Dr. Meghdad Hajimorad

Associate Professor
Office:  OCNL 311 
Campus Zip: 888 
Phone: (530) 898-6422
E-mail:  mhajimorad@csuchico.edu
Ph.D. UC Berkeley
Synthetic Biology, Microelectronics, Analog Integrated Circuits Design, VLSI Design 

• Education

  University of California, Berkeley, CA                Electrical Engineering              Ph.D.         2011

  University of California, Berkeley, CA                Electrical Engineering              M.S.           2005  

  Iowa State University, Ames, IA                       Electrical Engineering              B.S.           2001   

• Experience

  8/2020-present             Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, California State University, Chico, CA

  8/2015-5/2020             Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, California State University, Chico, CA

  6/2017-8/2017              Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

  6/2016-8/2016              Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

  9/2013-8/2015              Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA

  6/2014-8/2014              Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN

  6/2013-8/2013              Visiting Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley, CA

  10/2012-4/2013            HHMI Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN

  6/2012-8/2012              Instructor, University of California, Berkeley, CA

  9/2011-4/2012              Member of Technical Staff, Maxim Integrated Products, Sunnyvale, CA

• Research and Grants

  Research:

  Multidiscipline electrical and biological engineer, with experience in circuit design and engineering genetic constructs in the bacteria Escherichia coli and Shewanella oneidensis. Interested in the engineering of systems that interface microbes capable of extracellular electron transfer with electronics, with the goal to arrive at hybrid microbial-electronic systems that combine the unique characteristics of biological cells with advances in semiconductor technologies. Circuit design experience includes having taped out chips in industry, with the tools used including Cadence, Synopsys, SPICE, and Spectre. Molecular biology skills include cloning, plasmid construction and characterization, PCR, nucleic acid purification, development of real-time qPCR assays to characterize gene expression and copy number, protein purification, anaerobic culture methods, and VectorNTI.

  Grants:

  Grant Proposals   (funded)

  • Hihath J (UCD), Anantram MP (UW), Douglas S (UCSF), Hajimorad M: DNA-based assembly of manufacturable nanoelectronic device. NSF FMSG program, 2020-2022 (total grant amount = $500,000)
  • Hajimorad M, Marquez A, Dodge D: CSUPERB/NSF “Innovation-Corps (I-Corps)” program, 2018-2019 (grant amount = $1,500)
  • Hajimorad M:  Harnessing electricity from microbes. Submitted to the California State University – Chico “Student Learning Fee Award” program, 2016-2017 (grant amount = $5400)

  • Hajimorad M:  Plasmid system for enabling synthetic biology and biotechnology in  Shewanella oneidensis. Submitted to the California State University – Chico “Research Stimulation Grant” program, 2015-2016 (grant amount = $10,000)
• Recent Publications

  Peer-Reviewed Journal & Magazine Publications

  • • Hajimorad M, Gralnick JA: Synthetic biology: What’s in it for electrical engineers?IEEE Potentials 2020, 39:2, pp. 9–14 (DOI: 1109/MPOT.2016.2612478)
    • Hajimorad M, Gralnick JA: Towards enabling engineered microbial-electronics systems: RK2-based conjugal transfer system for Shewanella synthetic biology^*. Electronics Letters 2016, 52:6, pp. 426–428 (DOI: 1049/el.2015.3226)
      * This paper was featured by the editors of Electronics Letters and the authors were invited to write an article which highlights and expands on the work:
      • Hajimorad M, Gralnick JA: Inside view. Electronics Letters 2016, 52:6, p. 411 (DOI: 10.1049/el.2016.0612)

  • • Lee TS, Krupa RA, Zhang F, Hajimorad M, Holtz WJ, Prasad N, Lee SK, Keasling JD: BglBrick vectors and datasheets: A synthetic biology platform for gene expression. Journal of Biological Engineering 2011, 5:12 (DOI: 1186/1754-1611-5-12)
    • Hajimorad M, Gray PR, Keasling JD: A framework and model system to investigate linear system behavior in Escherichia coli. Journal of Biological Engineering 2011, 5:3 (DOI: 1186/1754-1611-5-3)

  Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings Publications

  • • Hajimorad M, Gralnick JA: Plasmid copy number variation of a modular vector set in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE 42^nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Jul. 20-24, 2020, Montreal, Canada (DOI: 1109/EMBC44109.2020.9176029)
    • Hajimorad M, Pirc, T: A Hands-On, System-Level Analog Electronics Course.  In Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education, Oct. 3-6, 2018, San Jose, CA USA (DOI: 10.1109/FIE.2018.8659315)
    • Hajimorad M, Gralnick JA:  On recent advances in synthetic biology to enable programming bacteria for biosensing applications. In  Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE 60 ^th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS), Aug. 6-9, 2017, Boston, MA, USA (DOI: 10.1109/MWSCAS.2017.8053193) [Invited Paper]
    • Hajimorad M, Alhloul S, Mustafa H, So M, Oswal H:  Application of polypyrrole-based selective electrodes in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to determine nitrate concentration. In  Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE 15 ^th Sensors Conference , Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2016, Orlando, FL, USA (DOI: 10.1109/ICSENS.2016.7808592)
    • Hajimorad M, Keasling JD:  Independence among synthetic genetic devices in the bacterium  Escherichia coli extends to the time-domain. In  Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE 10 ^th Biomedical Circuits and Systems (BioCAS) Conference, Oct. 22-24, 2014, Lausanne, Switzerland (DOI:  10.1109/BioCAS.2014.6981652)
    • Walsh TR, Alhloul S,  Hajimorad M:  Estimating the remaining useful life of power grid transmission lines using synchrophasor data. In  Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE 5 ^th Conference on Prognostics and Health Management (PHM), June 22-25, 2014, Cheney, WA, USA (DOI: 10.1109/ICPHM.2014.7036392)

  Peer-Reviewed Conference Abstracts

  • • So M,  Hajimorad M, Mustafa H, Alhloul S:  Application of polypyrrole-based selective electrodes in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to determine nitrate concentration. ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2017
    • Lee TS, Krupa RA,  Hajimorad M, Prasad N, Lee SK, Keasling JD:  Biobrick vectors and datasheets: A synthetic biology platform for metabolic engineering.
      • ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2010;
      • DOE Genomics GTL Workshop, Crystal City, VA, 2010
• Affiliations

  Professional Activities

  • Paper Reviewer – IEEE Sensors Conference (2017)
  • Paper Reviewer – Elsevier  Microelectronics Journal (2017)
  • Paper Reviewer – IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (2016, 2015)
  • Session Co-Chair – “Synthetic Biology and iGEM Synthetic Biology” Session, Institute of Biological Engineering Annual Conference (2016, 2014)
  • Paper Reviewer – IEEE International Conference on Prognostics and Health Management (2015, 2014)
  • Abstract Reviewer – National Conference on Undergraduate Research (2015)
  • Session Moderator – National Conference on Undergraduate Research (2015)
  • Session Chair – Poster Session, Institute of Biological Engineering Annual Conference (2014)
                                                                                               [Awarded Presidential Citation]