VENKATAKRISHNAN RENGARAJAN

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

A highly skilled biomedical research fellow with 7 years of experience in tissue engineering and microfluidics. Advanced in cell culture, biomaterial research, microfluidic device fabrication and optical imaging. Six years of experience in leading large teams of scientists in advanced research projects. Extremely knowledgeable in overall laboratory function and maintenance. Experienced in establishing investigative tasks and motivating staff to attain goals. Additionally, I am a researcher who seeks to improve the scientific community by per- forming accurate research and complying with all laboratory safety protocol and standards. SKILLS

• Tissue Engineering research (7 years)

• Biomaterials (Specialty: Hydrogels 7+ years)

• Cell culture research (10 years experience)

• Stem cell research (5 years)

• Photolithography technique (7 years)

• Confocal Microscopy (7 years)

• Fluorescent microcope (10 years)

• Opitcs/Optofluidics (3 years)

• Microfluidics (7 years)

• Blotting techniques (10 years)

• Fabrication of microfluidic devices (7 years)

• PCR (7 years)

• SEM (3 years)

• Programming languages: MATLAB/ C&

C++/Simulink

• BME related Software: SPSS Statistical soft-

ware, ANOVA & post-hoc analysis, Student t-

test/ ANSYS / COMSOL / TracePro optical

simulation/ Solid works/ Computational fluid

dynamics (CFD)

• OS & Software: Windows/ Macintosh/ Mi-

crosoft office platform (excel, powerpoint,

word)/ Video editing and photo editing soft-

ware/ Adobe Photoshop/ Adobe lightroom

WORK HISTORY

Postdoctoral research associate 08/2016 to Current New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark, New Jersey, United States

• Involved in the research for understanding the in vitro model of wound healing process to understand the 432 B Harrison Avenue, Harrison, NJ-USA 07029 (C) - +1-201-***-**** ac0g75@r.postjobfree.com

glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)

• Involved in understanding the similarity of GAG mimics to native GAGs in the wound healing process

• Working on a review paper and research article on the role of GAG mimics in wound healing process

• Investigated the impact of intrinsic target properties on siRNAs pharmaceutical properties Entrepreneur lead 01/2017 to 05/2017

New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark, New Jersey, United States

• Involved in the research for developing a new product as well as in discovering the customer base for the same product

• Actively communicated the research findings to public, NSF-ICORPS team instructors and various doc- tors

• Involved in understanding of a new product approval process that has FDA regulations. Research associate 08/2013 to 08/2016

New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark, New Jersey, United States

• Interpreted research findings and summarized data into reports

• Conducted basic and applied research on optical sensing device that is related to body-on-a-chip design

• Fabricated an optofluidic device with integrated 3D scaffold engineering for bio-sensing application which led to body-on-a-chip design

• Studied optical properties of various biomaterials, especially polyethylene glycol

• Designed a microfluidic device with optical readouts to control the microenvironment of cells in a 3D scaffold environment for bio-sensing applications and drug testing

• Further, designed a body-on-a-chip design in order to study the paracrine signaling of different cell types in a single controlled environment

Research associate 08/2012 to 08/2013

The University of Texas at San Antonio – San Antonio, Texas, United States

• PhD Student at University of Texas at San Antonio (Transferred to NJIT)

• Synthesis of Gold nanorods for the Drug delivery Gold nanorods were synthesized and attached with aptamers for the delivery of drugs

• Worked with several teams on biosensing research where gold nanorods are coated with aptamers to sense various molecules related to heart attack

Research Assistant 08/2010 to 07/2011

Harvard-MIT HST/Harvard Medical School – Cambridge, MA

• Bottom up tissue engineering-Magnetic directed assembly of microgel encapsulating magnetic nanopar- ticles into three-dimensional complex structures for in vitro tissue models and organ regeneration.

• Stem Cell research - Study of stem cell differentiation in Embryoid bodies with respect to variation in EB cell size.

• Study of cellular interaction in Co-Culture - Cell-cell interaction was studied in co-culture inside a 3D biomaterial stack with segregated borders.

• Islet tissue engineering- Fabrication of islet structure in vitro and hormone release kinetics.

• Novel microcarrier-Developing novel living porogen based methods to fabricate microscale porous hy- drogels as a potential mirocarrier for cell therapy and drug delivery. Student Intern 01/2010 to 04/2010

DRDO

• Production of (ZnGaO) Nano-powder and study of its anti-microbial activity Trainee 01/2007 to 05/2007

Life-teck research centre, India.

• Gel Electrophoresis and immunotechnology- Antigen antibody interaction and the electrophoresis tech- nique for the DNA molecular weight detection

Trainee 01/2007 to 01/2007

Dharangadhara chemical works, India.

• Production of caustic soda Detailed Caustic soda production and the energy conservation system by uti- lizing the by-products efficiently

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Technology: Industrial Biotechnology 08/2006 to 08/2010 SASTRA University - Thanjavur

• CGPA - 8.18/10

• Coursework: Downstream Processing, Process Instrumentation and Control,Pharmaceutical Technol- ogy, Bioprocess Engineering, Separation Processes, Enzyme Engineering, Microbiology, Analytical Techniques in Biotechnology, Molecular Biology

• Graduated with distinction

• SASTRA alumni member

Ph.D.: Biomedical Engineering 08/2012 – 08/2013

University of Texas San Antonio/ University of Texas Health Science Center - San Antonio, Texas

• CGPA- 3.47/4

• Coursework: Biomaterials, Biology for bioengineers, Physical imaging techniques

• Synthesized gold nanorods and attached with aptamers for the delivery of drugs Ph.D.: Biomedical Engineering 08/2013- 08/2016

Joint biomedical program of Rutgers-NJIT - Newark, NJ

• CGPA - 3.83/4

• Transferred from UTSA/UTHSCA

• Coursework: Advanced Characterization of Biomaterials, Computational Biomechanics, Stem cell biol- ogy, Nanomaterials, Biomechanics

• Worked as a teaching assistant for 3 years

• Focused on teaching student about MATLAB coding in course “Fundamentals of Engineering Design” and guided in developing a MATLAB operated robot (LegoEV3), performing particular operations

• Solely responsible for lectures on “DNA and Imaging” and designed a lab independently for undergrad- uate in “Introduction to Nanotechnology” course

• Solely responsible for lectures on “Bio-Nano technology and cell imaging” and designed a lab inde- pendently for undergraduate in “Biomaterial Characterization” course

• Focused on grading and lab design in “Introduction to biomedical engineering” and “Biological and chemical foundation of biomedical engineering” courses

• Graduate coach for NEURON REU program, New Jersey Institute of Technology

• Trained 2 undergraduate students on the study of neural growth depending on chemical cues on dual hy- drogel constructs

• Responsible for application details management in NSF REU program PUBLICATIONS

2017 V. Rengarajan, O. Ordeig, RP. Castillejos “Fabrication of 3d Hydrogel Based Microscale Tissue Analog-chip with Integrated Optofluidics” Lab On a Chip, (In progress) 2017 V. Rengarajan, RP. Castillejos “Absorbance study of PEGDA for sensing applications” (In pro- gress)

2014 O. Kuzura, C. Petersen, V. Rengarajan, RP.Castillejos “Dual-gel construct with dynamic control of soluble chemotactic cues for the study of neural cells” BMES 2014 Annual conference, Texas 2011 F. Xu, C. M. Wu, V. Rengarajan, T. D. Finley, H.O. Keles, Y. Sung, B. Li, U. A. Gurkan and U. Demirci, Three-Dimensional Magnetic Assembly of Microscale Hydrogels, Advance Materials, 2011 Aug 10. doi: 10.1002/adma.201101962

2011 F. Xu, V. Rengarajan, T.D. Finley, Y. Sung, B. Sridharan, U. Demirci, Magnetic Nanoparticle Based Assembly For Microscale Hydrogel, MFG 2011, California, USA Conference paper. 2011 V. Rengarajan, T.D. Finley, Y. Sung, C.M. Wu, B. Sridharan, H.O. Keles, F. Xu, U. Demirci, Di- rected Assembly of Microscale Hydrogels, Harvard SEAS Bioengineering Expo, Boston 2010 V. Rengarajan, T.D. Finley, Y. Sung, C.M. Wu, B. Sridharan, H.O. Keles, F. Xu, U. Demirci, Di- rected Assembly of Microscale Hydrogels, SFB Conference, Florida 2010 T.D. Finley, Y. Sung, C. M. Wu, V. Rengarajan, B. Sridharan, H.O. Keles, F. Xu, U. Demirci, As- sembly Of Microscale Hydrogels For Tissue Engineering, Merck BE-BEMES,MIT Poster session 2010 F. Xu, V. Rengarajan, T.D.Finley, Y.Sung, B.Sridharan, C.M .Wu, H.O. Keles, U. Demirci, Directed Assembly Of Magnetic Microscale Hydrogels, BWH Hospital, Cambridge 2009 V. Rengarajan, “Zinc Nanomaterial for the biomedical application”, TECHNOVISTA 2009- SASTRA(best presentation award)

2008 V. Rengarajan, G. Krishna Kumar, “Production of transgenic plants by Recombinant DNA technology”, National Conference-DRDO, INDIA

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

• Vice-President of Graduate Biomedical Engineering Society 2014-2016

• Treasure of Graduate Biomedical Engineering Society 2013-2014

• Participated inTechnovista’06 -national level conference conducted by SASTRA

• Participated inTechnovista’09 -national level conference conducted by SASTRA

• Participated in school level science exhibition and presented “HYDRAULIC LIFT” model ‘03

• Attended a certificate course on Technical Communication Skills-2007,SASTRA Cover Letter

I recently completed my doctoral studies, majoring in biomedical engineering, from the New Jersey Institute of Technology/Rutgers Medical School joint program in May 2016. I am actively seeking for an opportunity to continue my learning and leverage my research experience. I am interested in this position because of the opportunities this job delivers in the field of research. I have 6+ years experience in research where I developed skills in the laboratory environment that can be trans- lated into industrial environment. During my stay at Harvard-MIT HST, I faced tough challenges, which sharply shaped my problem solving capability. In addition, my leadership skills were refined during the training of three undergraduate students in Harvard-MIT labs. In addition, I worked closely with tissue engineering projects where I co-authored a paper in Advanced Materials journal. During this stay, I operated more than 8 different cell lines in which the islet cells (alpha, beta, gamma) are worth mentioning. I was also involved in an islet regeneration project. In addition, I worked with three different biomaterials (Gel-MA, PEG-DA and Chitosan). I was personally involved in the optimization of gelatin methacrylate (Gel-MA) production. Here I extensively worked with fluo- rescent microscopic imaging and PCR techniques.

In my PhD study, I improved my innovation skills and problem solving skills with respect to time, money and resources. In this particular period, I enhanced my teaching skills and my ability to work with people from various ethnicities. I think these people skills make me a perfect candidate for the professional environments. With respect to research, I worked on the fabrication of an optofluidic device coupled with 3D tissue engineering technology. I was closely working with PEGDA hydrogels and SU-8 based photolithography. In addition, my research is based on optofluidic (optics+microfluidics) coupled with 3D tissue engineering. Here my work was mainly fo- cused on imaging and is highly integrated with fluorescent microscope, confocal microscope & FTIR techniques. In my current job as an entrepreneur lead of a project, I am learning new skills in marketing in order to understand the customer base for a product, and the development of a business plan, insurance approval for a new product and FDA approval strategies. This entrepreneurship experience trains me in understanding the commercial po- tential of research and hence making me well suited for industrial environments. Overall, my research experience and personal skills work in synergy to make me a viable candidate for this posi- tion. I want to extend my own boundaries and make a positive contribution to the objectives of your organisation.

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