Rajesh Sardar

Rajesh Sardar is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Indiana University Indianapolis (IU Indianapolis), where he leads an active research laboratory focused on plasmonic nanomaterials and their applications. His work bridges analytical chemistry, materials science, and bioanalytical applications, with particular expertise in nanosynthesis, functional plasmonics, and biosensor development. He maintains a well-equipped laboratory with advanced instrumentation including TEM, SEM, NMR, Raman spectroscopy, and various optical characterization tools.

Dr. Sardar earned his Ph.D. from The Graduate Center, City University of New York in 2006, followed by a Faculty Internship at the University of Utah (2006-2008) and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008-2010). His educational background provided the foundation for his interdisciplinary approach to nanomaterials research.

His research program is highly interdisciplinary, focusing on the investigation and manipulation of plasmonic properties of inorganic nanomaterials. Key areas include nanosynthesis of noble metal and semiconductor nanocrystals, functional plasmonics through ligand engineering, LSPR-based biosensing for early disease detection, SERS for toxicology applications, and electrocatalysis for solar fuel generation. His laboratory develops novel colloidal synthetic methods to create unique nanocrystal shapes and compositions, which are then functionalized to enhance plasmonic properties for specific applications. This work has significant implications for improving disease diagnostics and enabling low-carbon energy solutions.

Analysis of his publication record reveals a clear trajectory from fundamental nanomaterial synthesis toward increasingly applied research, particularly in biomedical diagnostics and energy applications. His early work focused on basic nanoparticle synthesis and characterization, while more recent publications emphasize practical applications in cancer diagnostics, drug detection, and energy conversion. The consistent theme throughout is leveraging plasmonic properties of nanomaterials for ultrasensitive detection and efficient energy conversion.

• Most-accessed paper (no. 16), October-December, 2015 (ACS Nano)
• Most-read paper (no. 11), June-July, 2011 (J. Am. Chem. Soc.)
• Cover Highlights, Vol. 21, No. 34 August 2010 (Nanotechnology)
• Most-read paper (no. 13), November-December, 2009 (Langmuir)
• Most-read paper (no. 3), in last 12 months, 2009-2010 (Langmuir perspective)
• Most-accessed paper (no. 15), October-December, 2007 (Langmuir)
• Cover Highlights, Vol. 38, No. 1 January 11, 2005 (Macromolecules)

Dr. Sardar actively mentors undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, providing them with extensive training in nanomaterial synthesis and characterization. His laboratory has received funding from NSF and NIH for research on nanoplasmonic biosensors for liquid biopsy detection and quantification of cancer-derived biomarkers. He collaborates extensively with researchers at IU School of Medicine, including Professors Melissa Fisher, C. Max Schmidt, Jianjun Zhang, Hristos Kaimakliotis, and Sha Cao, as well as with forensic toxicology experts at Indiana State Department of Toxicology. His research group is currently working on a population study analyzing approximately 1,200 pancreatic disease-related patient samples while detecting around 15 microRNAs and 10 proteins to develop more accurate biomarker panels for earlier pancreatic cancer detection.

His laboratory is well-equipped with advanced instrumentation including Microplate Reader, UV-Visible-NIR Spectrophotometer, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Chemical Glove Box, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), Raman Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). These facilities support his interdisciplinary research program spanning nanomaterial synthesis, characterization, and application development.