Michael R. Ladisch Distinguished Professor and Director Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering Purdue University Potter Engineering Center, Room 216 500 Central Drive West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2022 Phone: 765-494-7022; Fax: 765-494-7023 ladisch@purdue.edu

 

Michael R. Ladisch, PhD is Director of the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, and Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, with a joint appointment in The Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and a courtesy appointment in Food Science.  He earned his BS (1973) from Drexel University and MS (1974) and PhD (1977) from Purdue University, all in Chemical Engineering.  He has a broad background in bioscience and bioengineering, and has authored two textbooks entitled "Modern Biotechnology: Connecting Innovations in Microbiology and Biochemistry to Engineering Fundamentals" (Wiley 2009), and “Bioseparations Engineering: Principles, Practice and Economics” (Wiley, 2001), over 150 journal and proceedings papers, 14 patents (issued and applied for), and has presented over 100 papers. In 2009 he received the prestigious Charles D. Scott Award; in 2006 he received an Outstanding Chemical Engineer Award from Purdue University; was an inaugural recipient of Paul Dana Award of The Indianapolis (500) racing league for his work in fuel ethanol; and received the Agricultural Team Award (Biosensor Detection Team). He received the Marvin J. Johnson Award in Biochemical Technology of the American Chemical Society in 2002, the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2001, and became a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers in 1994.  Dr. Ladisch was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999.

He has served as a member of US delegations and advisory panels to Russia, Thailand, China, and Japan to review the status of biotechnology programs.  He chaired the Committee on Bioprocess Engineering of the National Research Council (NRC) from 1991 to 1992, which studied research priorities and policy issues related to commercialization of biotechnology, and published the report entitled Putting Biotechnology to Work:  Bioprocess Engineering (National Academy Press, 1992).  He chaired a related study as part of a scoping workshop on Basic Research in Energy Engineering of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1993, and was a member of a Biotechnology Panel in the Technology and Manufacturing Competitiveness Task Group of the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (1995-96).  He chaired a committee of the National Research Council that examined opportunities for biotechnology for the Army (2000-2001), and which reported its findings in the NRC report: Opportunities in Biotechnology for the US Army.  He serves on committees of the National Academies that address homeland defense and threat assessment, was Chair of Bioengineering Section 2 of the NAE in 2006-2007, and is currently a member of the Alternative Fuels Panel of the Energy Future Committee of the NRC.  He recently completed an assignment as co-chair for the International Energy Agency - Bioenergy, in identifying research gaps in the bioenergy area. 

In the area of biofuels, he co-founded Celsys together with Brian Stater and Bob Bowen, at Bowen Engineering in Indianapolis, in 2006.  Celsys addressed cellulose processing for the production of fuel ethanol, and was acquired in November, 2007 by Mascoma Corporation.  Professor Ladisch is currently on a leave of absence from Purdue University to assist in the further development and commercialization of this technology, and to serve as the Chief Technology Officer at Mascoma.  As a part of this arrangement he is continuing limited duties at Purdue University as Director of LORRE and in his role as Distinguished Professor.

Dr. Ladisch’s research addresses fundamental topics in bioprocess engineering as it applies to bio-energy, bioproducts, biorecovery, and bionanotechnology. He carries out his work with teams of researchers consisting of colleagues, graduate students, and staff. The research is multidisciplinary and multi-institutional and addresses transformation of renewable resources into bioproducts, properties of proteins and living organisms at surfaces, rapid prototyping of microfluidic biosensors, and bioseparations. This research has resulted in new industrial bioenergy processes, and systematic approaches and correlations for scale-up of laboratory chromatographic purification techniques to process-scale manufacturing systems as well as scale-down of bioseparations, and the rapid prototyping of microfluidic biochips for the rapid detection of pathogenic microorganisms. Dr. Ladisch teaches bioseparations, bioprocess engineering and biotechnology at both the graduate and undergraduate level. He was a co-founder of Biovitesse, Inc, an early-stage start-up that addresses monitoring systems and solutions for rapid bacterial detection, and is a member of the scientific advisory board of Agrivida. His discovery and learning activities engage bioproduct, biopharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries on a national basis, as well as industries and stakeholders in the State of Indiana.

Selected Publications

Books:

Journal Articles:

Ladisch, M. R. and B. Dale, "Distillers' Grains: On the Pathway to Cellulose Conversion," Bioresource Technology, 99(12), 5155-5156 (2008).

Vermerris, W., A. Saballos, G. Ejetz, N. S. Mosier, M. R. Ladisch, and N. C. Carpita, "Molecular Breeding to Enhance Ethanol Production from Corn and Sorghum Stover," Crop Science, 47(S3), S142-S153 (2007).

Zeng, M., N. S. Mosier, C-P Huang, D. M. Sherman, and M. R. Ladisch, "Microscopic Examination of Changes of Plant Cell Structure in Corn Stover Due to Hot Water Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis," Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 97(2), 265-278 (2007).

Huang, T. T., D. G. Taylor, K.-S. Lim, M. Sedlak, R. Bashir, N. S. Mosier, and M. R. Ladisch, "Surface-Directed Boundary Flow in Microfluidic Channels," Langmuir, 22(14), 6429-6437 (2006).

Yang, L., P. P. Banada, M. R. Chatni, K.-S. Lim, A. K. Bhunia, M. Ladisch, and R. Bashir, "A Multifunctional Microfluidic System for Dielectrophoretic Concentration Coupled with Immunocapture of Low Numbers of Listeria monocytogenes", Lab Chip, 6, 896-905 (2006).

Gupta, A., P. R. Nair, D. Akin, M. R. Ladisch, S. Broyles, M. A. Alam, and R. Bashir, "Anomalous Resonance in a Nanomechanical BioSensor," PNAS (2006).

Chen, W.-T., T. Geng, A. K. Bhunia, and M. R. Ladisch, "Membrane for Selective Capture of the Microbial Pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, AIChE J., 51(12), 3305-3308 (2005).

Kim, Y., R. Hendrickson, N. Mosier, and M. R. Ladisch, "Plug Flow Reactor for Continuous Hydrolysis of Glucans and Xylans from Pretreated Corn Fiber," Energy and Fuels (an American Chemical Society Journal), 19(5), 2189-2200 (2005).

Wyman, C. E., B. E. Dale, R. T. Elander, M. Holtzapple, M. R. Ladisch, and Y. Y. Lee, "Coordinated Development of Leading Biomass Pretreatment Technologies," Bioresource Technology, 96, 1959-1966 (2005).

 

Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department
The Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Home Page