Biography

Dr. Nawaz has a long-standing interest in how RNA-based medicines can be safely and effectively delivered inside the body. His research background spans several medical areas, including cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, and genetic diseases. His research utilizes advanced tools from molecular and cellular biology, cellular engineering, and gene therapy to understand how RNA medicines move through the body and how their effects can be improved.

Dr. Nawaz completed PhD  in 2017 at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where he studied how small RNA molecules contribute to the progression of brain tumors (gliomas). During this period he also spent a year as visiting researcher at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, at Valadi Lab. He then continued in Gothenburg as a postdoctoral researcher for seven years in the Valadi Lab, where his work focused on how RNA is transported between cells via extracellular vesicles.

During this time, he collaborated closely with industry partners, including AstraZeneca, and contributed to FormulaEx (a Swedish research consortium bringing together universities and biotech companies to develop new RNA delivery technologies). His research focused on the two most promising RNA delivery systems in modern medicine; extracellular vesicles (EVs; tiny particles naturally released by cells and transport RNA between cells), and the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs; used in several modern RNA medicines, including COVID19 mRNA vaccines).

Scientific Breakthrough: Dr. Nawaz contributed to a scientific breakthrough that uncovered a previously unrecognized connection between LNPs and EVs, reshaping current views of RNA drug delivery. The team established for the first time that RNA delivered by LNPs does not stay only in the cells that initially receive it. Instead, some of this RNA is repackaged by the cell into EVs and then passed on to neighboring cells. This means, all cells in a given cell-population or organ does not receive RNA directly from LNPs, but part of it is distributed via EVs. This means that the final effect of an RNA drug in cells or tissues is shaped not only by where LNPs go first, but also by how EVs spread the message afterward. In this way, EVs, therefore, function as natural biological extensions of LNPs. These discoveries, published in journals such as Advanced Science (Nawaz et al 2023), Nature Communications (Maugeri and Nawaz et al 2019), and Biorxiv (Nawaz et al 2025) have important implications for the design of future RNA-based treatments.

In 2023, he joined Nicole’s Lab at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Nanovesicular Precision Medicine, where he served as a senior scientist leading an industry-partnered project with WAVE Life Sciences in the United States, focused on RNA-editing therapies in cancer models and primary hepatocytes.

Independent research program: Recently, Dr. Nawaz was awarded an International Starting Grant, which allowed him to launch his own independent research program. He has since re-joined the University of Gothenburg as a Principal Investigator (PI), where his team explores novel strategies for defining new mechanisms how organs communicate via EVs during the development or progression of disease mainly diabetes, obesity, liver-originated diseases and cancers. His team also applies EVs as new class of biological therapeutics, as well as technologies of engineering and reprogramming EVs for RNA delivery aimed at shaping the next generation of genetic medicines.

Education and work experience

  • Principal Investigator at Nawaz Lab (2025–current) – University of Gothenburg Sweden
  • Senior Scientist (2023–2026) – Paris Lodron University of Salzburg
  • Senior Researcher (2021–2023) – University of Gothenburg Sweden
  • Postdoctoral scientist (2017–2021) – University of Gothenburg Sweden
  • PhD (2013–217) – University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • PhD exchange/visiting researcher (2015–2016) – University of Gothenburg Sweden

Awards

  1. Science Without Borders Research Mobility Award, 2015–2016: by CAPES, Brazil (12 months mobility program at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden).
  2. Newton Fund and The British Council Travel Award, 2016: for the participation in a Brazil-UK cross-disciplinary workshop on extracellular vesicles and tropical diseases.
  3. Adlerbert Foreign Hospitality Award 2016: University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
  4. FAPESP PhD Fellowship 2013-2013: Awarded by FAPESP-Sao Paulo Research Foundation, the highest ranked funding agency in Brazil.
  5.  CAPES PhD Scholarship, 2013–2017: Awarded by CAPES (Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination), Brazilian higher education foment agency.
  6.  Quaid-i-Azam University Merit Scholarship, 2010: Islamabad, Pakistan.

Academic citizenship

  • Faculty board member:  Steering board member of Future Faculty at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg (2017-2023).
  • Membership of scientific societies:   International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) – since 2014 to date 
  • Editorial board member Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (2018 – to current)  
  • Editorial board member Cells (2020 – to current).  
  • Guest editor: Journal of visualized experiments (JoVE) (2022 – to current).
  • Peer Reviewer for several international peer reviewed journals from reputed publishers such as: Nature publishing group/Springer Nature, Royal Society UK, Biochemistry Society Transactions, Wiley Online Library, Biomed Central (BMC), Oxford University Press, Elsevier, Taylor and Francis, Portland Press. Link: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/79739

Invited Speaker

  1. Invited speaker at 3rd mRNA-based therapeutics summit, Berlin, Germany. 23-24 January 2024. Title of talk: Exosomes spread the lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mRNA between cells: Do exosomes change the fate of mRNA-vaccines in recipients?.  
  2. Invited speaker at PhD symposium, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, 2023: RNA delivery via lipid nanoparticles and extracellular vesicles.
  3. Invited Speaker: The Molecular Cytogenetics Symposium. Title of talk: introduction to extracellular vesicles and clinical implications. 2016.
  4. Invited talk at XII Winter Course in Experimental Pathology, FMRP – USP, Brazil. Title of talk: Role of extracellular vesicles in stem cell biology: Emerging opportunities in regenerative medicine. 2015
  5. Invited talk at EVClub, 2023. Link to video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAOwICXNAkM&t=336s 
  6. Invited Speaker at WebEVTalk. Link to video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BguYFrH8QWw&t=3092s    

Conferences and workshops

(i) Understanding disease through extracellular vesicles (EVs) and translating this knowledge for developing new class of precision therapeutics, (ii) Develop EVs as programmable carriers of nucleic acid-based drugs including siRNA, antisense oligonucleotides and CRISPR system, for the delivery of treatments to specific cells and tissues.