N. Nitin, Assistant Professor

Education

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Panjab University, 1998

M.S., Food Engineering, Rutgers University, 2001

Ph. D., Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005

Ph.D., Food Engineering, Rutgers University, 2008

Current Research

The laboratory is interested in using a combination of interdisciplinary approaches encompassing biomolecular engineering, mathematical modeling, material science and molecular imaging to study the following key research areas. The research interests of the laboratory can be broadly classified into two main categories:

1. Food Engineering Research: The goal of this research plan is to develop technologies for addressing key issues in areas of food safety and food for health initiatives (e.g. development and validation of non-thermal food processing operations for food safety; engineering of food formulations to improve bioavailability of nutraceuticals). These projects will provide students with skills in areas of molecular imaging, spectroscopy, mathematical modeling, molecular biology, microbiology and material science with a strong foundation in food engineering.
   
   
2. Biological/Biomedical Engineering Research: The goal of this research is to develop molecular imaging technologies from a single cell level to a whole body imaging. These imaging technologies will enable early stage detection of diseases, novel delivery vehicles for therapeutic applications and quantification of molecular processes for fundamental understanding of patho-physiology. These projects will provide students with skills in areas of molecular imaging, mathematical modeling, molecular biology and material science with a strong foundation in bioengineering.

Selected Publications

N. Nitin and M.V. Karwe, “Heat transfer coefficient for disk shaped object in jet impingement”, Journal of Food Process Engineering, 24(1) 2001

N. Nitin and M.V. Karwe, “Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of conjugate heat transfer between a turbulent hot air jet and model geometry”, Journal of Food Science, 69(2), 2004

N. Nitin, P. Santangelo, G. Kim, S. Nie and G. Bao, “Peptide linked molecular beacons for efficient delivery and rapid mRNA detection in living cells”, Nucleic Acids Research, E58, 2004

N. Nitin, L.E.W. LaConte, O. Xurkiya, X. Hu, and G. Bao, “Development of functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for intracellular molecular imaging applications using MRI”, Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, June 2004

N. Nitin, D. Javier and Rebecca Richards-Kortum, “Oligonucleotide functionalized metallic nanoparticles as a platform for molecular targeted contrast agents”, Bioconjugate Chemistry, Oct., 2007

N. Nitin, D. Javier and Rebecca Richards-Kortum, “ Metal nanoparticles: spectrally tuned contrast agents for molecular specific optical reflectance imaging” (Journal of Biomedical Optics, Dec 2007)

N. Nitin, A. Carlson, T. Muldoon, A. El-Naggar, A. Gillenwater, R. Richards-Kortum, “Molecular imaging of glucose uptake in oral neoplasia following topical application of fluorescently labeled deoxy-glucose”, International Journal of Cancer Research, June 2009.

N. Nitin, A. El-Naggar, A. Gillenwater, R. Richards-Kortum, ““Widefield and high-resolution optical molecular imaging of EGFR expression to improve detection of oral neoplasia”, Neoplasia, June, 2009.

N. Nitin, P. Santangelo and G. Bao, “Targeted Delivery and detection of nuclear RNA in living cells using peptide linked molecular beacons” Bioconjugate Chemistry, Dec., 2008

N. Nitin, W. Rhee and G. Bao, “Translation inhibition reveals interaction of 2'-deoxy and 2'-O-methyl molecular beacons with mRNA targets in living Cells”, Nucleic Acids Research, July, 2009