Meet UNMC New Investigator Awardee Maneesh Jain, Ph.D.

UNMC researcher Maneesh Jain, Ph.D., answers questions about his work, life and interests.

NOTE: This profile is part of a series to highlight the 23 researchers who will be honored May 22 at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2011 Scientist Laureate, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator award recipients.

Maneesh Jain, Ph.D.

• Name: Maneesh Jain, Ph.D.
  
• Title: Assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology
  
• Joined UNMC: December 2001
  
• Hometown: Delhi/Tundla, India

Describe your research in laymen’s terms.

Our research focuses on improving the delivery of antibody-based therapeutic agents in solid tumors by altering the design of the antibodies and modulating tumor microenvironment by ‘tumor-selective’ agents.

How do you want your research to translate to benefit patients?

The major objective of my research is to improve the delivery of macromolecule-based targeted therapeutics and diagnostics to solid tumors. We believe that the knowledge emerging from our efforts will not only result in a novel combination therapy for lethal pancreatic cancer but can potentially lead to improved efficacy and decreased side effects of some chemotherapies.

What is the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you, professional or personal?

“Give your 100 percent effort to whatever you do because that is the only thing you can control and never give up on something you truly believe in. You may not see the results immediately but in the long run you will not be disappointed.”

This is what Dr. Surinder Batra, my mentor and chairman, told me when I first submitted my postdoctoral fellowship to the Department of Defense in 2003. The application was unsuccessful then and six subsequent times when submitted to various funding agencies. Eventually, the idea got support in 2010-11 when we submitted the grant to NIH and it received a top score.

Personally my father told me that “your opinion about yourself should not be affected by what others think about you. … If you can face yourself, you can face the world.”

List three things few people know about you.

• I discovered my musical and culinary skills relatively late in life. This is good; otherwise I would have either been playing in a band or running a restaurant.
  
• As a child, I used to look after multiple aspects of my father’s medical store, which is the equivalent of a pharmacy in the U.S.
  
• I love to read medical thrillers and have a large collection of Robin Cook novels.