January 14, 2008

Carbonell’s Prion Research Among Scientific American’s Top 50 Trends

Dr. Carbonell (Photo: submitted)

A recent article in Scientific American on the top 50 novel trends in business, policy and research for 2007 features the research of Dr. Ruben Carbonell, the Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University.

Carbonell's recent research in bioseparations led to the identification of a specific ligand for the prion protein responsible for the transmission of mad cow disease in humans. This ligand is being used to remove prion protein from blood products and is the basis for the filter mentioned in the Scientific American article. Carbonell, Dr. Robert Rohwer of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore, and colleagues from Pathogen Removal and Detection Technologies, Inc. (PRDT) developed the filter that is in medical trials for use in Europe and Japan.

Carbonell, who is director of the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) and director of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science, received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1973. He joined the faculty at NC State as a full professor in 1984.

— weston —

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