Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Washington State University
The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

Faculty & Staff

Cornelius F. Ivory

Neil Ivory Headshot 2019

Cornelius F. Ivory, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor

Electrofocusing, forensic microelectrophoresis, nanochannel separations, diagnostic microfluidic devices, microchannel sample preparation

Dr. Ivory’s Website

Office: 111 Wegner Hall 📞509-335-7716

Lab: 119 Wegner Hall

The Gene and Linda Voiland
School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
1505 Stadium Way, Room 105
P.O. Box 646515
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6515

Research Interests

  • Electrofocusing, Alternative Focusing Methods
  • Multidimensional MEMS Proteomics Chips
  • Biological Separations, esp. Equilibrium-Gradient Methods
  • Chromatography, especially Protein Ion Exchange
  • Centrifugal Fractionation of Cells, Organelles and Proteins
  • Hydrodynamic and Electrical Instabilities

Biographical Information

Cornelius F. (Neil) Ivory earned his BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, his PhD at Princeton University followed by a year as a USRA Visiting Scientist in the Bioseparations group at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. In 1987 he found his home in the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University where his research group specializes in multi-dimensional electrofocusing in microchannels, nanochannels and gradient monoliths.

Dr. Ivory is Full Professor in the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Associate Director of the NIH Predoctoral Training Program in Protein Biotechnology at Washington State University and Senior Fellow in the Biomedical Engineering Center at the University of New Mexico. He has served as National Program Chair for the American Chemical Society (3 years) and as Councilor for the American Electrophoresis Society (6 years) as well as organizing various symposia and/or sessions for those societies and others, organizing and/or serving on various proposal review panels, editorial boards and technical workshops. Dr. Ivory has more than 80 refereed publications, 5 patents awarded and several more patents pending.

Education

  • Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, 1/1980
  • M.A. Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, 6/1976
  • B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 6/1974

Professional Experience

  • DCU International Visitor, NCSR, ISSC and School of Chemical Sciences, 09/2009 – 09/2010
  • Senior Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Center, U. New Mexico, 05/2005 – present
  • Distinguished User, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence-Berkeley Natl Lab, 09/2006 – present
  • Associate Director, NIH Predoctoral Program in Biotechnology 9/2001 – present
  • Editorial Board, Separation Science and Technology, 1/1997-present

Specific Research Projects

  • Multi-dimensional Electrofocusing on Gradient Monoliths, NIH
  • Rapid Fingerprinting of Cardiac Biomarkers, WA-LSDF
  • Nanoparticle Separations in Nanochannels Using Fluidic Field Effect Transistors, NSF
  • Integrated Capillary Chromatography: Microfluidic Platform Technology, Pfizer
  • A Four-Dimensional Microchip for Proteomics, NSF
  • Fundamentals of Nanofluidics for Advanced Bioseparation and Analysis, NSF

Membership in Professional Organizations

  • American Electrophoresis Society
  • American Chemical Society

Selected Publications
(from 2007 to 2009)

  1. Burke, J. M., Huang, Z., and Ivory, C. F., “Simultaneous Separation of Negatively and Positively Charged Species in Dynamic Field Gradient Focusing Using a Dual Polarity Electric Field,” Anal Chem, 81:8236–8243 (2009).
  2. Shim, J., Dutta, P., Ivory, C. F., “Dispersion of protein bands in a horseshoe microchannel during IEF,” Electrophoresis, 30(5):723–731 (2009).
  3. Detzel, C. J., M. Thorson, B. J. Van Wie and C. F. Ivory, “A Study of the Coriolis Effect on the Fluid Flow Profile in a Centrifugal Bioreactor,” Biotechnology Progress, 25(4):1025–34 (2009).
  4. Oh, Y-J., Bottenus, D., C. F. Ivory, and S M. Han, “Impact of Leakage Current and Electrolysis on FET Flow Control and pH Changes in Nanofluidic Channels” Lab Chip, 9(11):1609–1617 (2009)
  5. Oh, Y-J., A. L. Garcia, D. N. Petsev, G. P. Lopez, S. R. J. Brueck, C. F. Ivory, and S M. Han, “Effect of wall-molecule interactions on electrokinetic transport of charged molecules in nanofluidic channels during FET flow control,” Lab Chip, 9(11):1601–1608 (2009).
  6. Ansell, R. A., P. G. Tuñón, Y. Wang, P. Myers, C. F. Ivory, J. N. Keen and J. B. C. Findlay, “Electrophoretic field gradient focusing with on-column detection by fluorescence quenching,” Analyst 134:226–229 (2009).
  7. Bottenus, D., Oh, Y-J., Han, S. M., Ivory, C.F., “Experimentally and theoretically observed native pH shifts in a nanochannel array,” Lab-on-a-Chip, 9(2):219–31 (2009).
  8. Burke, J. M. and C.F. Ivory, “Characterization of voltage degradation in dynamic field gradient focusing.” Electrophoresis, 29(5):1013–25 (2008).
  9. Tracy NI, Ivory CF, “Protein separation using preparative-scale dynamic field gradient focusing,” Electrophoresis 29(13):2820–2827 (2008).
  10. Tracy NI, Huang Z, Ivory CF, “Design and construction of a preparative-scale dynamic field gradient focusing apparatus,” Biotechnol Prog. 24(2):444–51 (2008).
  11. Tracy NI, Ivory CF., “Assessing the scalability of dynamic field gradient focusing by linear modeling,” J Sep Sci. 31(2):341–52 (2008).
  12. Shim J, Dutta P, Ivory CF, “Effects of ampholyte concentration on protein behavior in on-chip isoelectric focusing,” Electrophoresis 29(5):1026–35 (2008).
  13. Oh YJ, Gamble TC, Leonhardt D, Chung CH, Brueck SR, Ivory CF, Lopez GP, Petsev DN, Han SM, “Monitoring FET flow control and wall adsorption of charged fluorescent dye molecules in nanochannels integrated into a multiple internal reflection infrared waveguide,” Lab Chip, 8(2):251–8 (2008).
  14. Shim, J. and Dutta, P., and Ivory, C. F., “Effects of Dissociation Constants on protein Separation in on-Chip Isoelectric Focusing,” Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 8:3719–3728 (2008).
  15. Tuñón, P. G., Wang, Y., Myers, P., Bartle, K.D., Bowhill, L., Ivory, C.F., Ansell, R.J., “Electrophoretic field gradient focusing: An investigation of the experimental parameters,” Electrophoresis, 29(2):45–65 (2008).
  16. Horiuchi K., P. Dutta and C. F. Ivory, “Electroosmosis with Step Changes in Zeta Potential in Microchannel Electrophoresis,” AIChE J., 53(10) 2521–2533 (2007).
  17. Harrison, S. and C. F. Ivory, “An Analytical Expression which Predicts the Location of Stationary, Steady-State Zone Positions in Isotachophoresis,” J. Separation Science, 30(18):3255–61 (2007).
  18. Shim, J., P. Dutta, and C. F. Ivory, “Finite-volume methods for isotachophoretic separation in microchannels.” Numerical Heat Transfer Part a-Applications 52(5):441–461 (2007).
  19. Thome, B. and C. F. Ivory, “True moving bed electrophoresis using stepped electric field gradients,” Electrophoresis, 28(10):1477–1487 (2007).
  20. Cui, H., N. H., P. Dutta and C. F. Ivory, “Isotachophoresis of proteins in a networked microfluidic chip: experiment and 2-D simulation,” Electrophoresis, 28(7):1138–45 (2007).
  21. Ivory, C. F., “Several New Electrofocusing Techniques,” Electrophoresis, 28(1–2):15–25 (2007).
  22. Cui, H., Z. Huang, P. Dutta and C. F. Ivory, “Automated electric valve for electrokinetic separation in a networked microfluidic chip,” Anal. Chem., 79(4):1456–65 (2007).
  23. Thome, B. and C. F. Ivory, “Increasing the Scale of True Moving Bed electrophoretic separations using filtration to reduce solvent volumetric flows between sections II and III,” J. Chromatogr. 1138(1–2):291–300 (2007).
  24. Shim J-S., P. Dutta and C. F. Ivory, “Modeling and Simulation of Isoelectric Focusing in Two-Dimensional Geometries,” Electrophoresis. 28(4):572–86 (2007)