Ashutosh Chilkoti

Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Ashutosh Chilkoti is the Alan L. Kaganov Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.

My research in biomolecular engineering and biointerface science focuses on the development of new molecular tools and technologies that borrow from molecular biology, protein engineering, polymer chemistry and surface science that we then exploit for the development of applications that span the range from bioseparations, plasmonic biosensors, low-cost clinical diagnostics, and drug delivery.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
  • Professor of Biomedical Engineering
  • Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  • Research Professor of Global Health
  • Professor in the Department of Chemistry
  • Core Faculty in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Washington, 1991

Research Interests

Focused on biomolecular materials and biointerface science and emphasizes the development of applications that span the range from bioseparations, biosensors, biomaterials, and targeted drug delivery.

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Distinguished Alumnus Award. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. 2015
  • Fellow (NAI). National Academy of Inventors. 2014
  • Pritzker Distinguished Lecture Award. Biomedical Engineering Society. 2013
  • Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature. Society for Biomaterials. 2011
  • Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature. Society for Biomaterials. 2011
  • Humboldt Senior Researcher Award. Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation. 2010
  • Stansell Family Distinguished Research Award. Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering. 2008
  • Fellow. American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. 1996

Courses Taught

  • MSEG 591: Independent Study
  • EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
  • EGR 391: Projects in Engineering
  • BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
  • BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
  • BME 789: Internship in Biomedical Engineering
  • BME 570L: Introduction to Biomolecular Engineering (GE, BB, MC)
  • BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
  • BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
  • BME 394: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Joh, Daniel Y., Angus M. Hucknall, Qingshan Wei, Kelly A. Mason, Margaret L. Lund, Cassio M. Fontes, Ryan T. Hill, et al. “Inkjet-printed point-of-care immunoassay on a nanoscale polymer brush enables subpicomolar detection of analytes in blood.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114, no. 34 (August 22, 2017): E7054–62. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1703200114.
  • Luginbuhl, Kelli M., Jeffrey L. Schaal, Bret Umstead, Eric M. Mastria, Xinghai Li, Samagya Banskota, Susan Arnold, Mark Feinglos, David D’Alessio, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “One-week glucose control via zero-order release kinetics from an injectable depot of glucagon-like peptide-1 fused to a thermosensitive biopolymer.” Nat Biomed Eng 1 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-017-0078.
  • Tang, Nicholas C., and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Combinatorial codon scrambling enables scalable gene synthesis and amplification of repetitive proteins.” Nature Materials 15, no. 4 (April 2016): 419–24. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4521.
  • Qi, Yizhi, Antonina Simakova, Nancy J. Ganson, Xinghai Li, Kelli M. Luginbuhl, Imran Özer, Wenge Liu, Michael S. Hershfield, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “A brush-polymer conjugate of exendin-4 reduces blood glucose for up to five days and eliminates poly(ethylene glycol) antigenicity.” Nat Biomed Eng 1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-016-0002.
  • Quiroz, Felipe García, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Sequence heuristics to encode phase behaviour in intrinsically disordered protein polymers.” Nature Materials 14, no. 11 (November 2015): 1164–71. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4418.
  • Bhattacharyya, Jayanta, Joseph J. Bellucci, Isaac Weitzhandler, Jonathan R. McDaniel, Ivan Spasojevic, Xinghai Li, Chao-Chieh Lin, Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “A paclitaxel-loaded recombinant polypeptide nanoparticle outperforms Abraxane in multiple murine cancer models.” Nat Commun 6 (August 4, 2015): 7939. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8939.
  • Amiram, Miriam, Felipe Garcia Quiroz, Daniel J. Callahan, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “A highly parallel method for synthesizing DNA repeats enables the discovery of 'smart' protein polymers.” Nat Mater 10, no. 2 (February 2011): 141–48. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2942.
  • MacKay, J Andrew, Mingnan Chen, Jonathan R. McDaniel, Wenge Liu, Andrew J. Simnick, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Self-assembling chimeric polypeptide-doxorubicin conjugate nanoparticles that abolish tumours after a single injection.” NATURE MATERIALS 8, no. 12 (2009): 993–99. https://doi.org/10.1038/NMAT2569.
  • Meyer, D. E., and A. Chilkoti. “Purification of recombinant proteins by fusion with thermally-responsive polypeptides.” Nat Biotechnol 17, no. 11 (November 1999): 1112–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/15100.