New investigator: Bhavesh Kevadiya, PhD

This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2020 Scientist Laureate, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator Award recipients.

• Name: Bhavesh Kevadiya, PhD
• Title: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, College of Medicine
• Joined UNMC: July 2020
• Hometown: Bhavnagar, Gujrat, India

Research focus:

• HIV
• Nanoparticles
• Theranostics

The goal of my research is: Development of strategies for

• Long-acting antiretroviral drugs tracking through molecular imaging technologies;
• Viral delivery and molecular imaging tracking system of CRISPR technology;
• Nano-cocrystal strategy for multi-drug antiretroviral therapy;
• Development of virus like nanoparticles for targeting antiretroviral therapy and monitoring by nuclear medicine and molecular imaging technology; and
• Synthesis of radiolabeled nanoparticles for nuclear medicine and molecular imaging technology for diagnostics as well as a therapeutic purpose.

My research will make a difference because: The aim is to develop effective theranostic nanoparticles for the purpose of effective drug delivery, targeting, multi-modal tracking of antiretroviral agents to treat HIV-1 positive or latent individuals. All of the work is about making the drugs more effective for patients by focusing on translatable research. Of course, beyond my specific research goals, I hope to teach and empower the students in the lab, so that they can lead their own difference-making research in the future.

The best advice I’ve ever been given is:

The best advice I’ve ever been given is to try as many things as possible. I am never focused on a single project in the lab. In science, we know that things will fail, so by constantly trying things I put our lab in position to stick the landing with at least a couple of projects. As Thomas Eddison once said, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 things that don’t work.” The projects that don’t advance aren’t failures, and the ones we keep working on aren’t merely successes. Instead, each and every one is a learning experience for myself and the students.

Three things you may not know about me:

• For each research paper our lab develops, I like to create cover art or figure out the design for that journal. I have produced various cover artworks for different papers our lab has written.
• I like to work with a diverse group of people of multidisciplinary backgrounds. A team of scientists can really create some out-of-the-box projects and tackle challenging tasks.
• I can easily adapt to new environments and new people.