Ashok Mulchandani's
Bionanotechnology and Biosensors Group

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BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Ashok Mulchandani is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Chair of Material Science and Engineering Program and W. Ruel Johnson Chair in Environmental Engineering at the University of California. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Prof. Mulchandani obtained his B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur in 1976 and M. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Powai in 1978. After working at Vulcan-Laval, Pune from 1978 to 1980, he joined McGill University, Montreal, Canada for Ph.D. and graduated in 1985. From 1985 to 1987 he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Chemical Engineering Department at Laval University, Canada and from 1987 to 1990 as a Research Associate at the Biotechnology Research Institute at Montreal, Canada. In 1990 he joined the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada and then moved to the University of California, Riverside in 1991 as the founding faculty of the Department of Chemical Engineering and pioneer faculty of Bourns College of Engineering. From 2000 to 2004 he was the Chair of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering.

From 2003 to 2015 Prof. Mulchandani was the Editor-in-Chief of the Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. He is presently an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Chemistry and member of editorial boards of several journals. He has received several honors and awards including Research Initiation Award from the national Science Foundation and Faculty Participation Award from the Department of Energy. He has delivered several Plenary and Keynote lectures at National and International conferences and Gordon Conference.

Prof. Mulchandani’s research efforts are primarily aimed at developing innovative technologies for improving human health and the quality of life. One may summarize his work by "Better Science, Better Health, Better Life." He applies the tools of biotechnology and nanotechnology for the creation of novel and very effective (bio)analytical devices, (bio)remediation techniques and (bio)energy generation technologies to help enhance the quality of life. In biosensors, a field in which he is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader, he works on development of very effective (bio)sensors for fast, highly sensitive, selective and point-of-use/care detection of biomarkers for the early detection of debilitating diseases such as cancer, psycho-social stress, myocardial infarction, etc.; assessment of personal/individual exposure to toxic industrial chemicals for health care and security; monitoring of viruses, toxins, and bacteria for healthcare and water and food safety; and explosives, bio-warfare and chemical warfare agents for homeland security. Aside from biosensors, he is also recognized for his world class research program in development of “green engineering” techniques for heavy metal removal from water and soil, and the degradation of chemical warfare agents, pesticides and recalcitrant chemicals and highly efficient and low cost methods for separation and purification of biomolecules such as antibodies, enzymes, nucleic acids etc., for therapeutics. These research activities have received ~ $16 million grants over the past twenty years from intensively competitive programs of NIH, NSF, USDA, EPA, DARPA and Department of Justice.

Prof. Mulchandani has published more than 270 peer-reviewed articles in peer-reviewed premier journals, 13 book chapters, a dozen conference proceedings articles and over 260 conference abstracts. He has co-edited four textbooks that include very popular Enzyme and Microbial Biosensors: Protocols and Techniques and Affinity Biosensors: Protocol and Techniques.

Prof. Mulchandani has mentored 30 Ph.D., 10 M.S., 40 Postdoctoral Fellows, 21 international visiting researchers and a large number of undergraduate researchers. His students/postdocs/visiting researchers are working in academia, industry and government laboratories.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Chemical/ Biochemical Engineering,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada

M. Tech. in Chemical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India

B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering,
Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India

EMPLOYMENT

Jan., 2016 – Present Chair, Material Science and Engineering Program, UC Riverside, CA.

Jul., 2000 – Jun., 2004 Chair, Chemical and Environmental Engineering Dept., UC Riverside, CA.

July, 2014 – Present W. Ruel Johnson Chair in Environmental Engineering, UC Riverside, CA.

Sep., 1991 - Present Distinguished Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Chemical and Environmental Engineering Dept., UC Riverside, CA.

Sep., 1999 – Jun., 2000 Visiting Researcher, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN

Jan., 1996 - Present Faculty Member, Graduate Program in Environmental Toxicology, UC Riverside, CA

Jul., 1993 - Present Faculty Member, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, UC Riverside, CA.

Jul., 1998 - Present Faculty Member, Microbiology Graduate Program, UC Riverside, CA.

Jul., 1993 - Sep., 1993 Guest Researcher, Biotechnology Division, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

Jul., 1990 - Aug., 1991 Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Dept., University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

Nov., 1987 – Jul., 1990 Research Associate, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council, Montreal, Canada.

Nov., 1985 - Oct., 1987 Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemical Engineering Dept., Laval University, Ste. Foy, Canada

Jun., 1980 - Sep., 1985 Research Assistant, Chemical Engineering Department, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Sep., 1980 – Apr., 1982 Teaching Assistant, Chemical Engineering Department, McGill University, Montreal Canada.

Sep., 1978 - May, 1980 Project Engineer, Vulcan-Laval Ltd., Poona, India.

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Updated 01/01/2016