Dr. Shalini Low Nam

Biography

Shalini Low-Nam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University. Her research focuses on membrane biophysics, signal transduction, and single molecule fluorescence imaging. Low-Nam’s work aims to enhance anti-tumor responses using engineered immune cells, addressing the lack of mechanistic understanding in immune cell activation and the tumor microenvironment. She investigates how tumor cells interact with immune cells and the signaling processes that underlie these dynamics. Her studies include macrophage polarization, where she explores how macrophages can be reprogrammed in the tumor niche to produce pro-tumor outcomes. Low-Nam is also interested in the impulse-response function of T cells, developing assays to measure the signaling dynamics at the single-cell level. With a background in Cell Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico, she has engaged in postdoctoral research at institutions including South Dakota State University and the University of California Berkeley. Her interdisciplinary approach combines chemistry, physics, biology, and computer science to explore complex cellular dynamics.

Research Interests

Experience