As a highly-motivated and results orientated researcher, Dr. Vivek Kamat has proven track record working in interdisciplinary areas. His major work involved development of micro-reaction technologies for controlled synthesis of nanoparticles; applications in drug delivery, diagnosis, toxicity assessment, bio-imaging and studying cellular response in confined microenvironment.

Education

• Post Doctoral Associate, Florida International University, 2018
• PhD Biotechnology, University of Pune, 2014-18
• M.Sc. Biotechnology,University of Pune, 2009-11
• B.Sc. Biotechnology,University of Pune, 2006-09

Current Research Interest

• Detection of Circulation tumor cells using electrical and optical methods Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells which release out into the blood from a benign tumor when it reaches metastatic potential. These cells anchor to other organs of the body and begin to use the tissue as a scaffold for growth, leading to rapid progression of cancer at other organ sites. Current techniques such as surgical and liquid biopsies are invasive and inefficient for early detection of cancer. In this work, we employ a microfluidic platform for capture and detection of CTCs using an electrical and optical sensor. The electrical sensing occurs via electrical impedance bases analysis and the optical sensing is carried out using quantum dots tagged to MUC-1 antibody specific to cancer cells which are visualized under a fluorescence microscope in real time.
• Understanding the effects of flow on the growth of bacterial bio film in a microfluidic platform This work is carried out in joining collaboration with Dr. Natalia Bourguignon and Professor Kalai Mathee (Herbert Wertheim School of Medicine). The work involves studying bacterial biofilm in continuous flow conditions using the microfluidic platform to understand the influence of flow conditions on anchorage, growth, and proliferation of bacteria using computational tools (COMSOL, CFD analysis, etc). Further, the work involves developing sensing strategies for detecting the growth of biofilm and developing control strategies by employing nanomaterials.
• 2D and 3D cell culture systems to study the tumor micro environment The work involves fabricating new materials as an alternative to traditional substrates to establish 2D and 3D cell culture to understand cell-cell communication, cell-substrate interaction and study cancer cell growth and proliferation. 3D cell culture or organ-on-chip platform is an emerging area of research which connected the bridge between traditional invitro and invivo systems. We intend to develop better systems which can support growth and proliferation of cells to study different physical responses such as the effect of radio frequency or electrical stimulus on single cells.

Recent Publications

1. Bourguignon, V. A. Kamat, B. Lerner, M.Perez, S. Bhansali, “The Use of Lab on a Chip Devices to Evaluate Infectious Biofilm Formation and Assess Antibiotics and Nano Drugs Treatments” Meeting Abstracts, 44, 2103-2103, 2019.
2. VA. Kamat, T. Zhukov, S. Bhansali “Rapid Selection of Active Circulating Tumor Cells Using Combined Electrical and Optical Detection in a ‘Lab on Chip’ Platform.” In 235th ECS Meeting (May 26-30, 2019). ECS.
3. V. Kamat, S. Pandey, K. Paknikar, D. Bodas “A facile one-step method for cell lysis and DNA extraction of waterborne pathogens using a microchip.” Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 99, 62-69, 2018.
4. V Kamat, D Bodas, K Paknikar “Chitosan nanoparticles synthesis caught in action using microdroplet reactions.” Scientific reports, 6(1), 1-4, 2016.
5. V Kamat, I Marathe, V Ghormade, D Bodas, K Paknikar “Synthesis of monodisperse chitosan nanoparticles and in situ drug loading using active microreactor.” ACS applied materials & interfaces, 7(41), 22839-22847, 2015.