George is a virologist who uses molecular biology to understand the assembly and properties of viruses.
He uses a synthetic biology approach to create synthetic virus-like particles.
He has exploited a highly efficient transient expression system to produce pharmacologically active proteins within plants.
George’s research uses nanotechnology to create virus-like particles which can be used for immune recognition and vaccine development, they also make good nanoparticles for drug delivery.

• Creating synthetic virus-like particles
• Using virus-like particles for drug delivery and vaccine development
• Production of proteins using a transient expression system

Professor Ma holds the Hotung Chair of Molecular Immunology. He has been Director of the Institute for Infection and Immunity at St George's since 2014.

Dr. Somen Nandi has been working on molecular breeding technology to produce the heterologous proteins in different platforms for past 25 years. He has extensive experience on the application of bioprocess engineering technologies to produce recombinant proteins (including human therapeutic proteins and enzymes) using seeds, whole plants, harvested tissues or cells grown in vitro in bioreactors as hosts, improve efficacy of target molecule by enzymatic glycan modification and performing techno-economic analyses. Somen also has experience on bioprocess engineering and produce recombinant molecule by following cGMP and ISO standards. This multidisciplinary effort led to the development of seven products, now in the market and two molecules in human clinical trials.
Currently, as a faculty at UC Davis, Chemical Engineering, Somen works on engineering plant cells as platform to produce recombinant therapeutic proteins. His group is interested in a wide range of innovative activities including but not limited to, gene and construct design for therapeutic molecules, recombinant protein expression and characterization, downstream process engineering, and techno-economic analysis for human/animal heath, food security, and defense. Somen is also Founder and Managing Director of Global HealthShare® initiative at UC Davis.

James’s research focuses on triterpenoids, an important class of plant natural products with a broad range of bioactive properties.
Triterpenes found in nature have huge pharmaceutical potential ranging from cancer therapies to vaccines, however they are often produced at very low quantities in plants, which frequently preventing this potential from being realised.
James works on understanding the enzymes responsible for triterpene biosynthesis in the plant kingdom and applying this knowledge for engineering triterpene production in other host systems. He uses a transient expression-based production platform allowing controlled production of compounds of interest in Nicotiana benthamiana. These compounds can be purified and systematically tested for their bioactive properties.

Deputy Head of the Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology.
Expertise: Plant biotechnology; Cereal science and genetic engineering; Molecular Farming; Protein trafficking and deposition.