Research in the Komives lab encompasses the application of engineering principles to biological sciences for the development of bioprocesses for chemicals and pharmaceuticals. 

Projects in the Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory include:

• Growth properties of Bacillus methanolicus in seawater; Control of methanol feed for fed-batch fermentations of B. methanolicus
• Elucidation of physiology of thermophilic bacteria via DNA sequence analysis, chemostat culture and LC/MS analysis.  
• Development of curricula for undergraduate biochemical engineering laboratory course. 

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering,                                                                      July, 1993

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.      

Thesis Title:  Characterization of a Non-Ionic Surfactant Reversed Micellar System for the Enzymatic Degradation of Pesticides

Advisor:  Dr. Alan J. Russell

M. S. Chemical Engineering,                                                                  August, 1990

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Thesis:  Fiberoptic Fluorescence Signal Enhancement with a Distal Mirror

Advisor:  Dr. Jerome S. Schultz

B. S. Chemical Engineering,                                                                        May, 1985

Tufts University, Medford, MA

Assistant Professor                                                                 Fall, 1999 – 2005

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

San Jose State University

San Jose, CA                                                                

Research Engineer                                                 September 1996 – June 1999

Central Research & Development, Bioprocess Engineering Group  

DuPont Corporation

Wilmington, DE

AAAS Science and Diplomacy Fellow                         August, 1995 - August, 1996

Office of Health - Child Survival Division

U. S. Agency for International Development       

Washington, DC

Postdoctoral Fellow                                                     August, 1993 - July 1995

Institute for Biotechnology, Advisor:  James E. Bailey

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH)  

NSF Division of International Programs Fellowship   8/93 - 7/94

Zürich, Switzerland

Administrator and Public Relations                                Summer 1986 - Fall 1988

Alderton House Cultural Center 

New York, NY

Project Engineer                                                          Fall 1985 - Summer 1986

Product Development Division        

Koch Membrane Systems, Inc. 

Wilmington, MA     

Chemical Engineer                                                                    Summer 1985

BIOPURE Fine Chemicals, Inc. 

Boston, MA

Selected Presentations

• Harjot S. Bhullar, Gee Lyn Echaluse, Nimoal Sun, Khe Dinh, Ula Odeh, Michael Jennings, and Claire Komives; "Fuel-Grade Ethanol Using New Technologies," 2006 AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Paper #611g in Separation of Processing Streams Derived from renewable feedstocks.

• Dr. Claire Komives, "Towards an Artificial Nose Sensor Based on Olfactory GPCR's" Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 2^nd Annual"GPCRs: From Orphan to Blockbuster June 7-8, 2004; Boston, Massachusetts (CK gave oral presentation)

• C. Komives, C. Y. Wang, "Control of Methanol Feed for Bacillus methanolicus Fermentation with an Adaptive Control Model", 2003 AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Paper #441d in Advances in Sensors, Optimization and Control for Biological Systems session.

• W. Dewhirst, C. Komives, Production of Carotenoids in Thermophilic Bacteria, 2002 Society of Industrial Microbiology Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 11-15, 2002.

Selected Publications

• Claire Komives, Biochemical Engineering Laboratory Course for Chemical Engineering Students, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Engineering Education, July 23-28, 2006, SJ Puerto Rico, pp. M3F 22-27.

• Chris W. Lehman, Jaquelina D.R. Lee, & Claire F. Komives, Ubiquitously expressed GPCR membrane-trafficking orthologs, Genomics, 85(3), 2005, pp. 386-391.

• Claire Komives, Louis Yip-Yan Cheung, Stefanie Plushkell and Michael Flickinger, Growth of B. Methanolicus Strain PB1 in Salt Water-Based Medium. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, 32(2), 2005, pp. 61-66.

• Claire Komives, Sabine Rech, and Melanie McNeil, Laboratory Experiment on Gene Subcloning for Chemical Engineering Students, Chemical Engineering Education. Summer 2004, pp. 212 - 221.

• Claire Komives and Ruizhen Chen; Biocatalysis, Encyclopedia of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Gary Wnek and Gary Bowlin, eds., Marcel Dekker, Inc., 2004, pp. 72-78.

• Claire Komives and Robert Parker; Bioreactor State Estimation and Control, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Elsevier Science London, 14(5), 2003, pp. 468 - 474.

• C. Komives, Enzymes in Organic Solvents get on with Business (book review), Trends in Biotechnology Vol. 19 No. 9, 2001, p. 373

Government 

National Science Foundation (Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Grant, Educational Materials to Enhance Chemical Engineering Curricula with Biological Applications)

National Science Foundation (Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Grant, Acquisition of Equipment for a Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory)

California State University Program in Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB)

California Workforce Initiative

California State University Research Funds

Industry

Agilent Technologies

Systemix, Inc.

Gilead Sciences

Chiron Corporation

Dade-Behring Corporation

Incyte 

Biotechnology and Ethics (CHE 26B)

Heat Transfer in Electronics (CHE/ME 109)

Industrial Chemical Calculations (CHE 115)

Introduction to Biochemical Engineering (CHE 192)

Process Engineering Thermodynamics (CHE/MATE 151)

Advanced Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (CHE 211)

Graduate Thesis Preparation Seminar (CHE/MATE 281)

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