News Story

Bryan, Eisenstein Join BioE Faculty

Left: Professor Philip Bryan. Right: Associate Professor Edward Eisenstein.

The A. James Clark School of Engineering and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BioE) are pleased to welcome their two newest full-time faculty members, Professor Philip Bryan and Associate Professor Edward Eisenstein. They will also serve as affiliate faculty in the recently-established Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research. Both professors were previously appointed to the faculty of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI), where they were members of the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology (CARB).

Bryan, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1979, uses genetic, biochemical, and biophysical methods to investigate fundamental questions of protein folding and enzymology. The basic studies are the foundation of a hierarchical progression in which fundamental understanding of folding and enzymology translates into principles of protein engineering and engineering principles translate into protein-based nanomachinery. The ability to engineer proteins with switchable functions led Bryan to create a spinoff company, Potomac Affinity Proteins, which uses switchable proteolytic enzymes in a powerful, all-purpose method for protein isolation and purification.

Eisenstein, who received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1985, investigates a variety of questions involving plants, including their remarkable capacity to produce a complex array of interesting compounds, their response to pathogens and disease, and the feasibility of engineering their biosynthetic apparatus for applications ranging from human health to biofuel production. His research interests include gene-metabolite relationships in medicinal plants, exploring the molecular basis for plant disease resistance, and plant metabolic engineering. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and the review panels for various scientific agencies, and was previously appointed acting president of UMBI.

July 16, 2010