Yamuna Krishnan, PhD

“We are coming up with ways by which you can come up with a single test — take a blood draw, a pinprick of blood, use our probes and our analytics to then be able to track the progression and predict early manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases, and manage your own disease in ways that are quite liberating.”

Yamuna Krishnan is the co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Esya Labs and a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago.

She studies the structure and dynamics of nucleic acids, nucleic acid nanotechnology, and cellular and subcellular technologies. Her lab uses DNA nanodevices as fluorescent reporters to map second messengers, target cancer cells in humans, and interpret biochemical signals. Currently, she is applying her quantitative imaging technology towards enabling early detection of neurodegenerative diseases.

Krishnan is the youngest woman recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology.

She earned her B.A. in chemistry from Women’s Christian College and her M.S. in chemical sciences and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Indian Institute of Science. She completed her postdoctoral studies at the University of Cambridge.