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Dr. Pankaj Karande is an Associate Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was awarded his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Pankaj was awarded an Anna Fuller Postdoctoral Fellowship in Molecular Oncology, and he conducted postdoctoral research in the Center for Cancer Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at Rensselaer. Pankaj has received a variety of awards and honors in his career, including the Excellence in Classroom Instruction Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also received the Alzheimer’s Association New Investigator Research Award, the Goldhirsh Brain Tumor Research Award, and a Bronze Edison Award in the Best New Product in Science and Medical Category. In addition, he has been issued multiple patents in the areas of Transdermal Formulation Discovery and Novel High Throughput Screening Platforms. In our interview, Pankaj shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:10)
When he’s not working, Pankaj loves to cook, and experimenting with different recipes has been a great way to relieve stress.
The Scientific Side (4:05)
Pankaj was trained as a chemical engineer, and his research aims to apply engineering approaches and technology to solve problems in biology and healthcare to improve the quality and quantity of human life. Projects in his lab span areas such as drug discovery, drug delivery, biomaterials, diagnostics, and more.
A Dose of Motivation (4:53)
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:05)
Throughout his training and career, Pankaj has had outstanding teachers and mentors who introduced him to science and research. This was particularly helpful because neither of Pankaj’s parents went to college, and he didn’t know any scientists when he was growing up. He knew he wanted to continue in school after finishing his chemical engineering undergraduate program, so he decided to apply for PhD programs. When Pankaj started graduate school, he had narrowed down his interests to three research areas. However, early on, he made a major pivot after hearing a presentation from a new faculty member who had just joined the department. Pankaj joined this lab and began working on drug delivery. Choosing to study drug delivery meant Pankaj had to go back and learn all of the biology, physiology, and anatomy that he had previously avoided in his training because he didn’t want his work to overlap with that of his older sister. During his first year in graduate school, Pankaj spent a lot of time in the library, immersed in text books and articles, and this reignited his passion for learning. He knew he wanted to have flexibility and freedom to choose what he worked on, so Pankaj decided to pursue academic science. Pankaj had an offer for a faculty position before he finished his PhD, but he decided to expand his expertise through a postdoctoral fellowship focused on protein engineering first. Having broad experience across multiple research areas has helped him become a better teacher and scientist.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (22:20)
About six years ago, Pankaj was working with his team to build vascular networks in 3D-printed skin. During the process, they discovered that different cell types in the skin require very different conditions to survive, and when they tried to put the cells in culture together, it didn’t go well. They spent about a year and a half trying to build 3D vascular networks in skin, but the endothelial cells kept collapsing and settling to the bottom without forming blood vessels. This work was done in collaboration with scientists at another university. Their collaborators completed the long and complex process of obtaining and preparing the endothelial cells for Pankaj’s lab to print, and then shipped them to Pankaj overnight via FedEx in a cold pack. There was one instance where Pankaj’s lab had everything lined up for an important series of experiments, and they were just waiting for the cells to arrive. Unfortunately, the delivery person left their box at the wrong address, and all the cells died. Months of work were wasted, and it was difficult to recover from this setback, but they were eventually able to get everything to work after many iterative changes to the culture media.
A Shining Success! (25:02)
Pankaj and his lab members are really excited about their work incorporating hair follicles in 3D-printed skin. This was a big problem in the scientific community, and they received a lot of pushback in reviews for their grants and papers. The paper on this project was recently published in a prestigious journal, and it was the culmination of six years of work from a student in the lab. Being able to include hair follicles in 3D-printed skin is important for creating better skin grafts for regenerative medicine in terms of improved wound healing and aesthetics. It is also an important step for creating in vitro skin models that can be used to understand the impacts of topical agents applied to the skin, because the hair follicle is a potential point of entry where these agents could get inside the body and cause toxicity.
Book Recommendations (30:33)
The Premonition by Michael Lewis, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World by Charles Mann
Most Treasured Travel (32:01)
Recently, Pankaj had an opportunity to travel to Denmark to review a center at the University of Copenhagen. Both he and his wife have friends in Sweden and Norway, so they extended the trip and toured multiple Scandinavian countries. It was fun to travel with his wife and their toddler, and they particularly enjoyed visiting The Nobel Prize Museum, seeing the Opera House in Oslo, and celebrating Thanksgiving with friends.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (34:40)
While a graduate student at UC, Santa Barbara, Pankaj and his labmates often returned to the lab in the evenings to play the game Call of Duty. At that time, the university was the only place that had a good high speed internet connection. They all huddled up in the lab, turned off the lights, put on their headphones, and had fun playing together. One night, they were all really absorbed in the game and failed to notice that their advisor had just walked in. When they saw him, they all froze and prepared themselves for a stern lecture. However, their advisor just smiled, told them to carry on, and left. Game nights were fantastic for team-building, and Pankaj still has strong connections with those lab members today.
Advice For Us All (38:17)
Don’t let others tell you what you can or cannot do. If you truly believe you have a good idea, then keep at it. If you persevere, you can bring your ideas and goals to fruition.
Guest Bio
Pankaj’s research is centered on applying engineering approaches to develop novel and efficient solutions for healthcare. One area of research in his laboratory focuses on using 3D bio printing platforms to build human tissues, such as skin, that can be used as grafts for patients in regenerative medicine. The eventual goal is to make available personalized skin grafts for patients that lead to improved wound healing. A second area of research in his lab is focused on developing new processes for purification of drugs and biologics, such as mRNA, antibodies, and viral vectors. When not in the lab, Pankaj enjoys trying out recipes from different regions of the world, although he is currently obsessed with recreating special delicacies from southern India. He is always getting into trouble with his wife for buying new kitchen gadgets for his culinary experiments. When not in the lab or in the kitchen, Pankaj enjoys going for long walks, a bicycle ride, or listening to the latest episodes of his favorite podcasts (Freakonomics, Cautionary Tales, Car Talk, and This American Life amongst others). Usually an avid reader of many different genres, his current reading list is limited to Dr. Suess and Sandra Boynton with his 18 month old.
Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.