Andreas Bommarius

Andreas Bommarius
andreas.bommarius@chbe.gatech.edu

Andreas (Andy) S. Bommarius is a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as well of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA.  He received his diploma in Chemistry in 1984 at the Technical University of Munich, Germany and his Chemical Engineering B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1982 and 1989 at MIT, Cambridge, MA.

From 1990-2000, he led the Laboratory of Enzyme Catalysis at Degussa (now Evonik) in Wolfgang, Germany, where his work ranged from immobilizing homogenous catalysts in membrane reactors to large-scale cofactor-regenerated redox reactions to pharma intermediates.

At Georgia Tech since 2000, his research interests cover green chemistry and biomolecular engineering, specifically biocatalyst development and protein stability studies.  His lab applies data-driven protein engineering to improve protein properties on catalysts ranging from ene and nitro reductases to cellobiohydrolases.  Bommarius has guided the repositioning of the curriculum towards Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering by developing new courses in Process Design, Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, as well as Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (D4), an interdisciplinary course with Mark Prausnitz.

Andy Bommarius in 2008 became a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.  Since 2010, he is Director of the NSF-I/UCR Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD), a Center focusing on process development, drug substance and product stability, and novel analytical methods for the characterization of drug substances and excipients.

Professor
RBI Initiative Lead: A Renewables-based Economy from WOOD (ReWOOD)
Phone
404-385-1334
Office
EBB 5018
Additional Research
Biomolecular engineering, especially biocatalysis, biotransformations, and biocatalyst stability. Biofuels. Enzymatic Processing; Biochemicals; Chip Activation.
IRI and Role
Bioengineering and Bioscience > Faculty
Renewable Bioproducts > Faculty
Renewable Bioproducts > Leadership
Energy > Research Community
Bioengineering and Bioscience
Renewable Bioproducts
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering > School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Saad Bhamla

Saad Bhamla
saadb@chbe.gatech.edu

Saad Bhamla studies biomechanics across species to engineer knowledge and tools that inspire curiosity.

Saad Bhamla is an assistant professor of biomolecular engineering at Georgia Tech. A self-proclaimed "tinkerer," his lab is a trove of discoveries and inventions that span biology, physics and engineering. His current projects include studying the hydrodynamics of insect urine, worm blob locomotion and ultra-low-cost devices for global health. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Economist, CNN, Wired, NPR, the Wall Street Journal and more.

Saad is a prolific inventor and his most notable inventions includes a 20-cent paper centrifuge, a 23-cent electroporator, and the 96-cent hearing aid. Saad's work is recognised by numerous awards including a NIH R35 Outstanding Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, and INDEX: Design to Improve Life Award. Saad is also a National Geographic Explorer and a TED speaker. Newsweek recognized Saad as 1 of 10 Innovators disrupting healthcare.

Saad is a co-founder of Piezo Therapeutics.

Outside of the lab, Saad loves to go hiking with his partner and two dogs (Ollie and Bella).

Assistant Professor
Phone
404-894-2856
Office
ES&T L1224
Additional Research

Biotechnology; Complex Systems; Materials and Nanotechnology. The Bhamla Lab explores fundamental and applied research questions through the development of new experimental tools and techniques at the intersection of soft matter, organismic physics and global health. Ultra-fast Organismic Physics Biologists are just starting to systematically examine ultrafast motion across species (jellyfish, mantis shrimp, trap-jaw ants), some of which achieve accelerations exceeding a million g-forces in nanoseconds. At the single-cell level, the physical biology of ultra-fast motility remains poorly understood. What is the fastest motion a single cell can achieve? How do single-cell organisms amplify power and survive repeated high accelerations? These fundamental questions guide our exploration of several non-model unicellular and multicellular organisms to uncover the principles of extreme motility at cellular scales. Biological Soft Matter Our bodies are composed almost entirely of soft, wet, squishy materials. How do the fundamental principles of soft matter and complex fluids enable us to grasp dynamic processes, from the self-assembly of proteins to the stretching of a spider web? We study a spectrum of biological soft matter, from the tears on our eyes to biological foams from insects, with the goal of connecting the microscale structures (lipids, proteins) to their consequences for macroscale biological function (contact lens-eye interaction, microbiome health). As engineers, we leverage this understanding for human-health applications, ranging from diagnostics and monitoring to artificial therapeutic replacements and biomedical devices. Frugal Science and GlobalHealth Today, although information is free to anyone with internet, access to scientific tools and healthcare devices still has many barriers. How do we design and build tools that are scientifically rigorous, but cost a few cents on the dollar? Driven by the spirit of doing “frugal science”, we box ourselves in to find out of the box solutions for global challenges in science education, agriculture, and healthcare. Projects in this area include field-work, science outreach, and citizen-science initiatives. Disciplines: Biotechnology Complex Systems Materials and Nanotechnology

IRI and Role
Bioengineering and Bioscience > Faculty
Renewable Bioproducts > Faculty
Bioengineering and Bioscience
Renewable Bioproducts
Matter and Systems > Affiliated Faculty
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering > School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Research Areas
Matter and Systems
  • Computing and Communication Technologies

Cyrus Aidun

Cyrus Aidun
cyrus.aidun@me.gatech.edu

Dr. Aidun joined the Woodruff School as a Professor in 2003 after completion of a two-year period as program director at the National Science Foundation. He began at Tech in 1988 as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. Prior, he was a research Scientist at Battelle Research Laboratories, Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University and Senior Research Consultant at the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Center at Cornell. 

Dr. Aidun's research is at the intersection between fundamentals of the physics of complex fluids/thermal transport and applications to engineering and biotransport. He has a diverse research portfolio in fluid mechanics, bioengineering, renewable bioproducts and decarbonization of industrial processes. 

A major focus has been to understand the physics of blood cell transport and interaction with glycoproteins (e.g., vWF) with applications to cardiovascular diseases.

Professor
Phone
404-894-6645
Office
Love Building, Room 320
Additional Research
Computational analysis of cellular blood flow in the cardiovascular system with applications to platelet margination, thrombus formation, and platelet activation in artificial heart valves. Thermal Systems. Chemical Recovery; Papermaking.
IRI and Role
Bioengineering and Bioscience > Faculty
Renewable Bioproducts > Affiliated Faculty
Energy > Research Community
Bioengineering and Bioscience
Renewable Bioproducts
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering > Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering