Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Chemistry
Education
- Bachelor's Degree, Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Biography
Noah Malmstadt received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Caltech in 1997, a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington in 2003, and did postodoctoral work in Bioengineering at UCLA. Since 2007, he has been on the faculty of the University of Southern California, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science with joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry. He is the recipient of an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, a Charles Lee Powell Foundation Research Award, a Viterbi School of Engineering Junior Research Award, and a USC Ph.D. Student Mentoring Award. In 2016, he was a Journal of Laboratory Automation JALA Ten Honoree.
Research Summary
Research in the Malmstadt laboratory focuses broadly on the topic of engineered interfaces. We study this both in terms of the central interface in biology—the cell membrane—and in microfluidic systems, where fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interfaces play key roles in system performance. We build synthetic systems for studying how lipid composition and oxidative processes change the medically relevant properties of cell membranes. We also build systems for studying how neurobiologically important receptor proteins are altered by their local lipid environment, with the long-term goal of tuning this environment to address health issues. We have pioneered the use of 3D printing to build microfluidic systems, and apply these systems to the sustainable manufacturing of nanomaterials and to biomedical diagnosis.
Awards
- 2016 USC PhD Student Mentoring Award
- 2016 Journal of Laboratory Automation JALA Ten Honoree
- 2015 USC Viterbi School of Engineering Junior Research Award
- 2013 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium Invited Attendee
- 2012 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award
- 2010 Finalist: 2010 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
- 2009 National Academies / Keck Foundation Selection to Participate in the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative
- 2008 Charles Lee Powell Foundation Charles Lee Powell Foundation Research Award
- 2006 University of California System-‐‑wide Bioengineering Symposium 2006 Poster prizes
- 2000 NSF Summer Institute Selection to NSF Summer Institute in Japan
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