Aniruddh Sarkar is joining the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University on November 1, 2019, as an assistant professor.

He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. In a short interview with Sarkar, he describes his research, reasons for joining the Coulter Department, future impact of his research, and shares some personal hobbies outside of research.

Can you please describe your research with a brief overview?

 

The unifying theme in my research is exploiting microscale and nanoscale physical phenomena to build technology for precision biology and medicine. Individual biological entities (e.g. cells) function and interact at this length scale. This creates unique opportunities for nanofabricated tools in high sensitivity and resolution in analyzing and manipulating them in an automated, high throughput and cost-effective manner. Working in collaboration with clinicians and biologists, I build and use such lab-on-a-chip tools to unravel complex biological phenomena underlying human diseases to further their prevention, diagnosis and therapy. Some current projects include: microfluidic high throughput assays for studying biophysical and functional properties of antibodies and immune cells and electronic sensing and manipulation techniques for rapid and inexpensive point-of-care diagnostics and monitoring for infectious diseases in resource-poor settings as well as for cell and gene therapies.

Why did you choose to join the BME department at Georgia Tech and Emory?

 

BME at Georgia Tech and Emory provides a uniquely rich and fertile environment to start and grow an interdisciplinary research program. The two campuses bring together access to excellent engineering and medical school colleagues and world-class micro-/nano-fabrication, biology and clinical research facilities. They also provide an excellent opportunity for recruiting, training and nurturing a creative and interdisciplinary research team with complimentary backgrounds and skillsets. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the collegial and inviting nature of BME faculty, staff and students, made joining this department a ‘no-brainer’ choice for me.

What do you see as the possible future impact of your work?

 

My overarching vision is to invent and translate technology as a means for making high-quality healthcare more accessible and affordable globally. This is most directly served in my current research in the efforts towards discovery of novel functional biomarkers that can predict the emergence of latent infectious diseases and development of inexpensive yet accurate clinical diagnostic tools for some of the most widely devastating infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Perhaps equally important as the longer term impact is training engineers, scientists and researchers who are deeply interested in solving these problems and have the interdisciplinary training to do so.

When you are not doing research or teaching, what do you like to do?

 

Photography. Travel. Reading. Or best, a mix of all three! Also watching movies.