Faculty

Rustem Ismagilov

Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Merkin Institute Professor; Director of the Jacobs Institute for Molecular Engineering for Medicine

Degrees and Appointments

B.S., Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1994; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1998. Miles Professor, Caltech, 2011-13; Bowles Professor, 2013-; Merkin Institute Professor, 2021-; Director, Jacobs Institute, 2013-.

Research Overview

Members of Ismagilov Lab have backgrounds in chemistry, biology, engineering, medicine, and biophysics—creating a rich, interdisciplinary environment in which to solve real-world problems. Uniting the group’s diverse interests is a commitment to improve global health, specifically via their work on the human microbiome and in vitro diagnostics. 

Ismagilov Lab has pioneered the development of microfluidic technologies (including droplet-based microfluidics and SlipChip). Microfluidics enables ultrasensitive, quantitative biomarker measurements, and provides tools with which to control and understand the dynamics of complex chemical and biological networks. Such capabilities are poised to revolutionize medicine—enabling rapid point-of-care diagnoses under a variety of settings outside of clinical labs. Currently, the lab is applying these innovative technologies to develop rapid diagnostics of antimicrobial susceptibility. In the context of the human microbiome, the lab works to understand host-microbe interactions that may lead to new therapeutics.

List of Research Areas

Complex networks of reactions, cells, and organisms; global health and diagnostics; microbial communities; microfluidics; single molecules, crystals, and cells