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Dr. Sajan Daniel George

Professor and Director - Manipal Institute of Applied Physics

Director - ANRF-PAIR (MAHE-SPOKE)

Coordinator -Centre for Applied Nanoscience

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Manipal, Karnataka, India - 576 104

Phone: 91-820-2925081

Email: sajan.george_at_manipal.edu

Articles in Scopus: 184

Book Chapters: 9

Patent Applied: 11

Projects: 15+ Cr

Ph.D Guided/Guiding:13/10

h-index: 29 Citations~ 3106 Google Scholar)

h-index: 26 Citation~2681 (Scopus)

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Research Summary

Dr. Sajan D. George has made impactful contributions across surface engineering, photonics, and nanoscience, leading to significant advancements in healthcare, diagnostics, and materials science.

In surface engineering, he developed a femtosecond laser ablation system to create micro- and nanoscale structures on material surfaces, enabling precise control over wettability, bubble dynamics, and biological cell interactions. By replicating these features on hydrophobic soft elastomers, he engineered surfaces with tunable hydrophobicity, bubble transport, droplet splitting and merging platforms, and superhydrophobic SERS substrates, which enabled analyte concentration enrichment and thermo-responsive open microfluidic systems for Marangoni flow-driven droplet movement. He further innovated by controlling droplet pinning through selective nanoparticle coatings, resulting in picoliter droplet assays, multiplexed plasmonic SERS platforms for cancer diagnostics and sweat analysis, and single-biological cell Raman analysis. Exploiting wettability contrasts across different environments such as water, fog, and air, he designed surfaces for efficient water and bubble harvesting and enhanced corrosion resistance. His novel silicone oil trapping method provided surfaces that regulate droplet dynamics, enabling protein-repellent behavior and pinning-free droplet evaporation for concentration enrichment. These surface engineering breakthroughs have been foundational for developing wearable health devices, including capillary-driven self-moisturizing contact lenses, sweat sensors, stimulus-responsive drug delivery systems for glaucoma, and fluorescence-integrated droplet splitting platforms for dry-eye diagnostics.

In the field of photonics, Dr. George built custom optical tweezers integrated with micro-Raman and fluorescence setups for intracellular sensing using upconversion nanoparticles. He developed fiber-based Raman systems for non-invasive oral cancer detection through saliva analysis, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for elemental analysis, and fiber-tissue spectroscopy tools for cancer diagnostics. His innovations include demonstrating molecule-induced photoswitching for arresting the objects at the liquid-air interface, optothermal trapping using fiber-tip printed with plasmonic nanoparticles, and wavelength-independent cell trapping using candle-soot-coated substrates. He also pioneered scalable optical printing of desired shapes and dimension using a commercial projector-assisted systems to fabricate substrates with tunable electrical conductivity, These surfaces can be used for highly sensitive SERS-based ultra-trace analyte detection and electrothermal trapping. Earlier, he made notable contributions to photothermal methods such as photoacoustic, thermal lens, and deflection techniques for probing material thermal properties and studying non-radiative energy transfer between fluorophores and nanoparticles.

In nanoscience, his research spans the synthesis and application of upconversion nanoparticles, including the study of their medium-dependent emission behaviors at both single-particle and bulk levels for fluorescence modulation and photocatalysis. He developed therapeutic platforms based on metal-organic frameworks for neuroblastoma treatment, pH-responsive multimodal systems for glioblastoma, and SPION-based magnetic theranostic platforms. His work on nanoporous alumina also provided insights into dopant-driven emission control, superhydrophobicity, and enhanced Raman performance. Through this interdisciplinary research, Dr. George has successfully integrated advanced surface design, optical manipulation, and nanoscale material engineering to create innovative solutions for diagnostics, environmental sensing, and targeted healthcare applications.

Career

2025 - till date Program Director - ANRF-PAIR (phase I)

2025 - till date Professor and Director - Manipal Institute of Applied Physics, MAHE, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2022 - 2025 Professor and Head, Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics, MAHE, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2018 - till date Professor, Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics, MAHE, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2016 - till date Coordinator, Centre for Applied Nanosciences, MAHE, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2017-2019 Dr. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Applied Nanosciences, MAHE, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2012-2017 Associate Professor, Dept. of Atomic and Molecular Physics, MAHE,, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2009-2012 Scientist, Centre for Smart Interfaces, DFG Cluster of Excellence, TU Darmstadt, Germany

2007-2009 Scientist, Inst. of Nano and Microprocess Technology, Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany

2006-2007 Assistant Professor, Centre for Laser Spectroscopy, Manipal University, Karnataka, India - 576 104

2005-2006 KU Leuven Fellow, Catholicate University of Leuven, Beligum

2004 Ph.D in Photonics from International School of Photonics, CUSAT, India

2002-2004 CSIR-SRF, International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Technology, Cochin, India - 682 022

2000-2002 CSIR-JRF, International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Technology, Cochin, India - 682 022

Awards and Honors

CRS Silver Medal 2025 by Chirantan Rasayan Sanstha, India
Fellow, Institute of Physics, UK (2023)
Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2022)
Fellow, Indian Chemical Society, India (2021)

Editor, Scientific Reports - Nature Publishing Group, USA (2013-
Editor, International Journal of Wettability Science and Technology, Old Publishing Group, USA (2020-
One of the Top Performers in the MAHE-SMILE program (2019)
Project Funding Evaluator - US Department of Defense, Government of Singapore, Government of Romania, DST and SERB, Government of India, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Kerala, India
Ph.D. Thesis Evaluator - McGill University (Canada), University of Mumbai, Mangalore University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, University of Kerala, MG University (India)
Dr. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Applied Nanosciences (2017-2019)
Recipient of AufthenG 19 - Government of Germany (2009)
Recipient of FCT Fellowship, Ministry of Portugal, Portugal (2006-not availed)
KU Leuven Postdoctoral Fellowship, Belgium (2004-2005)
Best Researcher Award, International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology (2004)
Senior Research Fellowship, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India (2002-2004)
Junior Research Fellowship, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India (2002-2004)
Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE 2000), conducted by IIT Kharagpur, India
Qualified National Eligibility Test for Lectureship (2000)
Fr. Stanley Roman Retirement Memorial Award for outstanding undergraduate Physics student, FMNC, Kollam (1996)

Innovation Awards

Paper based Droplet assay for chemical analysis, Sajan D. George, Alina Peethan, Aravind M, Santhosh Chidangil, Special Mention at Innovation Festival: Best of MAHE Innovations (February 29, 2020)

Laser-Based Crystallization of Amino Acids Abdul Ajees Abdul Salam, Deepak Mathur, Aseefhali Bankapur, Sajan George, Santhosh Chidangil and Sudarshan Acharya, Second Prize at Innovation Festival: Best of MAHE Innovations (February 29, 2020)

Rapid Crystallization of drug molecules using Nd:YAG Laser, Dr A. Abdul Ajees, Ms. Shilpa T, Dr. Sajan D George, Dr. Aseefhali Bankapur, Dr. Santhosh Chidangil, Third Prize at Innovation Festival: Best of MAHE Innovations (April 13, 2017)

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