Biomolecular Separations
Research Group

Background and Accomplishments

 

Georges Belfort, PhD, holds the endowed “Institute Chair” at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY 12180, USA since 2011.  His h-index is 77 with 20,946 citations (Google Scholar August 13th, 2025).  He was educated in Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa (BS degree) and the University of California at Irvine, CA (MS and PhD degrees in Engineering).  He has held faculty positions at the Hebrew University (1973-1977) and RPI (1978-date).  He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2003 and chosen as one of the “100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era” as part of the AIChE Centennial Celebration.  In 2012, he was elected as a foreign member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences, Italy, and in 2019, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science in Engineering (DSc (Eng.)) honoris causa by the University of Cape Town, South Africa.  Dr. Belfort has chaired the managing board of the US Society of Biological Engineers (SBE-AIChE), New York, 2015-2025.  He is a past President and co-founder of The North American Membrane Society (NAMs).  Dr. Belfort has served on the scientific advisory board for the Max Planck Institute for Complex Systems, Magdeburg, Germany, 2011-2017, the Chinese Academy of Sciences: Member of the Assessment Committee of the Institute of Process Engineering, Beijing, China, 2014 and is currently on the scientific advisory board of the Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering, Hebrew University, Israel, 2014-date. 

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He has won several notable scientific awards including the 2025 NAE Bernard M. Gordon Prize (with Steven M. Cramer) (https://www.nae.edu/20685/GordonPrize), 2017 Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division Distinguished Service Award in Chemical Engineering, AIChE, the 2016 Rensselaer Best Teacher Award in Engineering, RPI, Troy, NY, the 2014 NAMS Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology, the 2008 ACS E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, the 2000 AIChE Gerhold Award in Separation Science and Technology and the 1995 ACS Separation Science and Technology Award.  He has consulted with biotechnology, water supply and membrane filtration companies in the US (i.e., Lilly, Genentech, Merck, MilliporeSigma, Pall), Europe (Pharmacia, Sanofi, Sartorius, Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux) and Japan (Unitika, Takeda, Asahi Kasei Medical). 

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Dr Belfort’s research uses fundamental concepts to solve important technical challenges in the areas of continuous bio-separations and purification of mRNA (vaccines – funded by Moderna and BioNTech), in vitro production and purification of biofuels and organic solvents.  His expertise is in the fields of molecular separations, membranes for liquid filtration, affinity and charged membrane separations (i.e., for RNA vaccine purification), polymer membrane surface modification using living radical polymerization, interfacial chemistry, intermolecular force measurements with xDLVO theory, protein aggregation (i.e., for membrane fouling and Alzheimer’s disease) and transport phenomena including fluid and particle transport.  He teaches graduate and senior undergraduate courses on downstream bioprocessing, advanced membrane concepts, molecular separations, advanced transport phenomena and nucleic acid purification.  He has published over 260 peer-reviewed publications, 25 book chapters, and has 18 assigned patents in separations science, biotechnology, health sciences and transport phenomena.  He was a chess prodigy at 12 years when he tied the ex-World Chess Champion, Max Euwe, in a simultaneous exhibition and is interested in US and Israeli history, how to hire new successful faculty/employees, Italian and French opera and food, and EPL soccer.  He cares deeply about his wife, and scientific collaborator, Dr. Marlene Belfort, Distinguish Professor, and his 3 sons, David, Gabi and Yona and their families. 

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Professional Experience

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2011 to Date: Institute (Endowed) Professor, RPI

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2003 to 2011: Russel Sage Professor  (Endowed Chair) of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, RPI

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1982 to 2002: Professor of Chemical Engineering, Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical Engineering, RPI

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1978 to 1982: Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, RPI

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1973 to 1977: Senior Lecturer (approximate U.S. equivalent Associate Professor), Human Environmental Health Sciences & Technol., Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

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1971 to 1972: Acting Instructor, University of California a Irvine, Irvine, CA

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1964 to 1970: Research Chemical Engineer, Astropower Laboratory, McDonnel Douglas Corp., Newport Beach, CA