Research at CBIS

Biomolecular Science & Engineering

Numerous research teams are working at the frontiers of biomolecular science and engineering to advance diagnostic and therapeutic modalities to improve human health. Key research initiatives include:

  • Functionalized acellular matrices for tissue engineering and drug delivery, implantable sensors, and environmentally-friendly industrial enzymes
  • Understanding how molecular proteins develop defects in response to environmental pollutants and chemicals
  • Manipulating the immune system response to tissue and medical device implants to improve treatment outcomes

Faculty

Blanca L. Barquera

bacterial metabolism, bioenergetics and membrane proteins, mechanistic enzymology, gut microbiota, microbial physiology
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Georges Belfort

Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Member, National Academy of Engineering

Membrane separation processes, Transport phenomena, Interfacial phenomena and rheology, Bioseparations and sensors, Protein misfolding and aggregation, Intein technology
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Curt Breneman

Dean of the School of Science, Professor and Director, Rensselaer Exploratory Center for Cheminformatics Research (RECCR)

Cheminformatics, Materials Informatics, Drug Discovery Software, Computational ADME/Tox, Data Analytics
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Cynthia H. Collins

Associate Professor

Synthetic Biology, Biochemical Engineering, Microbial Communities, Human Microbiome, Protein Engineering, Directed Evolution, Biofilms
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Steven Cramer

William Weightman Walker Professor

Bioseparations, Bioprocessing, Chromatography, Proteomics, Microfluidics, Multiscale modeling, Affinity precipitation, Biosensors
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Jonathan S. Dordick

Institute Professor

Biocatalysis and Cell-Free Metabolic Engineering, Biomanufacturing, 3D Cell Culture Engineering and Organoid Development, Immunoengineering, Biomolecular Discovery
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Angel Garcia

Professor of Physics and Senior Constellation Professor in Biocomputation and Bioinformatics

Biological, Dynamics, Molecules, Physics, Structure, Theoretical
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Shekhar Garde

Dean of School of Engineering, Elaine and Jack S. Parker Professor

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Ryan Gilbert

Professor

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Susan P. Gilbert

Department Head

Cell Biology, Biophysics and Biochemistry, Structure-Function Analysis of Kinesins
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Juergen Hahn

Professor and Department Head

Systems Biology, Process Systems Engineering
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Mariah Hahn

Professor

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Pankaj Karande

Associate Professor

Drug discovery, Drug delivery, Peptide engineering, High throughput screening, Vaccine design, Biomaterials design
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Mattheos Koffas

Dorothy and Fred Chau ʼ71 Career Development Constellation Professor in Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering

Metabolic Engineering, Industrial Microbiology, Synthetic Biology, Natural Products
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Lee Ligon

Associate Dean of Science for Academic Affairs

Cell Biology, Neurosocience
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Robert J. Linhardt

Ann and John H. Broadbent, Jr. ’59 Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering

Glycoscience, Biocatalysis, Metabolic Engineering, Nanobiotechnology, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Chemoenzymatic Synthesis, Biochemistry and Chemical Biology, Biotechnology and Biomaterials, Organic, Medicinal and Drug Discovery, Polymers, Materials and Energy
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George I. Makhatadze

Constellation Chair

bioinformatics, protein dynamics, protein folding, protein aggregation
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Catherine Royer

Constellation Chair

pressure effects on biomolecules, protein folding, protein interaction networks, live cell quantitative fluorescence imaging, transcription regulation
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Douglas Swank

Professor

Heart Disease, Muscle Disease, Cardiac Physiology, Muscle Physiology, Motor Proteins, Locomotion, Drosophila Genetics
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Deepak Vashishth

Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor

Bone, osteoporosis, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Glycation, Diabetes, Glycation, Osteocalcin, Osteopontin, Collagen, Fracture, entrepreneurship, biotechnology
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Xing Wang

Assistant Professor

Structural DNA Nanotechnology, RNA Mediated Genome Editing and Programming, Biosensing, Biochemistry and Chemical Biology, Biotechnology and Biomaterials, Polymers, Materials and Energy
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Fuming Zhang

Research Professor

Glycobiology, Glycoenginnering, SPR
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