• Guggenheim Fellow, 1997
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1977-1981
• Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan, 1971-1974
• PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 1971
• MS, Bihar University, India, 1966
• BS, Bihar University, India, 1964

• Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa), Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India, November 21, 2023.
• Elected Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences ( 2022)
• VAJRA Distinguished Professorship of Government of India at IIT , Delhi , India ( 2022)
• IEEE Photonics Society William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award ( 2021 )
• Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences , India ( 2020 )
• Honorary Member of the Indian Society of Nanomedicine (2018 )
• Fellow of IEEE (2018)
• American Chemical Society Peter Debye Award (2018)
• Honorary Doctorate from Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil (2017)
• IEEE Nanotechnology Council Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology (2017)
• OSA Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award (2017)
• Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (2016)
• Honorary Doctorate from National Nuclear University , Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (2016)
• SPIE Gold Medal (2016)
• UB President’s Medal (2016)
• Innovation Impact Award, SUNY at Buffalo (2015)
• Honorary Doctorate at Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France (2014)
• Selected as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher from around the world (2014, 2016)
• Honorary Doctorate at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology (2013)
• Distinguished Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology (2012)
• Distinguished Foreign Professor, Korea University, Korea, (2012)
• Honorary Professorship from Zhejiang University and from Changchun University of Science and Technology (2010)
• WNY Inventor of the Year, Life Sciences First Place, NFIPLA (2009)
• State of New York Legislative Resolution Honoring Dr. Prasad (2006)
• Scientific American’s Top 50 (2005)
• Fellow of SPIE (2005)
• Morley Medal of Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society (2004)
• Inventor of the Year in Life Sciences Award: the Technical Council of the Niagara Frontier (2003)
• Excellence in Pursuit of Knowledge Award of the SUNY Research Foundation (2003)
• Technology/Discovery Award of Western New York Health Care Industries (2000)
• Western New York American Chemical Society Schoellkopf Award (1999)
• John Simon Guggenheim Fellow (1997)
• SUNY Distinguished Professor (1997)
• Fellow of the American Physical Society (1995)
• Fellow of the Optical Society of America (1994)
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1977 1981)
• Gold medal: Bihar University for standing first in M.Sc. exam of the University
• Gold medal: Bihar University for standing first in B.Sc. (Honors) exam of the University
• National Scholarship: the President of India (1964 1966)

• Theoretical modeling of photonic materials
• Nonlinear optics
• Laser-matter interaction
• Ultrafast processes
• Nano- and Metaphotonics
• Biophotonics
• Nanomedicine
  

Nanophotonics program consists of three parts: (i) nanoscale confinement of radiation to control the propagation properties of radiation and its interaction with matter; (ii) nanoscale confinement of matter and domains to control the optical resonances (band gap) and excitation dynamics; and (iii) nanoscale confinement of photoprocesses to control spatial confinement of optically induced changes useful for optical memory applications and nanofabrication.

Nonlinear Optics research program represents study of new nonlinear optical phenomena, design and development of nonlinear optical polymers, study of their ultrastructure, and dynamics of nonlinear optical interactions.   One area is the study of photorefractivity which is a second order effect and various third-order nonlinear optical manifestations in organic: inorganic hybrids as well as in artificially nanostructured (such as photonic crystal) media.

Multiphoton Processes and Applications focuses on the development of multifunctional structures with enhanced two-photon, three-photon and four-photon absorption cross-sections as well as efficient up-converted emissions.  Theoretical modeling and synthesis are used together to produce such materials.  

In the metaphotonics and Chiral Photonics a novel chemical approach of using coupled electric and magnetic resonances in a chiral medium to achieve negative refraction is used; our approach uses molecular chirality, amplification of chirality using supramolecular organizations and inclusions of plasmonic and excitonic nanostructures.

In the area of Biophotonics, biosensing, the focus is intracellular sensing using a variety of molecular probes and nanoprobes; another area of analyte and bacterial detection being developed is a compact advanced multiparameter flow cytometer providing some unique capabilities for clinical diagnostics; another area of activity is the use of laser tweezers and scissors for probing cellular interactions and producing biological manipulation. A major direction in brain research, pursued in our lab, is neurophotonics, where we apply photoresponsive materials for functional mapping of brain using optical and photoacoustic imaging. We also use optically guided and tracked nanoformulations to treat Alzheimer, as well as optogenetic stimulation and microglia activation to enhance brain function.

Some of the key areas of our nanomedicine program are:  Nanoparticles for Multimodal Imaging and Novel Optical Diagnostics; Nanoclinics for Diagnostics and Targeted Therapy; New Modalities of Photodynamic Therapy; Non-Viral Gene Therapy.

The program in the Energy Materials area focuses on development of novel nanostructured materials and device engineering for energy application.

A major emerging area is nanomagnetics utilizing magnetic nanoparticles, which are surface-functionalized, paramagnetic or ferromagnetic structures and are linked to photonic probes.

• “Observation of stimulated emission by direct three-photon excitation”, G.S. He, P.P. Markowicz, T.C. Lin, P.N. Prasad, Nature 415 (6873), 767-770 (2002).
• “Core/Shell NaGdF4:Nd3+/NaGdF4 Nanocrystals with Efficient Near-Infrared to Near-Infrared Downconversion Photoluminescence for Bioimaging Applications”, G. Chen, T.Y. Ohulchanskyy, S. Liu, W.C. Law, F. Wu, M.T. Swihart, H. Ågren, P.N. Prasad, ACS nano 6 (4), 2969-2977 (2012).
• “Nanotoxicity assessment of quantum dots: from cellular to primate studies”, K.T. Yong, W.C. Law, R. Hu, L. Ye, L. Liu, M.T. Swihart, P.N. Prasad, Chemical Society Reviews 42 (3), 1236-1250 (2013).
• “Photodynamic therapy by in situ nonlinear photon conversion”, A.V. Kachynski, A. Pliss, A.N. Kuzmin, T.Y. Ohulchanskyy, A. Baev, J. Qu, P.N. Prasad, Nature Photonics 8 (6), 455-461 (2014).
• “Upconversion nanoparticles: design, nanochemistry, and applications in theranostics”, G. Chen, H. Qiu, P.N. Prasad, X. Chen, Chemical Reviews 114 (10), 5161-5214 (2014).
• “Light upconverting core–shell nanostructures: nanophotonic control for emerging applications”, G. Chen, H. Ågren, T.Y. Ohulchanskyy, P.N. Prasad, Chemical Society Reviews 44 (6) 1680-1713 (2015).
• “Nanochemistry and nanomedicine for nanoparticle-based diagnostics and therapy”. G. Chen, I. Roy, C. Yang, P.N. Prasad, Chemical Reviews 116 (5), 2826-2885 (2016).
• “Two-dimensional MXenes: From morphological to optical, electric, and magnetic properties and applications”, X. Jiang, A.V. Kuklin, A. Baev, Y. Ge, H. Ågren, H. Zhang, P.N. Prasad, Physics Reports 848, 1-58 (2020).
• “Extracellular vesicles from activated platelets possess a phospholipid-rich biomolecular profile and enhance prothrombinase activity”, E.M. Guerreiro, S.G. Kruglik, S. Swamy, N. Latysheva, B. Østerud, J.M. Guigner, F. Sureau, S. Bonneau, A.N. Kuzmin, P.N. Prasad, J.-B. Hansen, O.G. Hellesø, O. Snir, Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 22 (5) 1463-1474 (2024).