Nanobiotechnology expert Ravi Kane has won the 2009 Young Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Biochemical Technology.

“Professor Kane's research and contributions embody the type of multidisciplinary direction in which chemical and biological engineering, and our efforts in biotechnology in general, are headed,” said Jonathan Dordick, the Howard P. Isermann Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and director of the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. “This new award is well-deserved and honors Ravi's inventiveness and intellectual strengths. We commend Ravi on his accomplishment.”

Kane will receive the award in August at the ACS annual meeting in Washington, D.C. As part of the award, he has been invited to deliver a lecture at the conference.

“Ravi continues to break new ground and distinguish himself as a leading force in the fields of biotechnology and nanotechnology research,” said Shekhar Garde, head of Rensselaer's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. “He is an exceptional engineer, an outstanding researcher, and there is still much we anticipate Ravi will achieve in the coming years. We sincerely and proudly congratulate him for this latest achievement.”

Kane, the P.K. Lashmet Professor at Rensselaer, has won several high-profile awards since joining the Institute in 2001. 

Last year he received the 2008 Young Investigator Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum. In 2004, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review named Kane as among the TR 100, a list of the world’s top 100 young innovators. He was named the 2008 Dr. G.P. Kane Visiting Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University Institute of Chemical Technology, in Bombay, India. Kane also won a Rensselaer Early Career Award in 2006.

Kane’s research focuses on the interface of nanotechnology and biotechnology, in attempt to identify new ways of transforming a fundamental molecular-level understanding of nanoscopic and biological systems, and develop new advanced materials that can play an important role in tackling important global challenges related to health and medicine. These investigations range from developing “self-cleaning” nanotube coatings and new methods to destroy anthrax toxin, to advancing stem cell proliferation and microfluidic DNA separation.

Kane joined Rensselaer in 2001 and was named a full professor in 2007. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, earned his master’s degree and doctorate in chemical engineering from MIT, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University.