Georges Belfort

Russell Sage Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering
Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180-3590
Email: belfog@rpi.edu
PHONE: (518) 276-6948
FAX: (518) 276-4030

Education

Ph.D., Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, 1972
MS., Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, 1969
B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 1963

Background and Accomplishments

A native of South Africa, Professor Belfort joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1978 after a one-year sabbatical leave at Northwestern University and spending four years on the faculty of the School of Applied Science, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. Belfort received his Ph.D. degree in 1972 and his M.S. degree in 1969 from the University of California at Irvine in engineering, and his B.Sc. (Chemical Engineering) in 1963 from the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to joining Rensselaer in 1978, he held the post of senior lecturer at the School of Applied Science, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel from 1973 to 1977. Dr. Belfort has spent part or all of his (sabbatical) leaves at Cape Town University (1972), Northwestern University (1977-78), Yale University (1988), MIT (1988) Caltech (1988) and UC Berkeley (1996).

He received the 1995 ACS Award in Separation Science and Technology, the 2000 AIChE Clarence Gerhold Award in Separations Science and Technology, served as President of the North American Membrane Society (1995-196), was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2003, and serves on the editorial boards of four journals. He was elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering in 1994. He chaired the 1997 Gordon Research Conference on "Membranes: Materials and Processes". Dr. Belfort has delivered plenary or main lectures at many international meetings and forums and has been an invited lecturer at several industrial (Novo Nordisk, Denmark, DSM, The Netherlands, Merck, West Point, PA) and academic ("Professore a Contrare" at the University of Bologna, Italy) short courses on membranes for biotechnology and separations engineering. He delivered an invited lecture as part of the "Warren McCabe Lecture Series" at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC in 1988. He has received the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship twice to lecture in Japan in 1981 and 1996. Dr. Belfort was a guest of the Soviet Academy of Science (1991) (one of the last!), the Finnish Academy (1994) and the Chemistry Section of the Swedish Academy (1995). Professor Belfort is an active consultant to industry in the USA, Europe and Japan on membrane technology and bioseparations. He teachers industrial short courses on "Synthetic Membranes and Biotechnology" with Andrew Zydney, University of Delaware. His students have won the prestigious NATO Fellowship (Dr. Jeffrey Schonberg) and the Presidential Young Award (Professors Cheng Sheng Lee and Carole Heath). He has edited two texts, published about 150 peer-reviewed papers and 17 chapters in various monographs related to fundamental and applied aspects of synthetic membrane technology and has recently been issued seven US patents (exclusive rights for one patent was purchased by Millipore Corp, Bedford, MA). He lectures widely in both academic and industrial settings, and is an active consultant in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Georges Belfort is one of the premier academic scientists/engineers in the field of bioseparations engineering and is a leading academic chemical engineer in liquid-phase pressure-driven membrane-based processes. He has made seminal wide-ranging fundamental and applied research contributions to the understanding, design and application of pressure-driven membrane processes for the recovery of biological molecules. His research, both fundamental and developmental, is conducted in the areas of membrane-separations engineering and surface science and the behavior of proteins at interfaces. In particular, the research involves design of new membrane modules with highly efficient mass-transfer characteristics, modification of membrane surfaces for reduced fouling, and use of genetic engineering as a tool in the separation of biological molecules. Direct measurements are also made of intermolecular forces between proteins and polymeric films for application in separations and marine fouling. Recent interest has focused on the effect of solid substrates on the conformation of proteins, the development of a new molecular two-dimensional imprinting technique, the use of helical hollow fiber membranes to fractionate foreign immunoglobulins from transgenic goat milk, and the modification new polymeric surfaces for synthetic membranes using photo-induced polymerization that exhibit low attraction to proteins (biotechnology applications) and natural organic matter (environmental applications).

Dr Belfort collaborates with scientists and engineers including Dr. Marlene Belfort and Dr. Vicky Derbyshire (geneticists, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY), Dr. Brian Chait, (physicist, Rockefeller University, NY City, NY), Dr. James V. Crivello (chemist, RPI), Dr. Shekhar Garde (molecular modeler, RPI), Dr. Ravi Kane (surface scientist, RPI), Dr. Jeffrey W. Kelley, and Dr. Evan T. Powers (chemists, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA), Dr. Chip Kilduff, (environmental engineer,, RPI), Dr. Sanat Kumar (polymer physicist, RPI), Dr. Robert Langer (biochemical engineer, MIT, Cambridge, MA), Dr. Saroj Nayak (physicist, RPI), and Dr. Giulio Sarti, (chemical engineer, University of Bologna, Italy).

Professional Experience

Honors and Awards

Honorary lectureships

• Invited Hikal Award Lecture at the CHEMCON - Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Hyderabad, India, Dec 21-23.
• Invited Professore a Contrare (Contract or External Professor), U. Bologna, Bologna, Italy, Chemical Engineering, Host Giulio Sarti, taught 10 hour short course "Molecular Separations for Biotechnology", May 25-31, 2002.
• Separations Division Gerhold Award, AIChE Annual Meeting, Nov 15, 2000.
• Plenary Lecturer, Scandinavian Membrane Workshop, SINTEF, Oslo, Norway, Nov. 2.
• Main Lecturer for the Recovery of Biologicals Meeting, Cancun, Mexico, June 3-8, 2001.
• Plenary Lecturer, International Conference on Bioseparation Engineering "Recovery and Recycle of Resources to Protect the Global Environment", Nikko, Japan, July 4-7, 1999
• Plenary Lecturer, Aachener Membran Kolloquium, March 9-11, 1999, Aachen, Germany
• Presented a Main Lecture entitled, "Membrane Processes in Well-Defined Fluid Instabilities in a Scalable Module Design" at the 1993 International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes, Heidelberg, Germany, August 30 - September 3, 1993.
• Plenary Lecture entitled "Enhanced Performance for Pressure-Driven Membrane Processes: The Argument for Fluid Instabilities" at the "International Membrane Science & Technology Conference" (IMSTEC'92) Sydney, Australia, November 10-12, 1992.
• Presented Plenary Lecture entitled "Membranes and Biotechnology: Realities and Possibilities" at the Annual Meeting of Korea Society for Membranes, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, on Friday November 6th 1992.
• Invited after dinner lecture on "Membrane Bioreactors: Where to Now?" at a Deutche Forschungs Gemeinschaft meeting on Biotechnology, Lambrecht, West Germany, June 7, 1990.
• Invited to deliver a lecture entitled, "Orientation and Enzyme Activity During Adsorption or Crowding Forces One to Stand" as part of the Warren McCabe Lecture Series, North Carolina State University, November 21, 1988.
• Plenary Lecture, North American Membrane Society's 2nd Annual Meeting, Syracuse University, June 1, 1988.

Invited lectureships

• Invited main talk, "Recovery of Biologicals X", ACS-BIOT, Cancun, Mexico, June 4th 2001.
• ACS - special session in honor of Csaba Horvath, ACS National Mtg, San Diego, CA, April, 5th, 01.
• Invited Lecturer (with David Wood, PhD student), International Workshop on "New Production Concepts for Life Science Industry", Vaalsbroek, The Netherlands, March 20-22, 2000
• Invited lecture, Recovery of Biological Products, Whistler, Canada, May 23-28, 1999
• Invited lecture tour of The Technion, Weizmann Institute and Beer Sheva University of the Negev, Israel, host Professor Ora Kedem, June 4-12, 1998.
• Invited speaker at the Edwin N. Lightfoot Retirement Symposium, University of Wisconsin, Chemical Engineering Department, Madison, WN, November 10, 1996.
• Invited lecture by The Swedish National Committee for Chemistry, Swedish Academy of Sciences, for the EUCHEM conference "Surface Forces in Science and Technology, Skytteholm, Sweden, 15-18.June, 1995.
• Lectured at the invitation of Professor Marianne Nystrom, Seminar on Membrane Fouling, Finish Academy, Finland, July, 1994.
• Presented an invited review lecture entitled, "Bioseparations and Biocatalysis with Synthetic Membranes: Recent Developments", at 21st Aharon, Katzir-Katchalsky Conference: Workshop on "Applications of Membranes to Industry", Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, September 5-7, 1993.
• Delivered an invited overview lecture on "Synthetic Membranes in Biotechnology: Realities and Possibilities" at 5th European Congress on Biotechnology, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 10, 1990.

Other honors

• Elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering, February, 2003.
• Winner of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Separations Division Award for 2000: Clarence G Gerhold Award in Separations Science & Technology sponsored by UOP. The Award will be presented at the AIChE Annual National Meeting in Los Angeles, 15 November, 2000, and will received a check for $3,000 and a plaque.
• Board of Editors, Biotechnology Progress, January, 2000-.
• Invited by NSF to organize and lecture in a Separations Session at the Tripartite Israel Turkey
• USA Chemical Engineering Meeting, The Technion, Haifa, Israel, March 9-11, 1999.
• Appointed to Board of Scientific Advisors, Danish Sep. Systems, Nakskov, Denmark, Sept., 1998.
• Chair for the Gordon Conference on "Membranes: Materials and Processes", August, 1997.
• Board of Editors, Separations Science and Technology, November, 1996-
• International Editor, Chemical Engineering Journal of Japan, 1996-.
• Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, 15 day lecture tour of Japan, August 16-31, 1996
• Past President, North American Membrane Society, May 1995-96.
• Winner of the American Chemical Society's Award for 1995: ACS Award inSeparations Science & Technology sponsored by Rohn and Haas Co. Presented the Award Lecture at the ACS National Meeting in Anaheim , 6 April, 1995, and received a check for $5,000 and a plaque.
• Appointed chair of AIChE Committee on Membrane-Based Separations, 1994.
• Elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Nov. 22, 1993.
• Appointed to AIChE Committee on Membrane-Based Separations, 1991.
• Elected to board of North American Membrane Society, 1990, 1992, 1997, 1999.
• Appointed to subcommittee on Treatment Technologies, Water Science & Techn. Board, National Research Council, 1986-1990.
• Organized a session on "New Separations Process Applications for Membranes", Gordon Research Conference on Synthetic Membranes, New London, NH, June 22-26, 1986.
• Participated as one of eight invited US academics in an NSF sponsored US-Japan Bioreactor Workshop, Kyoto, Japan, December 11-14, 1985.
• Advisor for the Desalination Research Program of the Republic of South Africa and lectured at three universities, March-April, 1982.
• National Science Foundation News Release on our Hollow Fiber Concentration Studies 1981and work reviewed in Annual NSF Report 1982.
• Awarded Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, presented six lectures in two weeks in Japan, 1981.
• Board of Advisors for Desalting for National Council for Research and Development, Prime Minister's Office, Israel, 1976-78.

Consulting

Consult to the following companies involved in bioseparations, bioreactor, membrane and sorption technology from 1980 - 2003:

Patents

The following patents were issued to Dr. Belfort, his colleagues and his group:

1. Curved Channel Membrane Filtration, Application number H26-030 US; Filed on 9/21/92 (with Mary Brewster and Kun-Yong Chung), Issued: 4/20/93, Patent number: 5,204,002.
2. Low Fouling Ultrafiltration and Microfiltration Aryl Polysulfone, Application Number H26-034 US, Filed on 12/22/93 (with Jim Crivello and Hideyuki Yamagishi) Issued: 11/21/95, Patent Number #5,468,390.
3. Coiled Membrane Filtration System, Application number H26-039 US; Issued on 5/6/97 (US Patent #. 5,626,758), Reissue Application filed April 22, 1999 (SN: 09/298,519).
4. Coiled Membrane Filtration System, Patent Awarded in Canada, China, Japan, Europe, 2000.
5. Modification of Porous and Non Porous Materials Using Self-Assembled Monolayers, (with Peter Boehme), Issued US Patent #5,852,127, December 22, 1998.
6. Isolation of a controllable intein derivative (with M. Belfort, V. Derbyshire, D. Wood and W. Wu), submitted provisional patent 8/16/99.
7. Self-assembled monomolecular membranes for gas and liquid separations (with William Ward, III), submitted disclosure 6/19/00
8. "Improved Method using Photo-Induced Grafting for Modifying Poly(ether sulfone) (PES) and Poly(aryl sulfone) (PSF) Membranes, G. Belfort, J. Crivello and J. Pieracci, Provisional Patent Application, submitted October, 4, 2000 and Continuing Provisional Patent application, April 2001..
9. "Coiled Membrane Filtration System", G. Belfort, Issued US Patent #RE 37,759, June 25 th, 2002.
10. "Molecular Imprinting by Two-Dimensional Surface Emulsion Polymerization", M. Han and G. Belfort, Provisional Patent Application, August 11, 2002.

Senior Undergraduate Laboratory - Membranes for Bioseparations

Pressure-driven synthetic membrane processes are being increasingly integrated into existing reaction and recovery schemes for the production of valuable chemical and biological molecules. The properties of these membrane systems that are most often exploited are their operation without a phase change, without a temperature excursion from ambient, without need for additives and with relatively low energy consumption.

The ultrafiltration process (membranes with molecular weight cutoff between 2 and 1000 kDa or pore size between 1 and 100 nm) normally operates with a constant transmembrane pressure or a constant permeate flux. Both fundamental and practical considerations suggest, however, that UF processes should be controlled by maintaining a constant Cwall of fully retained solutes. van Reis et al. [van Reis, R. Goodrich, E. M. Yson, L. N. Whitley, A. Zydney, A. L., Constant Cwall Ultrafiltration Process Control, J. Membr. Sci., 130, 123-140 (1997)] have developed a control strategy that allows operation below a specified solute concentration at the solution-membrane or wall interface, Cwall, in order to minimize protein sieving, solubility and adsorption losses as well as optimize time and area. Implementation of this technology, however, requires the knowledge of what are known as the Cwall control parameters.

The objective of this lab is to perform experiments, which will result in estimating Cwall control parameters for a bovine serum albumin (BSA) ultrafiltration process.