Bio

Rohan Shirwaiker is the Distinguished James T. Ryan Professor in ISE and an associate faculty of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is also the principal investigator and Co-Director of the $30 million Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at NC State.

Shirwaiker’s research focuses on the design and scalable manufacturing of biological products for medical and sustainable food applications. Using computational modeling, experimental approaches, and data analytics methods, his group engineers new biomanufacturing processes and platform technologies to create functional products with biomimetic attributes. Shirwaiker’s research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative and has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, ARMI BiofabUSA, the Bezos Earth Fund, and others including the industry. He has co-authored over 150 journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters, and is a co-inventor on 3 issued/pending patents. He has been recognized by several awards including the NSF CAREER, SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer, IISE Manufacturing & Design Outstanding Young Investigator, and C. A. Anderson Outstanding Faculty. He is also a Fellow of IISE.

Shirwaiker teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to design and manufacturing. He is actively involved in volunteer roles with various professional societies including IISE and SME.

Area(s) of Expertise

Biomanufacturing, 3D Biofabrication, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Medical Product Development, Sustainable Proteins

Publications

• Assessment of Bovine Collagen Manufactured via Cellular Agriculture , ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (2026)
• Biofabrication and biomedical manufacturing research frontiers in the United States , Bio-Design and Manufacturing (2026)
• Design and Validation of a Multi-Modal Bioreactor System: Assessing the Effects of Perfusion and Cyclic Tensile Stimulation on Mechanical and Biological Properties of 3D-Printed Missing-Rib Auxetic Scaffolds , Bioengineering (2026)
• Rethinking Sustainability in Plant-Based Proteins: A Systems Perspective from Crop to Consumer , Foods (2026)
• Trends, challenges, and opportunities for the United States alternative meat and seafood sector: stakeholder-informed perspectives , npj Science of Food (2026)
• Digital light processing (DLP) bioprinting of collagen-riboflavin hydrogels for cultivated meat applications☆ , Manufacturing Letters (2025)
• Exploring the U.S. regulatory and legislative landscapes for cell-cultivated meat and seafood , Trends in Food Science & Technology (2025)
• 3D melt blowing of Elastollan thermoplastic polyurethane for tissue engineering applications: A pilot study , Manufacturing Letters (2024)
• A perspective on the environmental impact of plant-based protein concentrates and isolates , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024)
• A scoping review of cultivated meat techno-economic analyses to inform future research directions for scaled-up manufacturing , Nature Food (2024)

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