Joseph M. K. Irudayaraj, Ph.D.

The Bindley Bioscience Center in Purdue University’s Discovery Park will host a life sciences forum on Sept. 6 to deepen its industry ties with those in diagnostics and device development, biotechnology, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and drug discovery and delivery. 

The Bindley Bioscience Center Industry Forum, which will include tours of several research laboratories in Discovery Park and meetings with Purdue faculty and scientific directors, runs from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 129. The forum, which is free, will conclude with a networking reception from 5:30-7 p.m.

“The leadership of the Bindley Bioscience Center hopes to better understand the research needs of industry, the gap in workforce knowledge and the technical challenges in the coming decade, particularly for those in agriculture, biopharmaceuticals, biotechnology, diagnostics and drug delivery,” said Bindley deputy director Joseph Irudayaraj, a biological engineering professor.

The Bindley Bioscience Center Welcomes its first Deputy Director effective July 1, 2012.
Dr. Joseph Irudayaraj, Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, has been selected as the inaugural Deputy Director of the Bindley Bioscience Center (BBC).  Primarily, the Deputy Director will be responsible to interface and enable faculty.  Dr. Irudayaraj will work to create and maintain a high level of collegiality amongst faculty, staff, and students. In addition, he will assist in the day-to-day leadership of the BBC. 

Purdue University scientists will use a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to develop technologies for altering the epigenetic marks in the genome that turn genes on and off, work they hope will lead to advances in treating genetic health conditions.

The team, led by Joseph Irudayaraj, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering and the project’s principal investigator, will also receive up to $750,000 from members’ respective departments and colleges, as well as Purdue’s Bindley Bioscience Center, the Purdue Center for Cancer Research and the Birck Nanotechnology Center, in the form of matching grants. The total $1.7 million funding will cover three years of work.

The Office of the Provost has selected six faculty members to participate in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Program during the 2011-12 academic year. The CIC is a consortium of the Big Ten member universities plus the University of Chicago.
  
“This program is a broad-based learning experience to develop the leadership and managerial skills of faculty who have demonstrated exceptional ability and administrative promise,” says Beverly Davenport Sypher, vice provost for faculty affairs and the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center Chair for Leadership Excellence.