Education

• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Bioengineering, University of Washington, Aug. 1991- Dec. 1995
• Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, June 1991
• B.Tech. Chemical Engineering, May 1985, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India

 
Research Interests

Ashutosh Chilkoti is a professor with Duke's Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Associate Director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Materials Systems ( CBIMMS ).

My research in biomolecular materials and surface science emphasizes the development of applications that span the range from bioseparations, biosensors, patterned biomaterials, and targeted drug delivery. The first area of research in my laboratory is the genetically encoded synthesis, characterization, and application of artificial elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs). ELPs are biopolymers composed of a VPGXG peptide repeat, which undergo a thermally reversible phase transition. Below a characteristic inverse transition temperature (Tt), ELPs are soluble in aqueous solution, but when the temperature is raised above Tt, they desolvate and form visible aggregates. We have synthesized a number of ELPs with different composition's and molecular weights encoded by synthetic genes in E. coli, and exploit the reversible thermal behavior of these polypeptides in different molecular applications, which include: (see on-line link below)

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