Santa Clara University

Phone: 408-551-3005 Fax: 408-554-5474 Email: asurip@scu.edu

Assistant Professor, Bioengineering Program

Dr. Prashanth Asuri joined the Bioengineering faculty at Santa Clara University in Fall 2011. Dr. Asuri earned his Ph.D in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where his research primarily focused on engineering protein function and stability through control of its nanoscale environment. After graduation, he served as a research scientist at Solidus Biosciences for two years, where he developed high-throughput predictive cell based assays for facilitating the metabolic toxicity analysis of drug candidates. Dr. Asuri also spent two years, from 2009-2011, as a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Berkeley, where he applied biomolecular and material approaches to obtain a better understanding of mechanisms and conditions underlying the neuronal differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells.

Teaching

Undergraduate courses
BIOE 172: Introduction to Tissue Engineering
BIOE 173: Advanced topics in Tissue Engineering

Graduate courses
BIOE 256: Introduction to Nanobioengineering
BIOE 269: Stem Cell Bioengineering
BIOE 272: Fundamentals in Tissue Engineering

Research

Current research interests
Our lab interests are interdisciplinary in nature, integrating tools and concepts from biomaterials engineering, biotechnology, and stem cell biology. Our current research efforts focus on exploring the role of material properties (stiffness, surface topography, etc.) in regulating cell fate and engineering polymer nanocomposites for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Current lab members
Graduate students: Kalpith Ramamoorthi, Matthew Blanco
Undergraduate students: Garrett Huening, Cade Ito, Jeffrey Kunkel, Samantha Nguyen, Mark-Phillip Pebworth, William Truong, Nicholas Wolfe, Josergio Zaragoza
Visiting researchers: Jillian Carleton

Lab news and Announcements
Summer 2012 
 - Jeffrey, Mark-Phillip, and Josergio presented their summer research at the ABI symposium.
Spring 2012 
 - The lab received a SOE internal grant to develop 3D cell culture models for assessing neurotoxicity. 
 - Congratulations to Mark-Phillip for receiving the 2012 Hayes Scholarship.
 - Congratulations to Josergio for receiving the 2012 Intuitive Surgical Fellowship.
Fall 2011 
- The lab received a SCU TSC Grant towards the acquisition of a rotational rheometer.

Awards & Affiliations

• Founders Award of Excellence, RPI - recognizing the top 1% of the institution.
• Howard P. Isermann Graduate Fellowship, RPI.
  
• Member of Editorial Board - World Journal of Stem Cells, Journal of Biomedical and Bioengineering, ACS Best of BIOT.
• Reviewer - Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering Journal, Langmuir.

Selected Publications

• Soft microenvironments promote the early neurogenic differentiation but not self-renewal of human pluripotent stem cells, Integrative Biology, 4, 1049-1058 (2012).
  
• Directed evolution of adeno-associated virus for enhanced gene delivery and gene targeting in human pluripotent stem cells, Molecular Therapy, 20, 329-338 (2012).
• An evolved adeno-associated viral variant enhances gene delivery and gene targeting in neural stem cells, Molecular Therapy, 19, 667-675 (2011).
• Polymer-nanotube-enzyme composites as active antifoulding films, Small, 3, 50-53 (2007).
• Protein directed formation of silver nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes, Advanced Materials, 19, 3167-3170 (2007).
• Nanotube-enzyme conjugates in room temperature ionic liquids, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 143, 153-164 (2007).
• Directed assembly of carbon nanotubes at liquid-liquid interfaces, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128, 1046-1047 (2006).
• Increasing protein stability through control of the nanoscale environment, Langmuir, 22, 5833-5836 (2006).

Reviews and Book Chapters 

• Editing the stem cell genome (invited review), World Journal of Stem Cells (Manuscript in Preparation).
• Biomolecule-nanomaterial interactions: Effect on biomolecule structure, function, and stability, Biological Interactions on Nanomaterial Surfaces, Springer, 97-114 (2009).
• Preparation and characterization of carbon nanotube-protein conjugates, Methods in Bioengineering, Artech House, 1-23 (2009).
• Protein-carbon nanotube conjugates, ACS Symposium Series, 986, 100-115 (2008).
• The protein-nanomaterial interface, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 17, 562-568 (2006).

Selected Conference Presentations

• AAV-mediated gene delivery and gene targeting in human embryonic stem cells, ASGCT Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, May 2011.
• Microarray biochips for high-throughput metabolic toxicity assessment of drugs, ACS National Meeting, Washington, DC, August 2009.
• Miniaturized three-dimensional cell culture and metabolic enzyme arrays for high-throughput toxicity assays, Forinvitox Forum Event, Sweden, May 2009.
• Structure, function, and stability of enzymes covalently attached to oxidized carbon nanotubes, AICHE Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, November 2008.
• Enzyme-nanomaterial conjugates: Opportunities for functionally organized materials, 12th Mexican Biotechnology and Bioengineering Meeting, Mexico, June 2007.
• Directed assembly of carbon nanotubes at liquid-liquid interfaces: Nanoscale conveyors for interfacial biocatalysis, AIChE Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, November 2005.
• Biologically-enabled and inspired design of hierarchically-organized functional and responsive materials, ACS National Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 2005.