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Ashutosh Chilkoti, the Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded the 2025 Technology Innovation and Development Award from the Society of Biomaterials. The award is intended to recognize the successful application of basic and applied biomaterials research in the development of a product or technology that significantly benefits the health and well-being of medical and surgical patients.
Chilkoti was recognized by the Society for Biomaterials for his pioneering work in protein-resistant polymer coatings and protein biomaterials.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized by the Society for Biomaterials, and I want to thank all my lab members, past and current, who did the work that led to this award,” said Chilkoti.
Beyond his role as a faculty member in Duke’s Biomedical Engineering Department, Chilkoti previously served as the chair of Duke BME from 2016-2022, where he oversaw significant growth of the department and a jump in global recognition.
Chilkoti specializes in research involving biomolecular engineering and biointerface science. Using techniques spanning molecular biology, protein engineering, polymer chemistry and surface science, Chilkoti and his lab have pioneered numerous tools and materials, including a polymer brush coating for an ultrasensitive point-of-care diagnostic device, a variety of genetically engineered biomaterials including thermally sensitive elastin-like polypeptides, and a method to purify protein drugs and viral vectors without chromatography. More recently, he showed that biological condensates within cells may be a previously missing mechanism by which cells modulate their internal electrochemistry.
This work has provided the foundation for numerous startups by Chilkoti, including PhaseBio Pharmaceutics (2002), Sentilus (2011), Gateway Bio (2017), Isolere Bio (2018) and InSoma Bio (2019). PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, which became public in 2018, has since completed a Phase II clinical trial test for a peptide drug for type 2 diabetes.
The Society for Biomaterials is a professional society that promotes advances in biomedical materials research and development by the encouragement of cooperative educational programs, clinical applications and professional standards in the biomaterials field. The 2025 awards will be presented during the opening ceremony of the SFB 2025 Annual meeting on April 9 in Chicago, Illinois.
