Faculty & Staff

Saurav Datta, PhD

Saurav Datta joined as an Assistant Professor at the Amgen Bioprocessing Center, Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) in January 2020. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee), India, from 2014-2019. He also worked as a Chemical Engineer (2011-2013) and as a Postdoctoral Fellow (2008-2010) at the Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory. Earlier, he obtained PhD from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Kentucky. He obtained his Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and the University of Calcutta, India, respectively.

His current research interests include the production and purification of viral vectors, plasmid DNA, mAb, and exosomes; advanced process analytical technology; and process modeling for improved production of biopharmaceuticals.

  1. A. Burns, D. Ramos-Sono, S. Datta. Improving the expression yield of recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (rAAV2) using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as an additive to the triple transient (TT) transfection process of HEK293 cells. Biotechnol Prog., Accepted (2025)
  2. R. Somadder, L. Faraj, S. Datta, M. Kanapathipillai, G. Ghosh. Effect of extracellular matrices on production and potency of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes. Biotechnol J., 2024 Feb;19(2):e2300474
  3. Ayushi Kapoor, Saurav Datta, Gaurav Gupta, Ajay Vishwakarma, Avinash Singh, Sujoy Chattopadhyay, Kiran Ambatipudi. One-step selective isolation of fat globules from cow and buffalo milk using cross-flow microfiltration, Separation and Purification Technology, 330 (2024)
  4. A. Verma, A. K. Sharma, P. Chakraborty, A. Agarwal, P. P. Sarangi, S. Datta*, Kiran Ambatipudi*, Selective enrichment of milk fat globules using functionalized polyvinylidene fluoride membrane, Preparative Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 50 (2020) 18–27
  5. D. Somayajula, A. Agarwal, A. K. Sharma, A. E. Pall, S. Datta*, G. Ghosh*, In Situ Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles within Hydrogel-conjugated Membrane for Enhanced Anti-Bacterial Properties, ACS Appl. Bio Mater., 2 (2019) 665–674
  6. B. Singh, P. Kumar, A. Maheshwari, Anjlika, S. Datta*, Degradation of fermentation inhibitors from lignocellulosic hydrolysate liquor using immobilized Bordetella sp. BTIITR, Chem. Eng. J., 361 (2019) 1152-1160
  7. A. Kumari, L. Rekhie, S. Datta*, Reversibly attached phospholipid bilayer functionalized membrane pores, Langmuir, 34 (2018) 14395-14401
  8. A. Kumari, S. Datta*, Phospholipid bilayer functionalized membrane pores for enhanced efficiency of immobilized glucose oxidase enzyme, J. Mem. Sci., 539 (2017) 43-51
  9. B. Singh, A. Verma, Pooja, P. K. Mandal, S. Datta*, A Biotechnological Approach for Degradation of Inhibitory Compounds Present in Lignocellulosic Biomass Hydrolysate Liquor Using Bordetella sp. BTIITR, Chem. Eng. J., 328 (2017) 519-526
  10. S. R. Lewis, S Datta, M. Gui, F. E. Huggins, S. Daunert, L. G. Bachas, D. Bhattacharyya, Reactive Nanostructured Membranes for Water Purification, Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) USA, 108 (2011), 8577-8582

  1. S. Datta, Ayushi Agarwal, Anju Kumari, A virus removal/recovery membrane and its preparation method, Indian Patent application number 201811022826, 2018
  2. K. Ambatipudi, S. Datta, A. Verma, Functionalized membrane-based process for selective isolation and enrichment of milk fat globules (MFGs), Indian Patent application number 201811013231, 2018
  3. Y. J. Lin, S. W. Snyder, M. P. Henry, S. Datta, Internal gas and liquid distributor for electrodeionization device, US Patent 9,339,764, 2016
  4. D. Bhattacharyya, S. R. Lewis, S. Datta, Chemical processing cell with nanostructured membranes, US Patent 9,174,173, 2015
  5. Y. J. Lin, S. W. Snyder, S. Datta, M. Trachtenberg, R. Cowen, Carbon dioxide capture using resin-wafer electrodeionization, U.S. Patent 8506784, 2013

We leverage fundamental principles of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, and Chemistry to develop advanced bioprocesses with enhanced efficiency, scalability, and economic feasibility. Research activities in the major areas of biopharmaceutical processing are outlined below.

Viral Vectors and Plasmid DNAs: Plasmid DNA (pDNA) is one of the major components for manufacturing next-generation biomolecules, such as viral vectors for gene therapy and DNA-based vaccines. With the use of pDNA expanding to next-generation biomolecules, large-scale manufacturing while maintaining the desired purity of the product is emerging as the major bottleneck. Similarly, the efficient production of viral vectors, such as adeno-associated virus (AAV), is critical to the success of gene therapy. Our team focuses on the bioprocessing of pDNA and AAV. In the pDNA space, we aim to develop a membrane-based pDNA purification technology. Then, we perform triple-transient transfection in mammalian cells to produce AAV, followed by chromatography and membrane-based purification of AAV vectors. We also aim to involve advanced process analytical technology (PAT) and process modeling for enhanced production of AAV. For pDNA, we collaborate with Cytiva and W. R. Grace, and for AAV, we collaborate with Celltheon and Cytiva.

Exosomes: Extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes, have attracted significant attention due to their potential therapeutic benefits. However, scalable, cost-effective, and efficient manufacturing techniques are the need of the hour. Our team is exploring mesenchymal stem cell-based production followed by membrane-based purification of exosomes in collaboration with Prof. Ghosh’s lab.

Monoclonal antibody (mAb): The Biopharmaceutical industry is heavily benefited from the platform approach in downstream processing (DSP) of monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufacturing. We aim to contribute towards further advancement of the mAb manufacturing process by exploring perfusion-based upstream processing, process analytical technologies (PATs), and computational approaches. We collaborated with Repligen, FujiFilm Irvine Scientific, and Meissner for mAb-related studies.