Michael Ladisch
Distinguished Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering | Director, Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering
Purdue University
Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering
225 South University Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2093
Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering
225 South University Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2093
Office: ABE 2044
Phone: +1 765 49-47022
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Areas of Interest
- Biological Engineering
- Food, Pharmaceutical, and Biological Process Engineering
- Data Science and Digital Agriculture
Research Areas
Bioseparations & Mass Transfer: liquid chromatography, membrane separations, microfluidics, injectable biologics. Pathogen Detection. Biocatalysis: enzymes, cellulose pretreatment, fermentation, process engineering. https://www.purdue.edu/lorre/
Biography
Michael R. Ladisch is Director of the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE), and
Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering with a joint appointment in the
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. His BS (1973) from Drexel University and MS (1974) and
PhD (1977) from Purdue University are in Chemical Engineering. He was Chief Technology Officer of
Mascoma, a biofuels company, from 2007 to 2013 and also served on the scientific advisory board of
Agrivida. He is a member of the Board for the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.
Dr. Ladisch’s research includes bioprocess and bioseparations engineering, transformation of renewable
resources into biofuels and bioproducts, and detection of microbial pathogens. His fundamental studies
address proteins and living organisms at surfaces, bionanotechnology, and bioseparations. His team
developed and prototyped microfiltration technology for rapid concentration and recovery of
microorganisms from foods and water - an innovation that won the US FDA Food Safety Challenge in
2015. His research has resulted in technology that has reduced the cost of producing biofuels through
energy-efficient removal of water from fuel ethanol at an industrial scale, and in science that enhances
conversion of cellulosic biomass into industrial sugars for production of biofuels and bioproducts.
Ladisch is an author for two textbooks, numerous journal papers, book chapters and abstracts, and holds
over 20 patents. He is active in translating discoveries from the laboratory to commercialization through
start-ups and licensing. Together with Professor Nathalie Duval-Couetil, he has developed a new
graduate course at Purdue University that teaches the entrepreneurial process to students from a range of
different disciplines. He is on editorial boards of 12 journals in the biological, biotechnology, bioresource,
and chemical engineering fields.
Dr. Ladisch was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 1994
and to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999. He has served on various committees of the US
National Academy of Engineering including Chair of Bioengineering (Section 2) and Chair of the NAE
Committee on Membership as well as study committees of the National Research Council. He is
currently a member the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. He was named as one of the
100 engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2008. He received
the Marvin J. Johnson Award of the American Chemical Society in 2002, the Charles D. Scott Award in
2009, became Fellow of ACS and AAAS in 2011, and was selected for the National Academy of
Inventors in 2014. In 2015, he received the Morrill Award from Purdue University.
Publication reprints available upon request or at Google Scholar.
Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering with a joint appointment in the
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. His BS (1973) from Drexel University and MS (1974) and
PhD (1977) from Purdue University are in Chemical Engineering. He was Chief Technology Officer of
Mascoma, a biofuels company, from 2007 to 2013 and also served on the scientific advisory board of
Agrivida. He is a member of the Board for the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.
Dr. Ladisch’s research includes bioprocess and bioseparations engineering, transformation of renewable
resources into biofuels and bioproducts, and detection of microbial pathogens. His fundamental studies
address proteins and living organisms at surfaces, bionanotechnology, and bioseparations. His team
developed and prototyped microfiltration technology for rapid concentration and recovery of
microorganisms from foods and water - an innovation that won the US FDA Food Safety Challenge in
2015. His research has resulted in technology that has reduced the cost of producing biofuels through
energy-efficient removal of water from fuel ethanol at an industrial scale, and in science that enhances
conversion of cellulosic biomass into industrial sugars for production of biofuels and bioproducts.
Ladisch is an author for two textbooks, numerous journal papers, book chapters and abstracts, and holds
over 20 patents. He is active in translating discoveries from the laboratory to commercialization through
start-ups and licensing. Together with Professor Nathalie Duval-Couetil, he has developed a new
graduate course at Purdue University that teaches the entrepreneurial process to students from a range of
different disciplines. He is on editorial boards of 12 journals in the biological, biotechnology, bioresource,
and chemical engineering fields.
Dr. Ladisch was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 1994
and to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999. He has served on various committees of the US
National Academy of Engineering including Chair of Bioengineering (Section 2) and Chair of the NAE
Committee on Membership as well as study committees of the National Research Council. He is
currently a member the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. He was named as one of the
100 engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2008. He received
the Marvin J. Johnson Award of the American Chemical Society in 2002, the Charles D. Scott Award in
2009, became Fellow of ACS and AAAS in 2011, and was selected for the National Academy of
Inventors in 2014. In 2015, he received the Morrill Award from Purdue University.
Publication reprints available upon request or at Google Scholar.