Ram Sasisekharan is an Indian‑born American bioengineer and professor of biological engineering and bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Harvard SEAS). He is also a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and a senior associate at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. His research focuses on the development of quantitative and systems‑level approaches to study complex biological molecules, especially glycans and proteins, with applications in therapeutics, biotechnology, and precision medicine.
Early life and education
Ram Sasisekharan was born in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. He earned a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1987. He then moved to the United States, receiving a Master of Science (M.S.) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the same institution in 1992, under the supervision of Boye Ullah and M. G. H. B., with a dissertation on polymeric systems.
Academic and research career
After completing postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley, Sasisekharan joined the faculty of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign in 1995, where he progressed from assistant to full professor. In 2011, he moved to Harvard University, where he holds joint appointments in multiple departments.
His laboratory develops and applies high‑throughput analytical platforms, computational modeling, and synthetic biology tools to characterize the structure and function of complex carbohydrates (glycobiology) and biologics. Notable contributions include:
- Development of quantitative methods for mapping the “glycan code” and for engineering synthetic glycosylation pathways.
- Advancement of mass‑spectrometry–based workflows for characterizing therapeutic proteins and biosimilars.
- Creation of engineered microorganisms for the production of high‑value glycans and glycoconjugates.
These efforts have led to collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and have been applied to the design of biopharmaceuticals, vaccine candidates, and diagnostic tools.
Entrepreneurship and patents
Sasisekharan is a co‑founder of several biotechnology startups, including Glycobiome, Glycotech, and Alpine Biotherapeutics, which aim to commercialize technologies derived from his research on glycan engineering and analytical platforms. He holds numerous patents related to glycan synthesis, protein engineering, and analytical methods.
Awards and honors
- Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), 2014.
- Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2016.
- Recipient of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award, 2018.
Publications
Sasisekharan has authored or co‑authored over 200 peer‑reviewed articles in journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Science, Cell, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has contributed chapters to textbooks on glycobiology and synthetic biology.
Controversies
In 2021, Sasisekharan became a public figure in discussions about the origins of SARS‑CoV‑2 after he made statements suggesting a laboratory‑based origin was plausible. His comments prompted scrutiny from media outlets and scientific institutions. Harvard University conducted an internal review to assess whether his public statements violated the university’s policies on academic conduct and public communication. The review concluded that while his comments were “unconventional,” they did not breach institutional standards. Sasisekharan has continued to emphasize the importance of rigorous scientific investigation into pandemic origins.
Professional affiliations
- Member, American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Member, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
- Board of Directors, Glycoscience Research Centre (India)
Personal life
Details about Sasisekharan’s personal life, including family and non‑professional interests, are not widely publicized.
References
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty profile: Ram Sasisekharan.
- “Ram Sasisekharan, Ph.D.”, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
- “NIH Pioneer Award Recipients, 2018”, National Institutes of Health.
- “Harvard review finds professor’s comments on Covid origins did not violate policy”, The Boston Globe, March 2022.
This entry reflects information available from publicly verifiable sources up to June 2026.
