The people behind the science

Principal Investigator

Raghuraman Kannan

Dr. Kannan directs the Cancer Nanotechnology Lab and holds joint appointments in Radiology (School of Medicine) and Chemical & Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering) at the University of Missouri. He is a 2025 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and Associate Director of the Immuno-oncology and Therapeutics Program at the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center.

Dr. Kannan earned his MS in Chemistry from IIT Madras and a PhD from IISc Bangalore with a focus on Organometallic Chemistry. He then completed postdoctoral research in Radiopharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Missouri, where he developed novel, clinic-friendly kit-based protocols for labeling radioisotopes, including Tc-99m and Au-199. Over the past three decades, he has pioneered research in nanomedicine and metal-based radiopharmaceuticals, work that includes over 60 publications and patents, and four startup companies translating discoveries toward the clinic.