faculty
Yury Gogotsi is Trustee Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University and Director of the A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute. Prof. Gogotsi has experience of over 25 years in the fields of materials science and nanonotechnology and is a recipient of numerous national and international research awards. He holds over 30 patents, authored and edited several books and book chapters, published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is an editor of Carbon (Elsevier), which is the highest ranked journal in the carbon materials field.
Gary Friedman is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University and Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine. Prof. Friedman's interests are in applications of electrical and magnetic phenomena to medicine and biology. Dr. Friedman's research in nanotechnology includes study of self-assembly of magnetic nano-particles and applications of magnetic nano-patterns and nano-particles to fabrication of biochemical sensors and sensor arrays. He is also actively involved in theoretical and numerical modeling of hysteresis related phenomena in complex systems such as magnetic particle assemblies and nano-structured magnetic materials.
Jane Azizkhan-Clifford is Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University. She obtained her Ph.D. in Developmental and Cellular Biology, University of Maryland, 1978. Her research interests are Cellular response to DNA damage, regulation of gene expression, cellular proliferation and the cell cycle.
Bradley E. Layton is an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics. His research interests are Cell and Protein Mechanics, Protein Evolution with particular regard for the evolution of tubulin and collagen, Soft-tissue mechanics, Nanoscale Biomechanics; Mechanics of Diabetic Neuropathy, Hematology on a chip, Highly Parallel Nanoscale Force Measurement, Nanomanipulation, Atomic Force Microscopy, MechanoEvolution, and Sustainable transportation.
Elisabeth S. Papazoglou, Ph.D.
Elisabeth S. Papazoglou is faculty at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems, Drexel University. Her research interests include Skin Research, Wound Healing, Deployment of Non-Invasive Technologies for Skin Characterization, Correlation of Spectroscopic/Imaging Information to Skin Chemistry, Wound Healing, Transdermal Delivery, and Nanosomes.
Michael Bouchard is an assistant professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Drexel University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Columbia University in 1997. His research interests include Liver Cancer, hepatocyte transformation, calcium signaling, apoptosis, cell proliferation, alcohol, novel liver models.
Michael Schrlau is a Research Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University and currently leads the research activities within the W. M. Keck Institute. Prof. Schrlau’s research focuses on developing novel micro-/nanoscale devices for biomedical applications and micro-/nanofluidic study. His research appears in several journal articles, book chapters, and patents. Michael is also active in nanotechnology and nanoscience outreach programs in Philadelphia area school districts.
Research Staff
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Zulfiya Orynbayeva is a Research Associate in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Drexel University and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health System, Drexel University. Dr. Orynbayeva’s research interests include nanomedicine, single cell and single organelle probing, cell proteomics, physiology and mechanics and intracellular signaling.
Jun Jie Niu is a postdoctoral research fellow in Materials Science and Engineering. His research interests include Functional carbon nanomaterials with intracellular SERS spectroscopy with nanopipette, self-organized nanomaterials (nano-particles, nano-wires, and nano-tubes), catalyst support with carbon nanomaterials in fuel cells (carbon nanocages and carbon nanotubes), and hydrophobic surface with chemically modified nanowire coating. Dr. Niu has published more than 60 journal papers and 13 China invention patents.
Dr. Elina Vitol completed her doctoral studies at Drexel University under the joint supervision of Prof. Gary Friedman and Prof. Yury Gogotsi in 2010. She is currently a Postdoctoral Appointee at the Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory and also a Visiting Research Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University. Dr. Vitol’s research encompass optics, nanomaterials and nanomedicine. She is interested in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for biomedical applications and development of novel SERS-active nanoprobes for single cell studies. Recently, Dr. Vitol has also been working on development and applications of functional magnetic materials for cancer treatment.
Graduate Students
Mr. Singhal is currently a 2nd year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering, at Drexel University (Advisor: Dr. Yury Gogotsi). He obtained his B-Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2007). His research interests include chemical vapor deposition of carbon, application of carbon nanotubes in nano-fluidics, multifunctional carbon probes for intra-cellular studies and convective heat transfer. His achievements include best poster awards in 2009 on his research of nanoscale intracellular probes, IIChE award for the best paper by an undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering in a high impact factor journal for the year 2007-08, sponsored by Chemical Weekly, best poster presentation and best overall presentation at SCHEMCON 2005 and IIChE award (sponsored by VICAL) for the best undergraduate student presentation for the year 2005.
Ramalingam Venkat Kalyana Sundaram
Mr. Sundaram (Venkat) is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems at Drexel University (Advisor: Dr. Elisabeth Papazoglou). His research interests include electrochemical detection of cellular signaling molecules, HIV virus, intracellular probing, injection, and electrochemical detection. Venkat has expertise in cell culture, confocal fluorescence microscopy, and electrochemistry.
Mr. Sivagurunathan (Kiruba) recently received his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems at Drexel University (Keck Advisor: Dr. Michael Schrlau). Kiruba investigates how cells respond when interrogated with probes of various materials, shapes, and sizes.
Mr. Brent Boyd has 17 years of professional manufacturing experience, as well as a lifetime scientist. Currently, he is a graduate researcher at Drexel University in the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department. He has a number of research interests including materials science, chemistry, robotics, machine tool science, internal combustion engines, botany, mycology, marine biology, ecological science, alternative energy, and gourmet cooking. He is skilled in the operation of atomic force microscopes, CNC, CAD, comprehensive blueprint reading and GD&T, and MIG and TIG welding. Brent also has skills in comprehensive automotive mechanic skills/performance engine development, field botany, mycology, and marine biology, precision inspection/analysis and reverse engineering, and research and development/prototype manufacturing.
UnderGRADUATE STUDENTS
Alumni
Dr. Sayan Bhattacharyya completed his postdoctoral research appointment in Materials Science and Engineering in 2010. He currently holds a faculty appointment at the Indian Institute of Science, Education, and Research (IISER) in Kolkata, India. His research interests include nanomaterial synthesis with non-thermal corona discharge, carbon nanomaterials, nanoprobes for intracellular drug delivery, mesoporous materials, spintronics and magnetic nanostructures. He has published his research work in a decent number of peer reviewed journals.
Dr. David A. Staack received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Drexel University in 2008. He is currently appointed as Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M University, Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include non-thermal plasmas, micro- and nano-scale plasmas, electric propulsion for spacecraft, plasma enhanced materials processing and synthesis, plasma enhanced fuel conversion and combustion biomedical plasma applications, laser and spectroscopic diagnostics. Dr. Staack has shown the multi-elemental analysis in liquids on the ppm level using non-thernal nanoscale corona discharge, which can detect trace amounts of ions in biological cells.
Dr. Nadarajan Sundar Babu is a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University. His research interests include nano-optical biosensors, electrochemical biosensors, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, drug delivery vehicle design and transdermal drug delivery, micro and nanofluidics. Dr. Babu receive his Master of Science degree in Applied Chemistry, 1994 from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India and Ph.D. in Materials Science in 2000 from University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Before joining Drexel University as Research Postdoctoral Associate in 1999, he worked as Visiting Scholar at the University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida.
Dr. Kathleen B. Allen is an Associate in Exponent's Biomechanics practice. Her area of expertise includes the response of biological systems to mechanical stimuli, from the macroscale (organism) level down to the microscale (cellular) level. At Exponent, Dr. Allen's work has focused on human kinematics and injury mechanisms in motor vehicle, fork-lift, and slip-and-fall accidents. Additionally, Dr. Allen has investigated the mechanical failure of the heart during mitral valve replacement surgeries involving both mechanical and biological prostheses. Dr. Allen's studies have been focused in solid mechanics, dynamics, human physiology, and computer simulation. Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Allen was a research assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Drexel University working in the Cell and Protein Mechanics Laboratory, at Drexel University. Additionally, she has worked as a research assistant at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and at the National Nanotechnology Laboratories in Lecce, Italy. Dr. Allen's interdisciplinary research has focused on problems that lie along the interface of engineering and medical technologies. Her work has included a wide range of elements, including micromanipulation, nanomanipulation, high resolution imaging, and computer simulation. By applying the fundamental theories of mechanics to biological membranes and vesicles, Dr. Allen worked to minimize the damage that cells experience during single-cell manipulation and injection.