Mrunalini (Leena) Pattarkine, Ph.D. Program Lead Biotechnology, Director Capital Area Biotechnology Partnership

Dr Mrunalini Pattarkine has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology and has extensive experience in biochemistry, biotechnology, and nanobiotechnology. She has worked on membranes, proteins, lipids, DNA diagnostics (gene therapy, DNA chips), and protein immobilization for developing them as nanobiotechnological material. She has experience with bioanalytical techniques for establishing structure-function relationships for macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids). She has also worked with liposomes and reverse micelles as membrane–mimetic systems. She has conducted research in environmental biotechnology project related to uranium bioremediation. She has been a recipient of Pennsylvania’s Keystone Innovative Zone Grant for research on development of a hand-held biosensor for the detection of Methicillin-resistant /Staphylococcus aureus/ (MRSA).

Research Interests: Biotechnology systems, Biotechnology applications, pharmaceutical information systems, healthcare infomatics