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People Mohammad Ataai

Professor, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Professor, Department of Bioengineering
William Kepler Whiteford Professor

ataai@engr.pitt.edu
412-624-9648
Fax: 412-624-9639
Office: 1231 Benedum Hall

Education

PhD (Chemical Engineering), Cornell University, 1986

Professional Interests

Dr. Ataai has a very active research program in biotechnology and biomolecular engineering.

His research is focused on:

  • Fermentation and metabolic engineering
    • Theoretical and experimental analysis of metabolic reaction networks for maximizing product and cellular yields. Has identified attenuation of pyruvate kinase activity as an important function for attaining a high degree of coupling between energetics and biosynthesis reactions
    • Investigated the metabolism of insect cells and demonstrated that the recombinant protein production for cell cultured in the metabolically tailored medium was substantially higher than the level reported with commercial media
  • Protein purification and chromatography
    • Has identified peptides that lead to a highly efficient protein purification in one fusion step
  • Cell culture and bioprocessing
    • Investigating the bioprocessing of herpes-based viral vector for gene therapy

Selected Publications

Jiang, C., J. C. Glorioso, and M.M.  Ataai,  Presence of Imidazole in Loading Buffer Prevents Formation of Free Radical in IMAC and Dramatically Improves the Recovery of HSV-1 Gene Therapy Vectors.  J. Chromatography A, J Chromatogr A, 2006;1121(1):40-45

 

Jiang C., M.M. Ataai, A. Ozuer, D. Krisky, J. Wechuck, S. Pornsuwan, F.  Pourarian, and J.C.  Glorioso, Inactivation of Herpes Simplex Type 1 Gene Vector on Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography: Oxidative Damage by Hydroxyl Free Radicals and its Prevention, Biotechnol.& Bioeng.  95, 2006, 48-57.

Ghosh, T., I.E. Grossmann, M.M. Ataai and M.M. Domach, 2006, A Three-Level Problem-Centric Strategy for Selecting NMR Precursor Labeling & Analytes.  Metabolic Engineering, 8, 2006, 491–507.

 

Zhiwei P., Zhu T., Domagalski, N., Khan, S. Domach, M.M., and  Ataai M.M., Regulated Expression of Pyruvate Kinase in B.  subtilis for Control of growth rate  and Formation of Acidic By-products.  Biotechnol. Prog., 2006,22,1451-1455.

Zhu,T., Z. Pan, N. Domagalski, R. Koepsel, M. M. Ataai, and M. M. Domach, 2005. Engineering of Bacillus subtilis for enhanced total synthesis of folic acid. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:7122-9.

Ye, K., Ataai, M.M., and Schultz J. S. 2004. Tagging retrovirus with a metal binding peptide: a novel approach for preparation of clinical-grade retroviral vectors by immobilized metal affinity chromatography purification. J. Virol. 78, 9820-9827 (2004).

Canping J., Wechuck J.B., Goins W.F., Krisky D.M., Wolfe D., Ataai M.M., and Glorioso J.C. 2004. Immobilized cobalt affinity chromatography provides a novel, efficient method for HSV-1 gene vector purification. J Virol. 78, 8994-9006 (2004).

Ghosh S., Zhu T., Grossmann I.E., Ataai M.M., and Domach M.M. 2004. Closing the loop between feasible flux scenario identification for construct evaluation & resolution of realized fluxes via NMR. Computers & Chemical Engineering 29(3) pp. 459-466 (2004).

 

 

 

 

Benedum Hall

Dedicated in 1971, Benedum Hall is home to exploration and discovery.

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