Neel Joshi

About

Neel Joshi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University, with an affiliate appointment in Bioengineering. He completed his PhD at UC Berkeley in the lab of Matt Francis and a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University in the lab of Mark Grinstaff before starting his independent academic career at Harvard University and then moving to Northeastern in 2020. Prof. Joshi teaches courses in Chemical Biology and Biomaterials. His research focuses on engineered living materials, synthetic biology, and biochemistry, with a particular interest in protein self-assembly and biointerfaces. He leads the Joshi Lab for Biologically Fabricated Materials, which explores biologically inspired materials, protein engineering, and the biofabrication of complex functional materials through microbial biosynthesis. His group works at the intersection of biomaterials science and synthetic biology, aiming to harness microbial biosynthetic potential for manufacturing and biomedical applications. Notable projects include developing genetically programmed bacteria to assemble customizable materials, such as biofilm matrix proteins, for uses ranging from bioremediation to therapeutic probiotics. Prof. Joshi has contributed to the field through numerous publications and patents, and has been recognized as a Kavli Fellow in 2016.

Research topics

• Biology
• Microbiology
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Computational biology
• Nanotechnology
• Engineering ethics
• Biochemistry
• Biomedical engineering

Selected publications

• A single-cell nanocoating of probiotics for enhanced amelioration of antibiotic-associated diarrhea

  Nature Communications · 2022 · 277 citations

  The gut microbiota represents a large community of microorganisms that play an important role in immune regulation and maintenance of homeostasis. Living bacteria receive increasing interest as potential therapeutics for gut disorders, because they inhibit the colonization of pathogens and positively regulate the composition of bacteria in gut. However, these treatments are often accompanied by antibiotic administration targeting pathogens. In these cases, the efficacy of therapeutic bacteria is…

  DOI

• The living interface between synthetic biology and biomaterial design

  Nature Materials · 2022 · 207 citations

  Recent far-reaching advances in synthetic biology have yielded exciting tools for the creation of new materials. Conversely, advances in the fundamental understanding of soft-condensed matter, polymers and biomaterials offer new avenues to extend the reach of synthetic biology. The broad and exciting range of possible applications have substantial implications to address grand challenges in health, biotechnology and sustainability. Despite the potentially transformative impact that lies at the i…

  DOI

• Non-pathogenic E. coli displaying decoy-resistant IL18 mutein boosts anti-tumor and CAR NK cell responses

  Nature Biotechnology · 2024-10-04 · 49 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Unlocking the societal potential of engineered living materials

  Matter · 2024-09-01 · 20 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Single domain antibodies against enteric pathogen virulence factors are active as curli fiber fusions on probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917

  PLoS Pathogens · 2022 · 18 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Enteric microbial pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Shigella and Cryptosporidium species, take a particularly heavy toll in low-income countries and are highly associated with infant mortality. We describe here a means to display anti-infective agents on the surface of a probiotic bacterium. Because of their stability and versatility, VHHs, the variable domains of camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies, have potential as components of novel agents to treat or prevent enteric infectious disease…

  DOI

Recent grants

• CAS:Scalable platform for materials fabrication from genetically engineered bacterial biomass

  NSF · $458k · 2020–2023

• SusChEM: Engineered protein-based biofilms as functional advanced materials

  NSF · $500k · 2014–2019

• Investigating the role of natural and engineered curli fibers in mediating interactions with the gut epithelium

  NIH · $412k · 2017–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Matthew B. Francis

  University of California, Berkeley

  29 shared

• Avinash Manjula‐Basavanna

  Northeastern University

  27 shared

• Anna Duraj‐Thatte

  Virginia Tech

  27 shared

• Prashant N. Bansal

  21 shared

• Vibhav Vineet

  Microsoft Research (United Kingdom)

  17 shared

• Brian D. Snyder

  Harvard University

  17 shared

• Joshua M. Gilmore

  Stowers Institute for Medical Research

  17 shared

• Mark W. Grinstaff

  Boston University

  16 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Chemistry

  University of California Berkeley

  2006

• B.S., Chemistry

  Harvey Mudd College

  2001

Awards & honors

• Kavli Fellow (2016)
• NSF Idea Machine 2026 Challenge – Grand Prize winner – "Engi…

Similar researchers at Northeastern University

• Herbert Levineh-119
• Raimond Winslowh-72
• Deniz Erdogmush-58