Chandra Venkataraman

Link To Detailed Information

Research Areas

1. Nanoparticle aerosol drug delivery.
   


2. Aerosols and climate.


3. Aerosol source identification.


4. Aerosol toxicity and interaction with biological interfaces.

Awards and Affiliations

1. IIT Bombay Research Award (2007) for high impact research publication,IIT Bombay.
   


2. R.G. Manudhane Faculty Research Excellence Award (2006) for faculty research excellence, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay.
   


3. Vikram Sarabhai Research Award (2005) The award is given in recognition of research excellence in Atmospheric and Space Science, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.
   


4. START Young Scientist Award (1998) The award is given internationally in recognition of outstanding research on regional aspects of global change. The Global Change SysTem for Analysis Research and Training (START, Washington DC, USA) is supported by the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme.
   


5. AWMA Graduate Scholarship Award (1990) The award is from the Air and Waste Management Association, USA, awarded to two best doctoral dissertation proposals of environmental relevance from US-university PhD candidates.
   


6. Outstanding Teaching Assistant (1990) Commendation from Chemical Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
   


7. Tau Beta Pi (1988) Chemical Engineering Honour Society Membership.
   


8. Graduate Council Summer Fellowship (1988) Chemical Engineering Department, University of Alabama, USA.


9. Life member , Indian Aerosol Science and Technology Association


10. Life member, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers.
    


11. Member , American Association of Aerosol Research.

Current Research

• Nanoparticle aerosol drug delivery:
  Studies are being carried out in two broad areas:
  


1. The rational design of aerosol delivery systems with nano-sized drug encapsulating agents addressing issues of biocompatibility with the lung surfactant, drug encapsulation efficiency, lung deposition efficiency and reduced shear damage during aerosolisation
   


2. Aerosol reactors for the synthesis of nanoparticle drugs with potential advantages like better control over the size distribution, reduced post-processing steps and continuous mode of operation.
   


• Aerosols and climate:
  
  Aerosol effects over the Indian subcontinent include significant surface cooling and atmospheric heating. General circulation and chemical transport models with aerosol emission inventories developed in our group are being used to investigate aerosol effects on regional radiative forcing and climate.


• Aerosol source identification:
  
  Aerosol sources and transport pathways that influence regional observations in recent field campaigns are being investigated through receptor models like positive matrix factorization (PMF) and transport receptor models like the potential source contribution function (PSCF). Expanded multilinear models are being considered to improve solutions.


• Aerosol toxicity and interaction with biological interfaces:
  
  Effect of pollutant particles on surface activity of lung surfactants has been investigated in terms of oxidative damage of lung tissue and immuno-suppression by pollutant particles. Quantification of chemical toxicity and mixture effects has been investigated using microbiological assays of genetically engineered and bioluminescent microorganisms.

Selected Publications

1. S.G. Bhanuprasad, C. Venkataraman, M. Bhushan (2008). Source identification using positive matrix factorization and trajectory modelling: A new look at the INDOEX ship-observations, Atmospheric Environment, 42(20) 4836-4852, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.02.041.


2. S. Verma, C. Venkataraman, O. Boucher, and S. Ramachandran (2007). Source evaluation of aerosols measured during the Indian Ocean Experiment using combined chemical transport and back trajectory modeling, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112,D11210, doi:10.1029/2006JD007698.


3. C. Venkataraman, G. Habib, D. Kadamba, M. Shrivastava,J.-F. Leon, B. Crouzille, O. Boucher, and D. G. Streets (2006). Emissions from open biomass burning in India: Integrating the inventory approach with high-resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active-fire and land cover data, Global Biogeochemical Cycles,20, GB2013, doi:10.1029/2005GB002547.


4. C. Venkataraman, G. Habib, A. Eiguren-Fernandez, A.H. Miguel and S.K. Friedlander (2005). Residential biofuels in South Asia: Carbonaceous aerosol emissions and climate impacts, Science, 307(5714), 1424-1426.