Doraiswami Ramkrishna, Ph.D.
H.C. Peffer Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering
Purdue University
Seminar Information
Seminar Date
June 6, 2013 - 2:00 PM
Location
Fung Auditorium | Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall
Abstract
An outstanding feature of the behavior of metabolic systems is the existence of regulatory processes by which the living organism controls the syntheses and activities of the various enzymes that catalyze metabolic reactions. This seminar will discuss dynamic modeling of metabolic systems from the cybernetic approach that is based on viewing regulatory processes as being inspired by survival of one form or another. It postulates optimal investment of the organism’s resources for selective synthesis of enzymes that will drive reactions favoring the organism’s survival. The optimal goals are necessarily dynamic as timely response is key to survival in a dynamic environment. The theory features the usual concentration variables associated with reaction kinetics as well as cybernetic variables that are control variables shown to depend only on reaction kinetics from optimal control theory. These control variables concern both enzyme syntheses and enzyme activities.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Doraiswami Ramkrishna is H. C. Peffer Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University since 1994. Since receiving his B.(Chem).Eng. from the University of Bombay in 1960, he obtained his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1965. After two years of being an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, he joined the faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, India where he served until 1974. Following two years of visiting appointments at the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota, he joined as a Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University in 1976.
Dr. Ramkrishna’s research interests are in the application of mathematics to chemical and biochemical reaction engineering, particulate processes and biomedical engineering His research in the biological area encompasses applications of population balances, cybernetic modeling of metabolic systems, metabolic engineering, and modeling of cancer therapy. He has published over 230 papers, two books, and directed close to 40 PhD’s and numerous post-docs.
He has had numerous recognitions from various professional societies. He has won the AIChE: Alpha Chi Sigma (1987), Wilhelm Reaction Engineering (1998), and the Thomas Baron (2004) awards. The Humboldt Foundation honored him with the the Senior Humboldt Award (2000) for collaboration with the Max Planck Institute, Magdeburg, Germany. He is a Fellow of several professional societies; AIMBE (1996), IIChE (2001) and AIChE (2007). He has been recognized by his alma mater with the UDCT Diamond Award (1994), an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota in 2004, the Jewel of Ruia Award (2006) from Ruia College, and the Platinum Award (2009) from Bombay University. Purdue University has honored him with the College of Engineering Research Excellence Award (2005), Mentoring Award (2010), and the Sigma Xi Local Chapter Faculty Research Award (2013).