engineers nanoscale tools, diagnostics, and treatments for diseases of the central nervous system. In order to fulfill these goals, Dr. Kwon is motivated to create an inclusive research environment through the individualized mentorship of trainees and outreach to young scientists. Dr. Kwon is a recipient of the pre- and post-doctoral NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards, the 2018 NIH Director’s New Innovator award, a 2021 NSF CAREER Award and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs-Kavli Foundation Chancellor’s Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Brain and Mind.