Christopher V. Rao, Ph.D. - School of Chemical Sciences

Christopher V. Rao, Ph.D. - School of Chemical Sciences

Christopher V. Rao, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
211 Roger Adams Laboratory, MC-712, Box C-3 | 600 South Mathews Avenue | Urbana, IL 60801
(ph) 217.244.2247 | (fax) 217.333.5052 | (email) [email protected]
openwetware.org/wiki/Rao_Lab
ACADEMIC POSITIONS HELD
2015 – date
2011 – 2015
2005 – 2011
2014 – date
2007 – date
2005 – date
Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Affiliate, Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Affiliate, Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Affiliate, Beckman Institute of Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
2000 – 2004
1994 – 2000
1990 – 1994
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Postdoctoral
research fellow (Mentor: A. P. Arkin).
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering (Thesis Advisor: J. B.
Rawlings). February, 2000.
Thesis Title: “Moving horizon strategies for the constrained monitoring and control of
nonlinear discrete-time systems.”
Carnegie Mellon University, B.S., Chemical Engineering. May 1994.
HONORS, AWARDS, RECOGNITIONS
2014
2012 – date
2012
2011 – 2012
2011
2010
Spring 2010
2009
2009
2008
2008
Spring 2008
2007
2007
Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research. College of Engineering, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
Robert W. Schaefer Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
AIChE Computing and Systems Technology, Outstanding Young Researcher Award
Helen Corley Petit Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Young Researcher Travel Award for Chemical Process Control VIII Meeting
International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), High Impact Paper Award (with Mayne,
Rawlings, and Scokaert)
List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Invited Participant of 7th Annual National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI)
conference
AIChE Food, Pharmaceuticals and Bioengineering Division, General Poster Award
Excellence in Teaching Award, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
AIChE Computing and Systems Technology Division (CAST), Director’s Award
List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
AIChE Computing and Systems Technology Division (CAST), W. David Smith Jr. Graduate
Student Paper Award
NSF CAREER Award
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 2
2001
1999
1997
1994 – 1995
Outstanding Reviewer, Automatica
Best Paper of Session, American Control Conference
Best Paper of Session, American Control Conference
Wright Memorial Fellowship
PUBLICATIONS
Chapters in Books:
1. C. V. Rao and J. B. Rawlings. Nonlinear moving horizon estimation. In F. Allgower and A. Zheng,
editors, Nonlinear Model Predictive Control, pages 45–69. Birkhauser, 2000.
Articles in Journals:
1. C. V. Rao, S. J. Wright, and J. B. Rawlings. On the application of interior point methods to model
predictive control. J. Optim. Theory Appl., 99:723–757, 1998.
2. C. V. Rao and J. B. Rawlings. Steady states and constraints in model predictive control. AIChE J.,
45:1266–1278, 1999.
3. C. V. Rao and J. B. Rawlings. Linear programming and model predictive control. J. Proc. Cont.,
10:283–289, 2000.
4. D. Q. Mayne, J. B. Rawlings, C. V. Rao, and P. O. M. Scokaert. Constrained model predictive
control: Stability and optimality. Automatica, 36:789–814, 2000.
5. C. V. Rao, J. B. Rawlings, and J. H. Lee. Constrained linear state estimation - a moving horizon
approach. Automatica, 37:1619–1628, 2001.
6. C. V. Rao and J. B. Rawlings. Constrained process monitoring: A moving horizon approach. AIChE
J., 48:97–109, 2002.
7. C. V. Rao, J. B. Rawlings, and D. Q. Mayne. Constrained state estimation for nonlinear discrete-time
systems: Stability and moving horizon approximations. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control,
48:246–258, 2003.
8. C. V. Rao and A. P. Arkin. Control motifs for intracellular regulatory networks. Annual Reviews of
Biomedical Engineering, 3:391–419, 2001.
9. C. V. Rao, D. M. Wolf, and A. P. Arkin. Control, exploitation, and tolerance of intracellular noise.
Nature, 420:231–237, 2002.
10. C. V. Rao and A. P. Arkin. Stochastic chemical kinetics and the quasi steady-state assumption:
application to the Gillespie algorithm. J. Chem. Physics, 118:4999–5010, 2003.
11. C. V. Rao, J. R. Kirby, and A. P. Arkin. Design and diversity in bacterial chemotaxis: A comparative
study of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. PLoS Biology, 2:239–252, 2004.
12. C. V. Rao, M. Frenklach, and A. P. Arkin. An allosteric model for transmembrane signaling in
bacterial chemotaxis. Journal of Molecular Biology, 343: 291–303, 2004.
13. C. V. Rao, J. R. Kirby, and A. P. Arkin. Phosphatase localization in bacterial chemotaxis: divergent
mechanisms, convergent principles. Physical Biology, 2: 148–158, 2005.
14. M. Onsum and C. V. Rao. A mathematical model for neutrophil gradient sensing and polarization.
PLoS Computational Biology. 3: 436–450, 2007.
15. D. Lin, C. V. Rao, and J. M. Slauch. The Salmonella SPI1 type three secretion system responds to
periplasmic disulfide bond status via the flagella apparatus and RscCDB system. Journal of
Bacteriology, 190:87–97, 2008.
16. S. Saini, C. Aldridge, P. A. Aldridge and C. V. Rao. FliZ is an FlhD4C2-dependent activator of class 2
flagellar gene expression. Journal of Bacteriology, 90:4979–4988, 2008.
17. L. Chubiz and C. V. Rao. Computational design of orthogonal ribosomes. Nucleic Acids Research,
36: 4038–4046, 2008.
18. J. D. Brown, S. Saini, C. Aldridge, C. V. Rao (co-corresponding author), and P. A. Aldridge. The
rate of flagella protein secretion dictates the temporal dynamics of flagellar gene expression.
Molecular Microbiology, 70:924–927, 2008.
19. C. V. Rao, G. D. Glekas, and G. W. Ordal. The three adaptation systems of Bacillus subtilis
chemotaxis. Trends in Microbiology, 16:480–487, 2008.
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 3
20. C. V. Rao and G. W. Ordal. The molecular basis of excitation and adaptation during chemotactic
sensory transduction in bacteria. Contributions to Microbiology, 16:33–64, 2009
21. T. A. Desai, D. A. Rodionov, M. S. Gelfand, E. J. Alm, and C. V. Rao. Engineering transcription
factors with novel DNA-bind specificity using comparative genomics. Nucleic Acids Research,
37:2493–2503, 2009.
22. S. Saini, J. A. Pearl, and C. V. Rao. Role of FimW, FimY, and FimZ in regulating the expression of
type I fimbriae in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Journal of Bacteriology, 191:3003–3010,
2009.
23. M. Onsum and C. V. Rao. Calling heads from tails: the role of mathematical modeling in
understanding cell polarization. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 21:74–81, 2009.
24. T. L. Min, P. J. Mears, L. M. Chubiz, C. V. Rao, I. Golding, Y. R. Chemla. High-resolution, long-term
characterization of bacterial motility using optical tweezers. Nature Methods, 6:831–835, 2009.
25. K. Wu and C. V. Rao. The role of configuration and coupling in autoregulatory gene circuits.
Molecular Microbiology, 75:513–527, 2009.
26. T. A. Desai and C. V. Rao. Regulation of arabinose and xylose metabolism in Escherichia coli.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76(5):1524–1532, 2010.
27. G. D. Glekas, R. M. Foster, J. R. Cates, J. A. Estrella, M. J. Wawrzynaik, C. V. Rao (cocorresponding author), G. W. Ordal. A PAS domain binds asparagine in the chemotaxis receptor
McpB in Bacillus subtilis. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 285:1870–1878, 2010.
28. G. J. Nistala, K. Wu, C. V. Rao (corresponding author), and K. D. Bhalerao. A modular positivefeedback based genetic amplifier. Journal of Biological Engineering, 4:4, 2010.
29. S. Saini, J. A. Pearl, and C. V. Rao. SprB is the molecular link between Salmonella pathogenicity
island 1 (SPI1) and SPI4. Journal of Bacteriology, 192:2459–2462, 2010.
30. S. Saini, J. R. Ellermeier, J. M Slauch, and C. V. Rao. The role of coupled positive feedback in the
expression of the SPI1 type three secretion system in Salmonella. PLoS Pathogens, 6(7):e1001025,
2010.
31. L. Chubiz and C. V. Rao. Aromatic acid metabolites of Escherichia coli K-12 can induce the marRAB
operon. Journal of Bacteriology, 192:4786–4789, 2010.
32. C. Aldridge, K. Poonchareon, S. Saini, T. Ewen, A. Soloyva, C. V. Rao, K. Imada, T. Minamino, and
P. D. Aldridge. The interaction dynamics of a negative feedback loop regulates flagellar number in
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Molecular Microbiology, 78: 1416–1430, 2010.
33. S. Saini, J. M Slauch, P. D. Aldridge, and C. V. Rao. The role of crosstalk in regulating the dynamic
expression of the flagellar, Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1), and type I fimbrial genes.
Journal of Bacteriology, 192:5767–5777, 2010.
34. S. Saini, S. Koirala, E. Floess, P. J. Mears, Y. C . Chemla, I. Golding, C. Aldridge, P. D. Aldridge, and
C. V. Rao. FliZ induces a kinetic switch in flagellar gene expression. Journal of
Bacteriology,192:6477–6481, 2010.
35. G. D. Glekas, J. R. Cates, T. M. Cohen, C. V. Rao (co-corresponding author), and G. W. Ordal.
Site-specific methylation in Bacillus subtilis chemotaxis: The effect of covalent modifications to the
chemotaxis receptor McpB. Microbiology, 157: 56–65, 2011.
36. S. Saini, E. Floess, C. Aldridge, J. D. Brown, P. D. Aldridge, and C. V. Rao. Continuous control of
flagellar gene expression by the σ28-FlgM regulatory circuit in Salmonella enterica. Molecular
Microbiology, 79:264–278, 2011.
37. K. Wu, H. E. Walukiewicz, G. D. Glekas, G. W. Ordal, and C. V. Rao. Attractant binding induces
distinct structural changes to the polar and lateral signaling clusters in Bacillus subtilis chemotaxis.
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 286:2587-95, 2011.
38. V. J. Cannistraro, G. D. Glekas, C. V. Rao, and G. W. Ordal. Cellular Stoichiometry of the
Chemotaxis Proteins in Bacillus subtilis, Journal of Bacteriology, 193:3220-7, 2011.
39. L. M. Chubiz and C. V. Rao. The role of the mar/sox/rob regulon in regulating outer membrane porin
expression. Journal of Bacteriology, 193:2252-60, 2011.
40. Y He, A. Kapoor, S. Cook, S. Liu, Y. Xiang, C. V. Rao, P.J. Kenis, and F. Wang. The non-receptor
tyrosine kinase Lyn controls neutrophil adhesion by recruiting the CrkL-C3G complex and activating
Rap1 at the leading edge. Journal of Cell Science. 124:2153-64, 2011.
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 4
41. C. V. Rao. Expanding the synthetic biology toolbox: engineering orthogonal regulators of gene
expression. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 23(5):689-94, 2012.
42. K. Wu and C. V. Rao. Computational methods in synthetic biology: towards computer-aided part
design. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 16:318-322, 2012.
43. L. M. Chubiz and C. V. Rao. Transcriptional crosstalk within the mar-sox-rob regulon in Escherichia
coli is limited to the rob and marRAB operons. Journal of Bacteriology, 194:4867-75, 2012.
44. G. D. Glekas, M. J. Plutz, H. E. Walukiewicz, G. M Allen C. V. Rao (co-corresponding author), and
G. W. Ordal. Elucidation of the multiple roles of CheD in Bacillus subtilis chemotaxis. Molecular
Microbiology, 86(3):743-56, 2012.
45. K. Koita and C. V. Rao. Identification and Analysis of the Putative Pentose Sugar Efflux Transporters
in Escherichia coli. PLoS One, 2012.
46. G. D. Glekas, B. J. Mulhern, A. Kroc, K. A. Duelfer, V. Lei, C. V. Rao (co-corresponding author),
and G. W. Ordal. The Bacillus subtilis Chemoreceptor McpC Senses Multiple Ligands Using Two
Discrete Mechanisms. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287: 39412-8, 2012.
47. W. Yuan, G. D. Glekas, G. M. Allen, H. E. Walukiewicz, C. V. Rao (corresponding author), and G.
W. Ordal. The importance of the interaction of CheD with CheC and the chemoreceptors compared
to its enzymatic activity during chemotaxis in Bacillus subtilis. PloS One, 2012.
48. C. V. Rao. Exploiting market fluctuations and price volatility through feedback control. Computers
and Chemical Engineering,51: 181-6 2013.
49. Y. He Y, D. Li, S. L. Cook, M. S. Yoon, A. Kapoor, C. V. Rao, P. J. Kenis, J. Chen, and F. Wang.
Mammalian Target of Rapamycin and Rictor control neutrophil chemotaxis by regulating Rac/Cdc42
activity and the actin cytoskeleton. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 24:3369-80, 2013.
50. C. Josenhans, K. Jung, C. V. Rao, and A. J. Wolfe. A Tale of Two Machines: A review of the BLAST
meeting, Tucson, AZ, January 20-24, 2013. Molecular Microbiology, 91:6-25, 2014.
51. M. B. Byrne, Y. Kimura, A. Kapoor, Y. He, K. S. Mattam, K. M. Hasan, L. N. Olson, F. Wang, P. J. A.
Kenis, C. V. Rao. Oscillatory Behavior of Neutrophils Under Opposing Chemoattractant Gradients
Supports a Winner-Take-All Mechanism. PLoS One, 2014.
52. K. L. Dunn, C. V. Rao. Expression of a xylose-specific transporter improves ethanol production by
metabolically engineered Zymomonas mobilis. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2014.
53. P. J. Mears, S. Koirala, C. V. Rao, I. Golding, Y. R. Chemla YR. Escherichia coli swimming is robust
against variations in flagellar number. Elife, 3:e01916, 2014.
54. S. Koirala, P. Mears, M. Sim, I. Golding, Y. R. Chemla, P. D. Aldridge, and C. V. Rao. A nutrienttunable bistable switch controls motility in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. mBio, 2014.
55. H. E. Walukiewicz, P. Tohidifar, G. W. Ordal, and C. V. Rao. Interactions among the three adaptation
systems of Bacillus subtilis chemotaxis as revealed by an in vitro receptor-kinase assay. Molecular
Microbiology, 93(6):1104-18, 2014.
56. C. V. Rao and S. Koirala. Black and white with some shades of grey: the diverse responses of
inducible metabolic pathways in Escherichia coli. Molecular Microbiology, 93(6):1079-83, 2014.
57. S. Lane, S. Zhang, N. Wei, C. V. Rao, Y-S Jin. Development and physiological characterization of
cellobiose-consuming Yarrowia lipolytica. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 112:1012-22, 2015.
58. A. Badur, S. Jagtap, G. Yalamanchili, J.-K. Lee, H. Zhao, C. V. Rao. Alginate Lyases from AlginateDegrading Vibrio splendidus 12B01 Are Endolytic. Applied and Environmental Microbiology,
81(5):1865-73, 2015.
59. K. Dunn and C. V. Rao. High-throughput sequencing reveals adaptation-induced mutations in
pentose-fermenting strains of Zymomonas mobilis. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2015.
60. M. Sim, S. Koirala, P. A. Hoskisson, C. V. Rao, C. S. Gillespie, and P. D. Aldridge. Growth rate
control of flagellar assembly in Escherichia coli strain RP437. Scientific Reports, In Revision.
61. C. Rutter and C. V. Rao. Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica for Production of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids.
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2015.
62. S. Zhang, J. M. Skerker, C. D. Rutter, M. J. Maurer, A. P. Arkin, and C. V. Rao. Engineering
Rhodosporidium toruloides for increased lipid production. Biotechnology and Bionengineering,
Accepted, 2015.
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 5
63. S. Koirala and C. V. Rao. Reciprocal regulation of arabinose and xylose metabolism in Escherichia
coli. Journal of Bacteriology, Submitted.
Articles in Refereed Conference Proceedings:
1. C. V. Rao, J. C. Campbell, J. B. Rawlings, and S. J. Wright. Efficient implementation of model
predictive control for sheet and film forming processes. In Proceedings of American Control
Conference, Albuquerque, NM, pages 2940–2944, 1997.
2. C. V. Rao and J. B. Rawlings. Optimization strategies for linear model predictive control. In
Proceedings of the 1998 IFAC DYCOPS Symposium, Corfu, Greece, pages 41–46, 1998.
3. C. V. Rao, J. B. Rawlings, and J. H. Lee. Stability of constrained linear moving horizon estimation. In
Proceedings of American Control Conference, San Diego, CA, pages 3387–3391, 1999.
4. C. V. Rao, H. M. Sauro, and A. P. Arkin. Putting the ”control” in metabolic control analysis.
Proceedings of the DYCOPS 7 Conference, Cambridge, MA, 2004.
5. K. A. Erickson, A. P. Arkin, and C. V. Rao. Neutrophil chemotaxis in multiple chemoattractant
gradients. Proceedings of the FOSBE Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, pages 329–332, 2005.
6. D. Lin, C. V. Rao, and K. M. Giacomini. Quantitative analysis of renal secretion in the organic anion
transport system. Proceedings of the FOSBE Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, pages 205–208,
2005.
7. B. Ingalls and C. V Rao. Metabolic control analysis and local controllability of biochemical networks.
Proceedings of the FOSBE Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, pages 333–336, 2005.
8. K. Wu and C. V. Rao. Analysis of autoregulatory gene circuits utilizing divergent promoters.
Proceedings of the FOSBE Conference, Denver, CO, pages 153–156, 2009.
9. S. Saini and C. V. Rao. Role of feedback loops in dictating flagellar gene regulation dynamics in
Salmonella typhimurium. Proceedings of the FOSBE Conference, Denver, CO, pages 48–51, 2009.
10. C. V. Rao. Exploiting market fluctuations and price volatility through feedback control. Proceedings of
Chemical Process Control VIII, 2012.
11. C. V. Rao. Control Challenges for Synthetic Biology, Proceedings of the ADCHEM Meeting, 2015.
INVITE LECTURES, SEMINARS, CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI 1999.
IBM Blue Gene Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2002.
Origin of Life, Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA 2002.
Systems Biology Symposium, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 2002.
Institute of Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Fujisama, Japan 2002.
First International Conference on Systems Biology of E. coli, Tsuruoka, Japan 2003.
Department of Physics, Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan 2003.
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Maryland – Baltimore Country,
Baltimore, MA 2003.
9. Computational Biology Symposium, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MA 2003.
10. FASEB Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA 2003.
11. Bay Area Bioinformatics Symposium, SRI, Menlo Park, CA 2004.
12. Department of Cell Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 2004.
13. Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 2004.
14. Department of Chemical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2004.
15. Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of California at Davis, Davis,
CA 2004.
16. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 2004.
17. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco,
CA 2004.
18. Department of Mathematics, Waterloo University, Waterloo, Canada 2004.
19. Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 2005.
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 6
20. Biocomplexity VII, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 2005.
21. Archer Daniels Midland Corporation, Decatur, IL 2005.
22. UCLA IPAM Meeting on Systems Biology and Molecular Modeling, Los Angeles, CA 2006.
23. SIAM/SMB Conference on Life Sciences, Raleigh, NC, July 2006.
24. BMES, Chicago, IL, October 2006.
25. Department of Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, November 2006.
26. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, December 2006.
27. Canadian Applied Mathematics Society Annual Meeting, Banff, CA, May 2007.
28. Centre de Recherches Mathematiques, Workshop on Deconstructing Biochemical Networks,
Montreal, CA, September 2007.
29. University of California, Irvine, Symposium on Mathematical Systems Biology, Irvine, CA, February
2008.
30. National Science Foundation, Workshop on Biological Communications Technology, Arlington, VA,
February 2008.
31. U. S. Army, Modeling Bacterial Spore Germination Workshop, Key West, FL, February 2008.
32. American Control Conference, Seattle, WA, June 2008.
33. University of Wisconsin, Computation & Informatics in Biology & Medicine Program Annual Retreat,
Madison, WI, October 2008.
34. UCLA IPAM Meeting on Cells and Materials, Los Angeles, CA December 2008.
35. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Center for Nonlinear Studies, Feb 2009.
36. Stochasticity in Biochemical Reaction Networks, Banff International Research Station, September
2009.
37. Signal Transduction in Microorganisms, Gordon Research Conference, Jan 2010.
38. Molecular Biophysics Seminar, University of Texas at Austin, Feb 2010.
39. U. S. Army, Modeling Bacterial Growth and Composition Workshop, University of California,
Berkeley, CA August 2010.
40. q-bio Conference on Cellular Information Processing, Albuquerque, NM, August 2010
41. Systems Biology Mini Symposium, Michigan State University, October 2010.
42. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, October 2010.
43. Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, April 2011
44. Nagoya University, Japan, September 2011.
45. Biophysical Society, Japan, September 2011.
46. Osaka University, Japan, September 2011.
47. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Renssalaer Polytechnic University, October
2011.
48. Symposium on Biomass Conversion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 2011.
49. Illinois Workshop of Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, November 2011.
50. Department of Chemical Engineering, Lehigh University, November 2011.
51. Systems Biology Seminar Series, University of Pennsylvania, February 2012.
52. University of California, Santa Barbara, March, 2012.
53. Synthetic Biology Symposium, Heidelberg University, May 2012.
54. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, September 2012.
55. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, September 2012.
56. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, September
2012.
57. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, October 2012.
58. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. University of Colorado Boulder, January 2013.
59. Systems and Synthetic Microbiology Workshop, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological
Synthesis, University of Tennessee, March 2013.
60. Monsanto, April 2013.
61. Mechanism & Regulation of Prokaryotic Transcription FASEB Meeting, June 2013.
62. Membrane Protein Workshop, Stockholm University, August 2013.
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 7
63. Department of Bioengineering, UIUC, August 2013.
64. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. North Carolina State University, October
2013.
65. Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, November 2013.
66. 19th Annual Flagella Meeting, Hiroshima, February 2014.
67. Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Newcastle University, May, 2014
68. Korea University, September 2014.
69. Department of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, November 2014.
70. Korea University, February 2015.
71. Georgia Tech, April 2015.
72. ADCHEM Meeting, June 2015.
73. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin, December 2015.
FUNDING
Current:
Research Program Grant (Rao)
Energy Biosciences Institute
“Engineering Thermophiles for Biofuel Production”
Role: PI
1/1/15 - 12/31/15
$487,000
ER65474 (Alm, Polz, Rao, Zhao)
9/1/12 - 8/31/17
Department of Energy
$2,500,000
“Assembling reusable genetic modules for efficient biofuel production from marine macroalgae”
Role: PI of subcontract from MIT
Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust (Zhao, multiple co-PIs)
“Illinois Theme in Synthetic Biology”
Role: co-PI
2/1/13 – 1/31/17
$2,000,000
Research Project Grant (Mackie)
Energy Biosciences Institute
“Diversity and Physiology of Solventogenic Clostridia”
Role: co-PI
7/1/13 – 6/30/15
$614,249
ER213630 (Rao, Wolfe, Gibson)
9/1/14 - 8/31/17
Department of Energy
$1,183,702
“The Systems Biology of Protein Acetylation in Fuel-Producing Microorganisms”
Role: PI
Past:
R56GM054365 (Ordal)
National Institutes of Health
“Chemotactic sensory transduction in Bacillus subtilis”
Role: co-PI
8/1/08 - 7/31/09
$445,233
R01GM054365S1 (Ordal)
National Institutes of Health
“Chemotactic sensory transduction in Bacillus subtilis”
Role: co-PI
9/30/09 - 7/31/10
$73,815
Research Project Grant (Rao)
1/01/08 - 12/31/10
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 8
Energy Biosciences Institute
$274,472
“Robustness to environmental heterogeneity – Engineering strains optimized for large-scale
fermentation”
Role: RI
Research Project Grant (Rao)
Energy Biosciences Institute
“Genetic tools for thermophiles”
Role: PI
1/10/10 - 12/31/11
$523,953
Research Project Grant (Rao)
1/10/10 - 12/31/11
Energy Biosciences Institute
$441,494
“Engineering Zymomonas mobilis for the efficient production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass”
Role: PI
CBET 0644744 (Rao)
National Science Foundation
“CAREER: Quantitative analysis of translation regulation”
Role: PI
3/01/07 - 2/29/13
$400,000
R01GM083601 (Rao)
National Institutes of Health
“Multiscale analysis of neutrophil signal integration and chemotaxis”
Role: PI
9/01/07 - 8/31/13
$1,436,288
Research Project Grant (Rao)
Energy Biosciences Institute
“Engineering oleaginous yeast for large-scale biodiesel production”
Role: PI
1/1/12 - 12/31/12
$266,563
Research Project Grant (Rao)
Energy Biosciences Institute
“Engineering Thermophiles for Biofuel Production”
Role: PI
1/1/12 - 12/31/13
$594,000
MCB 1236974 (Rao)
National Science Foundation
“Conference: Exploring Frontiers in Synthetic Biology”
Role: PI
5/1/12 - 4/30/14
$49,895
R01GM054365 (Ordal)
National Institutes of Health
“Chemotactic sensory transduction in Bacillus subtilis”
Role: co-PI
9/30/09 - 7/31/14
$1,482,043
Research Program Grant (Rao)
Energy Biosciences Institute
“Engineering Thermophiles for Biofuel Production”
Role: PI
1/1/14 - 12/31/14
$487,000
DARPA (Zhao)
“Illinois Biological Foundry for Advanced Biomanufacturing – TA1”
Role: co-PI
3/17/14 – 12/16/14
$264,612 (total)
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 9
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Service to Disciplinary and Professional Societies or Associations, Conference, and Tech. Meetings:
Conferences and Technical Meetings:
• Co-Chair for a session on Biosystems, Dycops-7 Meeting, Cambridge, MA, 2004
• Co-Chair for a session on Bioprocess Modeling and Control, AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco,
CA, 2006.
• Co-Chair for session on Modeling Approaches to Examine Fundamental Issues in Life Sciences, AIChE
Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, 2007.
• Co-Chair for multiple sessions, AIChE Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2008.
• Topical conference co-chair, AIChE Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2008. Organized eight sessions
for topical program on Systems Biology.
• Co-Chair for multiple sessions, AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2009.
• Topical conference chair, AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2009. Organized eight sessions for
topical program on Systems Biology.
• Organized and obtained funding for “Exploring Frontiers in Synthetic Biology” Workshop, Heidelberg,
Germany, 2012.
• Organized “Systems and Synthetic Microbiology Workshop” Workshop, University of Tennessee, March
2013.
Journal Editorial Boards
• Associate Editor, PLoS Computational Biology, 2007 to date.
• Academic Editor, PLoS One, 2010 to date.
Reviewer for Journals:
Nature, Science, Proceeding of National Academy of Sciences, PLoS Biology, PLoS Computation
Biology, PLoS One, Current Biology, Physical Review Letters, Molecular Systems Biology, Molecular
Microbiology, Biophysical Journal, FEBS Letters, Journal of Chemical Physics, European Journal of
Control, Computers and Chemical Engineering, Journal of Process Control, IEEE Transactions on
Automatic Control, Automatica, Bioinformatics, IEE Systems Biology, Progress in Biophysics and
Molecular Biology, IEEE Transactions on Computational Biology, Journal of Physical Chemistry,
International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, AIChE Journal, Journal of Process Control,
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, Molecular Biosystems, BioSystems, Microbiology, Biotechnology and
Bioengineering, Trends in Microbiology
Reviewer for Funding Agencies:
• National Science Foundation
• National Institutes of Health
• U. S. Army Research Office
• Defense Threat Reduction Agency
• Department of Energy
• Office of Naval Research
Reviewer for Conferences, Technical Meetings:
• AIChE Annual Meeting
• ACS Annual Meeting
• American Control Conference
• BMES Annual Meeting
• FOSBE Conference
• BLAST XII Meeting
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 10
Society Memberships:
• American Chemical Society
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• American Society of Microbiology
University/Campus Service, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign:
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering:
• Administrative Committee, 2005 – date
• Advising, Undergraduate, 2005 – date
• Curriculum, 2007 – date
• Graduate Recruiting, 2005 – 2006
• ABET, 2006 – 2007
• Undergraduate Computer Lab, 2006 – 2007
• Commencement, 2008 – 2011
• Faculty Recruiting, 2009 – date
Chair of 2011-13 Search Committee
UIUC Campus:
• Faculty Senate, 2007 – 2013
• Founder and Faculty advisor for the University of Illinois’s iGEM Team, 2008 – present
• Senate Committee on Campus Operations, 2011 – 2013
Energy Biosciences Institute
• Executive Committee, 2012 – 2014
• Manager, fermentation facility, 2014
RESEARCH INSTRUCTION
Graduate Research Assistants Supervised:
• Ahmet Badur, 10/2009 – date.
• Lon Chubiz, 10/2004 – 8/2010.
Currently an Assistant Professor in Biology, University of Missouri—St. Louis
• Tasha Desai, 10/2004 – 6/2009.
Currently a research scientist at the Henkel Corporation.
• Kori Dunn, 10/2009 – 6/2015.
Current a research engineer at Praxiar
• Yuki Kimura, 10/2007 – 11/2012.
Currently a research engineer at OSIsoft.
• Khushnuma Koita, 10/2007 – 6/2012.
Currently a research engineer at Praxair
• Santosh Koirala, 10/2009 – date.
• James Orr, 10/2012 – date.
• Supreet Saini, 10/2004 – 6/2010.
Currently an assistant professor in Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
• Payman Tohidifar, 10/2011 – date.
• Xiaoyi Wang, 10/2014 – date.
• Kang Wu, 10/2004 – 6/2010.
Currently an assistant professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.
• Geethika Yalamanchili, 10/2012 – date.
• Shuyan Zhang, 1/2009 – date.
• Jiewen Zhou, 10/2011 – date.
Postdoctoral Fellows Supervised:
Christopher Rao | CV | p. 11
• Dr. George Glekas, 11/2008 - present. Co-advised with George Ordal.
Currently a research scientist at the University of North Carolina.
• Dr. Angel Rivera, 6/2010 – 1/2014.
Currently a research scientist at the Center for Disease Control
• Dr. Charles Rutter, 1/2014 – date.
• Dr. Kang Wu, 7/2010 – 8/2012.
Currently an assistant professor at University of New Hampshire.
TEACHING
• ChBE 422: Mass Transfer Operations, Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC). Spring
2005 – 2011, Fall 2015
• ChBE 440: Process Control and Dynamics, Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC).
Fall 2005, 2006, 2011 – 2013.
• ChBE 521: Applied Mathematics in ChBE, Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC).
Fall 2007 – 2011.
• ChBE 594: Advanced Reaction Engineering, Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC).
Spring 2012.
• ChBE 494: Computational Tools in Chemical Engineering, Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering (UIUC). Spring 2015.