Professor Steven Cramer, NAE is Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. His lab is currently conducting research on several areas related to protein-surface interactions and molecular bioprocessing. Many of the past contributions from Professor Cramer and his students to the field of Chromatographic Bioprocessing have had dramatic impacts on the state of the art of this technology and its successful implementation for the biomanufacturing of biological products. Their development of adsorption isotherm models of various classes of protein chromatography (in particular his steric mass action (SMA) model for ion exchange) have enabled the prediction of non-linear protein chromatographic behavior in a range of adsorption systems. These models have been widely employed in academic research and have been utilized worldwide by the biotechnology industry. Their invention of low molecular weight displacers for protein purification represented a paradigm shift in displacement chromatography and included several new modes of mass action and chemically selective displacement chromatography. Their development of a Quantitative Combinatorial Design (QCD) approach has resulted in the discovery of a range of novel displacers and affinity ligands. The Cramer lab was one of the first to employ high throughput screening (HTS) for developing chromatographic bioprocesses which has had a dramatic impact on the way bioprocess development in now carried out in the industry. Their work on the purification of antibodies using both protein A and mimetic resin systems produced a series of papers that had a major impact on the field of antibody purification. Prof. Cramer and his students also pioneered a new methodology for the a-priori prediction of protein binding in chromatographic systems from crystal structure which is now being incorporated by many biopharmaceutical companies for process development. The Cramer lab’s multidisciplinary work using a combination of biophysics, molecular dynamics simulations and chromatography with protein libraries has provided significant insights into the design of novel multimodal chromatographic systems. Recent work on integrated biomanufacturing and expedited process development is having a dramatic impact on how bioprocess development is carried out in the industry. The Cramer lab is now actively involved in several gene therapy downstream biomanufacturing projects, continuous mRNA processing, and several big data modeling efforts. 

In addition to his focus on downstream bioprocessing, Professor Cramer is known worldwide for his expertise in separations in general. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the International journal Separations, Science and Technology for 20 years. Professor Cramer has won numerous awards including the ACS National Award in Separations Science and Technology, the ACS BIOT Division’s Michaels Award in the Recovery of Biological Products, and several awards from RPI including the Wiley Distinguished Faculty Award and the School of Engineering Outstanding Professor and Research Excellence Awards. In addition, he has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Cramer holds 11 patents and has published extensively in the top peer-reviewed journals in the field with 230 publications and an h index of 55 and more than 9800 citations. Importantly, the 57 Ph.D. graduates from the Cramer lab have had a significant impact with many of his former students now playing key leadership roles in the state of the art of industrial bioprocessing at most of the major biopharmaceutical and bioseparations companies worldwide as well as academia.