Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
Howard P. Isermann Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Professor, Department of Biology
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Education:
Ph.D., Biochemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1986
M.S., Biochemical Engineering, MIT, 1983
B.A., Biochemistry and Chemistry, Brandeis University, 1980

Career Highlights:
Dordick is the Howard P. Isermann Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Biology. He joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1998 and served as the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department chairman for four years. Dordick began his academic career at the University of Iowa as an assistant professor and eventually was promoted to full professor in 1994. He served as chairman of the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department from 1995-’98 and as associate director of the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing from 1991-‘98. Dordick also held a joint position in the university's Division of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry in the College of Pharmacy.

The associate editor for Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Dordick also currently serves on the editorial boards of Enzyme and Microbial Technology, Biocatalysis and Biotransformation, Journal of Environmental Polymer Degradation, and Metabolic Engineering. He also has been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Industrial Microbiology, was the patents and literature section editor for Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology (1990-‘93), and the associate editor of Biocatalysis and Biotransformation (1992-‘95). He has published over 175 papers and holds 28 patents.

Among the prestigious awards Dordick has received include the 2003 International Enzyme Engineering Award, the 1998 American Chemical Society (ACS) Iowa Section Award, the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the Faculty Scholar Award from the University of Iowa. He received a NASA Technical Brief Citation in 1989 and was the Old Gold Summer Fellowship winner for the University of Iowa in 1988. Dordick also was elected a Fellow for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1996

Dordick has made numerous significant contributions to the field of biotechnology. He was the co-founder of EnzyMed, Inc., a pharmaceutical discovery company that was acquired by Albany Molecular in 1999. He is currently a co-founder of Solidus Biosciences, a venture-stage biotechnology company. In addition, he serves on the scientific advisory boards for several biotechnology companies. Dordick served as a past chair of the division of biochemical technology for the ACS.

Research Areas:
Dordick's research interests are broadly in the areas of biocatalysis, bioengineering, and nanobiotechnology. In the area of biocatalysis, Dordick is addressing the fundamental behavior of enzymes in non-physiological conditions, such as organic solvents, the gas phase, and ionic liquids. This research has led to numerous methods to activate enzymes in these environments, with applications ranging from drug discovery to human metabolism and toxicology to biotherapeutic protein formulations. In the area of nanobiotechnology, Dordick’s research is focused on using biocatalysis and biorecognition to create protein-based nanomaterials with unique structure and function.

Dordick and his team also are 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 drug discovery, human metabolism and toxicology, nanoscale devices, and regenerative medicine.

Selected Publications:
A. Vertegel, R.W. Siegel, and J.S. Dordick (2004), “The Size of Nanoparticles Influences the Structure and Enzymatic Activity of Adsorbed Lysozyme,” Langmuir (in press).

S. Antoniotti, L. Santhanam, D. Ahuja, M.J. Hogg, and J.S. Dordick, “Structural Diversity of Peroxidase-Catalyzed Oxidation Products of o-Methoxyphenols,” Organic Letters, 6, (12), 1975-1978, (2004).

L. Ferreira, A. Rafael, M. Lamghari, M.A. Barbosa, M.H. Gil, A.M. Cabrita, and J.S. Dordick, “Biocompatibility of Chemoenzymatically Derived Dextran-Acrylate Hydrogels,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 68A, (3), 584-596, (2004).

J.P. Lindsay, D.S. Clark, and J.S. Dordick, “Combinatorial Formulation of Biocatalyst Preparations for Increased Activity in Organic Solvents: Salt Activation of Penicillin Amidase,” Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 85, (5), 553-560, (2004).

K. Rege, N.R. Raravikar, D.-Y. Kim, L.S. Schadler, P.M. Ajayan, and J.S. Dordick, “Enzyme-Polymer-Single Walled Carbon Nanotube Composites as Biocatalytic Films,” Nano Letters, 3, (6), 829-832, (2003).

M.-Y. Lee, A. Srinivasan, B. Ku, and J.S. Dordick, “Multienzyme Catalysis in Microfluidic Biochips,” Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 83, (1), 20-28, (2003).

A. Srinivasan, X. Wu, M.-Y. Lee, and J.S. Dordick, “Microfluidic Peroxidase Biochip for Polyphenol Synthesis,” Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 81, (5), 563-569, (2003).

Q. Wang, J.S. Dordick, and R.J. Linhardt “Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Neuraminic Acid Containing C-Glycoside Polymers,” Organic Letters, 5, (8), 1187-1189. (2003).

M.-Y. Lee and J.S. Dordick, “Enzyme Activation for Nonaqueous Media,” Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 13, (4), 376-384, (2002).

Contact Information:
Jonathan S. Dordick
(518) 276-2899
dordick@rpi.edu
http://enzymes.che.rpi.edu/