Jonathan S. Dordick
— Howard P. Isermann Professor and Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering

Education:
— B.A., Biochemistry and Chemistry, Brandeis University, 1980
— M.S., Biochemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983
— Ph.D., Biochemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983

Career Highlights:
Dordick joined the Rensselaer faculty as the chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1998 and is also the Howard P. Isermann Professor. He spent nine years at the University of Iowa. He joined their staff in 1987 as a member of the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and was promoted to associate professor in 1991 and to full professor in 1994. He served as department chair from 1995 to 1998. He also served as associate director of the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing at the University of Iowa and held a joint position in the university's Department of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry in the College of Pharmacy.

Dordick is the associate editor for Biotechnology and Bioengineering (1996 to present), and is a member of the editorial boards for several publications, including Enzyme and Microbial Technology (1993 to present); the Journal of Industrial Microbiology (1996 to 2000); the Journal of Environmental Polymer Degradation (1996 to present); Metabolic Engineering (2000 to present); and Biocatalysis and Biotransformations (1996 to present). He was the editor, patents and literature section, for applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology (1990 to 1993), and the associate editor, Biocatalysis and Biotransformations (1992 to 1995).

Dordick was awarded the American Chemical Society Iowa Section Award in 1998. He was elected a fellow for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1996. In 1992, he was the chair of the division of biochemical technology for the American Chemical Society (ACS) and in 1991 was a delegate to the U.S.-Korea Joint Symposium on Bioprocess Technology in Seoul. He won the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1989, the Faculty Scholar Award from the University of Iowa in 1989 and received a NASA Technical Brief Citation in 1989. He was the Old Gold Summer Fellowship winner for the University of Iowa in 1988.

Dordick served as chairman of the division of biochemical technology of the ACS in 1992, and presently he serves on the scientific advisory boards for several biotechnology companies. He is a co-founder of EnzyMed, Inc., a pharmaceutical and agrochemical company; has published over 145 papers; and holds 21 patents.

Research Areas:
Dordick's group is looking at ways to combine biomolecules such as proteins, peptides, and nucleic acid into nanomaterial networks. The group uses biocatalysis and biorecognition, for example, to create nanotube-protein structures, which could be used as nanometer-sized reactors for chemical/biological reactions. Dordick and his team are also working to use self-assembly techniques to create new organic-inorganic assemblies approaching biological complexity in architecture and function. The knowledge gained by this research group is expected to be important in such applications as tissue engineering, catalyst arrays, heavy metal sensors, and 3D nanofabrication strategies for electronic, magnetic, and photonic materials.

Graduate Students
Disha Ahuja
Manoj Athwale
Mary Kate Ditursi
Sandeep Karajanagi
Dae-Yun Kim
Bosung Ku
John Lindsay
Kaushal Rege
Lakshmi Santhanam
Aravind Srinivasan
Lu Yang
Tae-Jin Yim

Selected Publications:
M.-Y. Lee and J.S. Dordick, "Enzyme Activation for Nonaqueous Media," Current Opinions in Biotechnology, 13, 376-384, (2002).

S.J. Novick and J.S. Dordick, "Protein-Containing Hydrophobic Coatings and Films," Biomaterials, 23, 441-448, (2002).

J. Kim, R. Delio, and J.S. Dordick, "Biocatalytic Silicates as Active Enzyme-Inorganic Composites," Biotechnology Progress, 18, 551-555, (2002).

Y.D. Kim, J.S. Dordick, and D.S. Clark, "Siloxane-Based Biocatalytic Films and Paints: Versatile Coatings for Producing Enzymatically Active Surfaces," Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 72, 475-482, (2001).

D.-Y. Kim and J.S. Dordick, "Combinatorial Array-Based Enzymatic Polyester Synthesis," Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 76, 200-206, (2001).

A. Schmid, J.S. Dordick, B. Hauer, A. Kiener, M. Wubbolts, and B. Witholt, "Industrial Biocatalysis Today and Tomorrow," Nature, 409, 258-267, (2001).

J. Kim, T.J. Kosto, J.C. Manimala, E.B. Nauman, and J.S. Dordick, "Preparation of Enzyme-In-Polymer Composites with High Activity and Stability," American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, 47, 240-244, (2001).

S.J. Novick and J.S. Dordick, "Investigating the Effects of Polymer Chemistry on the Activity of Biocatalytic Plastic Materials," Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 68, 665-671, (2000).

X. Wu, J. Kim, and J.S. Dordick, "Enzymatically and Combinatorially Generated Array-Based Polyphenol Metal Ion Sensor," Biotechnology Progress, 16, 513-516, (2000).

M.A. Markowitz, P.R. Kust, G. Deng, P.E. Schoen, J.S. Dordick, D.S. Clark, and B.P. Gaber, "Catalytic Silica Particles via Templated-Directed Molecular Imprinting," Langmuir, 16, 1759-1765, (2000).

Contact Information:
Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D.
Howard P. Isermann Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
102 Ricketts Building
(518) 276-2899
(518) 276-2207(Fax)
dordick@rpi.edu

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