Ali Nadim loves mysteries. Nadim's research specialty is microfluidics, which involves studying the flow of tiny amounts of fluid inside microscopic objects, such as blood cells, and unlocking the mysteries inside.

"Microfluidics is a very hot topic and a very popular discipline for people to go into," Nadim explained.

His research into microfluidics is paving the way toward development of low-priced, easy-to-use tools that university researchers and others can use to simplify the preparation and analysis of samples from biological materials, such as blood.

These sample preparation instruments could ultimately become part of tool kits that would allow doctors to run a series of tests on a single drop of blood, or police officers in the field to screen suspects for DNA, or emergency workers to detect anthrax or other biothreats, all in a matter of minutes.

"After the anthrax scare in the U.S. there was a drive to develop better testing and diagnostics and detection methods so if you encounter an unknown powder you can identify it quickly," Nadim said.

Nadim, who was born in Iran, came to the United States in early 1979 during the Iranian revolution when he was still a teenager. He skipped his last year of high school and enrolled at UC Davis that fall where he majored in chemical engineering.  He graduated summa cum laude in 1982 and earned his master's and PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986.

After he graduated, Nadim taught applied mathematics at MIT for five years. While there, he received the Science Council Prize of Excellence in Teaching Undergraduates. He then moved to Boston University where he taught aerospace and mechanical engineering for 10 years.

Nadim came to KGI in 2001 on an unprecedented joint appointment with the Department of Mathematics at Claremont Graduate University. He had applied to each institution independently and been offered a position at each but couldn't make up his mind. The two sister institutions, both part of The Claremont Colleges, were able to work out an arrangement whereby Nadim splits his time between the two during the academic year and then spends the majority of the summer at KGI. He teaches applied and computational math and microfluidics and nanotechnology.

The arrangement has created a kind of synergy with CGU math students getting involved in research at KGI.

"Some of CGU's PhD students have chosen to do their mathematical modeling theses on problems that come from microfluidics," Nadim explained.

Nadim was attracted to KGI because of the opportunity to have his own microfluidics lab, which he co-directs with his colleague James D. Sterling, PhD, a KGI professor and director of the Team Masters Project program, currently also serving as KGI's interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty.

The goal of microfluidics at least in terms of diagnostics is to be able to use much smaller volumes, like a single drop of blood, to run multiple assays to look for various components.

A lot of Nadim's work has been in the area of sample preparation. He explains that when you want to analyze the DNA of a cell or spore, first you have to break it open, which can be difficult. Spores in particular are tightly packed and resistant to being split.

These efforts led to the creation of a spinoff company three years ago called Claremont BioSolutions, which Nadim founded with Sterling and Robert Doebler, PhD, an adjunct professor who now serves full-time as the company's president.

"One of other nice things about being in an environment like KGI is that I learn," says Nadim. "Here I learned a lot more about entrepreneurship, developing technology in a university laboratory, and then licensing it and making it the basis of formation of a startup company. To me it's been a great learning experience."

Nadim's wife, Mitra, is a nephrologist (kidney specialist) at USC. They met while attending the wedding of her older sister and one of Nadim's best friends.

Evenings and weekends are taken up with their children, ages 13, 10, and 7, either doing school work or extracurricular activities like Little League, softball and flag football.

"We're always at a baseball or softball field," Nadim says.

When he's not teaching or doing research or sitting at a Little League game, Nadim enjoys reading the works of well-know mystery writers. Among his favorite authors is Dan Brown, who wrote The DaVinci Code. Other favorites include Michael Connelly, who wrote the Harry Bosch LAPD detective series, P.D. James, Robert Ludlum, Michael Crichton and John Grisham.

- By Elaine Regus

KGI Background

Educating the future leaders of the bioscience industry, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) offers an interdisciplinary graduate education through its Master of Bioscience (MBS) degree program and its PhD program in Applied Life Sciences. Using team-based learning and real-world projects, KGI's innovative curriculum seamlessly combines applied life sciences, bioengineering, bioethics and business management. KGI also has a robust research program concentrating on the translation of basic discoveries in the life sciences into applications that can benefit society. KGI is a member of The Claremont Colleges, located in Claremont, California.

Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences is dedicated to education and research aimed at translating into practice, for the benefit of society, the power and potential of the life sciences.