Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award

Elmer Gaden Award

Marvin J. Johnson Award

National Academy of Inventors : Elected Fellow

American Chemical Society : Elected Fellow

American Association for the Advancement of Science : Elected Fellow

American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers : Elected Fellow

Heavy Heparin: A Stable Isotope‐Enriched, Chemoenzymatically‐Synthesized, Poly‐Component Drug

Remodeling of Glycosaminoglycans During Differentiation of Adult Human Bone Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Toward Hepatocytes

Designer DNA architecture offers precise and multivalent spatial pattern-recognition for viral sensing and inhibition

Rensselaer is America’s oldest technological research university, offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology and web science, architecture, management, and the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

The university offers degrees from five schools: Engineering; Science; Architecture; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; and the Lally School of Management; as well as an interdisciplinary degree in Information Technology and Web Science.

Rensselaer offers more than 145 programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Students are encouraged to work in interdisciplinary programs that allow them to combine scholarly work from several departments or schools. The university provides rigorous, engaging, interactive learning environments and campus-wide opportunities for leadership, collaboration, and creativity.

Driven by talented, dedicated, and forward-thinking faculty, Rensselaer has dramatically expanded the research enterprise by leveraging our existing strengths and focusing on five signature research areas: biotechnology and the life sciences; energy and the environment; computational science and engineering; nanotechnology and advanced materials; and media, arts, science, and technology.

The Institute is especially well-known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jonathan S. Dordick is Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he is also the Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Initiatives. Prof. Dordick served as the Vice President for Research from 2012-2018, the Director of Rensselaer’s Center for Biotechnology & Interdisciplinary Studies from 2008-2012, and as Department Chairman of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer (1998-2002) and Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Iowa (1995-1998).

Prof. Dordick received his B.A. degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has held chemical engineering faculty appointments at the University of Iowa (1987-1998), where he also served as the Associate Director of the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1998-present) where he also holds joint appointments in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Biological Sciences. Prof. Dordick’s research group includes chemical engineers, bioengineers, materials scientists, biologists, chemists, microbiologists and computational and AI scientists all focused on gaining a quantitative understanding of biological principles and applying them to advance bioengineering and biomanufacturing, stem cell engineering, and drug discovery.

Prof. Dordick has received numerous awards, including the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Marvin J. Johnson Award and the Elmer Gaden Award both of the American Chemical Society, the International Enzyme Engineering Award, and an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers. He presently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards for several biotechnology companies and venture capital firms, and has cofounded several companies, including EnzyMed (now part of Albany Molecular Research, Inc.), Solidus Biosciences, Inc., and Redpin Therapetuics. He has also served on multiple White House-sponsored panels and committees in biomanufacturing. Dr. Dordick has published over 370 papers and is an inventor/co-inventor on over 40 patents and patent applications.

Drug Discovery

Biomanufacturing

Biochemical Engineering

Biochemistry

Chemistry

Bioengineering

Stem Cell Engineering

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Profile

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Jonathan Dordick Named Fellow of National Academy of Inventors

Enzyme coating kills bacteria in food packaging

Nano-collaboration focus of symposium

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Appoints Biotechnology, Administrative, and Education Leader Jonathan S. Dordick as Vice President for Research

with-herd-immunity-unlikely-antivirals-to-play-key-role-in-covid19-management

Institute Professor, Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Biological Sciences

According to The New York Times, the prospects for reaching “herd immunity” in the fight against COVID-19 are increasingly dim. Subsequently, the virus “will most likely become a manageable threat that will continue to circulate in the United States for years to come.”

 
Therefore, long-term management of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, will be increasingly important. As with influenza, and mosquito-borne viruses, like Zika, developing better antivirals for such perennial threats will have to be a part of the plan.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers Jonathan Dordick, a chemical engineer, and Robert Linhardt, a biochemist are developing one promising antiviral approach that uses a decoy to trap the virus before it can infect a cell.

This decoy strategy has shown promise in combating a number of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, dengue, Zika, and influenza A. Dordick and Linhardt, who is internationally recognized for his creation of synthetic heparin, focus on viruses that use glycoproteins to latch onto human cells, a trait common to many viruses, including coronaviruses. They study how viruses gain entry into human cells at the molecular level and identify safe, effective compounds to offer as a decoy.

 
In their most recent test of this viral decoy strategy on mammalian cells, Dordick and Linhardt demonstrated that a compound derived from edible seaweeds substantially outperforms remdesivir, the current standard antiviral used to combat COVID-19. Heparin, a common blood thinner, and a heparin variant stripped of its anticoagulant properties, performed on par with remdesivir in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in mammalian cells. Both compounds bind tightly to the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the same strategy the team employed in their previous viral work.

Dordick and Linhardt are available to speak on the viral decoy strategy and the need for more effective antivirals in future pandemic control.



With “Herd Immunity” Unlikely, Antivirals To Play Key Role in COVID-19 Management

a-new-way-to-fight-pandemics-use-decoys-to-trap-the-viruses-that-cause-them

With a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 still months into the future, it’s clear that we need better antivirals to hold COVID-19 and future pandemics at bay. One strategy uses a decoy to block viruses at the point where they latch onto human cells, stopping infection before it can begin.

To infect a cell, a virus must first latch onto a specific target on the cell surface, slice through the cell membrane, and insert its own genetic instructions, hijacking the cellular machinery within to produce replicas of the virus. But the virus could just as easily be persuaded to lock onto a decoy molecule, provided that molecule offers the same fit as the cellular target. Once bound to a decoy, the virus would be neutralized, unable to infect a cell or free itself, and would eventually degrade.
This decoy strategy has shown promise in combating a number of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, dengue, Zika, and influenza A. Two prominent researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — Jonathan Dordick, a chemical engineer, and Robert Linhardt, internationally recognized for his creation of synthetic heparin — focus on viruses that use glycoproteins to latch onto human cells, a trait common to many viruses including coronaviruses. Their work studies how viruses gain entry into human cells at the molecular level and identifies safe, effective compounds to offer as a decoy.

 
In their most recent test of this viral decoy strategy on mammalian cells, Dordick and Linhardt demonstrated that a compound derived from edible seaweeds substantially outperforms remdesivir, the current standard antiviral used to combat COVID-19. Heparin, a common blood thinner, and a heparin variant stripped of its anticoagulant properties, performed on par with remdesivir in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in mammalian cells. Both compounds bind tightly to the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the same strategy the team employed in their previous viral work.

In 2019, the team created a trap for dengue virus, attaching specific aptamers — molecules the viral latches will bind to — precisely to the tips and vertices of a five-pointed star made of folded DNA. Floating in the bloodstream, the trap lights up when sprung, creating the world’s most sensitive test for mosquito-borne diseases. 

Dordick and Linhardt are available to speak on the viral decoy strategy, similar antiviral research efforts, and the need for more effective antivirals in future pandemic control.



A New Way to Fight Pandemics: Use Decoys to Trap the Viruses that Cause Them

rensselaer-team-seeks-alternative-approach-to-controlling-viruses

As researchers worldwide scramble to formulate a vaccine to combat COVID-19, a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is pursuing a potentially powerful solution to pandemic control: a viral trap that is easily adapted to different classes of viruses, enabling a “plug-and-play” approach to virus detection and antiviral activity.
 
Jonathan Dordick, an endowed professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer, and Robert Linhardt, an endowed professor of chemistry and chemical biology, said the team is exploring how their work — in the areas of viral detection, therapy, and inhibition — could be used against COVID-19 and other viruses in the future. Their team views such innovative approaches as a vital hedge against the growing threat of global pandemics.
 
The viral trap works by mimicking the latch points on a human cell that a virus must bind to before infecting a person by disgorging its genetic instructions into the cell. In research on the Dengue virus with Xing Wang, now a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, recently published in Nature Chemistry, the team folded a snippet of DNA into a five-pointed star, and attached decoy latch points that align perfectly with the virus’ own molecular grappling hooks. The result was the world’s most sensitive test for Dengue, and a novel means of capturing and ultimately killing the virus.
 
In previous research, the team demonstrated the same approach for Influenza A, and it can likely be expanded to other viruses like COVID-19.
 
In another approach, Dordick demonstrated how enzymes incorporated into paint, can form a catalytic coating capable of killing the Influenza A Virus. The research, published in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, suggests enzyme systems could further be incorporated into swabs, wipes, or coatings, to target and kill various viruses, including COVID-19.
 

 

Rensselaer Team Seeks Alternative Approach to Controlling Viruses

http://www.weforum.org/
Adverse drug interactions is among the 5 most prominent causes of the death in the USA. Animal testing appears to be ineffective. How do we develop safer, healthier drugs?

Ideas @Davos | Jonathan Dordick | Biocatalysis for a Sustainable Future

BOSS 2013 Session #2: CREATE Valuable Inventions
Speaker #11
Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D. 
Vice President of Research 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jonathan S. Dordick

http://www.weforum.org/

12.09.2009

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the IdeasLab for a creative look at innovative engineering.
Discussion Leader: Jonathan Dordick, Howard P. Isermann Professor and Director, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), USA

Dalian 2009 IdeasLab - Jonathan Dordick

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