About

Igor Kourkine is a Professor of Instruction and serves as the Deputy Director and Director of Admissions for the Master of Science in Biotechnology Program at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. His teaching philosophy emphasizes the development of both theoretical understanding and practical, hands-on skills across technical and non-technical contexts, focusing on the 4Cs: creative thinking, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. He advocates for empirical, practice-oriented learning that uses concepts to interpret evidence, make decisions under constraints, and communicate tradeoffs clearly, especially as AI tools enhance routine technical tasks. Kourkine defends the role of memorization, reframing it as disciplinary fluency that supports critical evaluation and creative insight through recombination. When faced with time constraints, he prioritizes simple yet profound ideas—concepts that structure thinking and transfer widely—aiming to equip students with durable intellectual tools rather than short-lived content exposure.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Engineering management
• Marketing
• Pedagogy
• Business
• Management
• Engineering ethics
• Economics
• Engineering

Selected publications

• A Sequence of Technology Commercialization Courses for Science and Engineering

  2020 · 1 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Engineering management

  Abstract A Technology Commercialization Course Sequence for Science and Engineering ABSTRACT Technology commercialization is a concerted multi-phase process in which a sequence of actionsis taken to bring a nascent technology to the market. In order to succeed, this process must includescientists and engineers not only at the birth of a technology but also during the subsequent phases of itscommercialization. The importance of incorporating elements of entrepreneurship and technologycommercialization in engineering education has been emphasized by the National Academy of Sciences(NAS) and is also echoed in "Engineer of 2020" report of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). This paper describes the development and implementation of a series of three TechnologyCommercialization courses at our University. Motivation for the development of this series came fromthe opinions of NAS and NAE, from the recommendations of our Industrial Advisory Board to educateengineers with business acumen, and the new focus on unifying skills (collaboration, communication,critical thinking, and creativity) in our curriculum. All topics covered in this series lay at the interface of technology and business. Broadly the firstcourse focused on technology assessment and feasibility studies, commonly accepted as the initial phasesof technology commercialization. The second course focused on business development and productlaunch, which are the intermediate phases of technology commercialization. Students received instructionon patents, copyrights, trademarks, costing and economic evaluations and practiced applying the SWOTanalysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) to several business and managerial problems.Students also received training in project management, regulatory compliance, business strategy, and theuse of Porter's Five Forces framework. The third course involved a team project, in which students usedthe knowledge acquired in the first two courses to evaluate the commercialization potential of a product.This course unified the students' science, engineering, and business knowledge. Project based learningmethods were applied with instructors performing the role of coaches for projects. Students collected andanalyzed data, debated the implications of their findings, and came up with their recommendations on theviability of the technology they studied. The implicit challenge in developing a technology commercialization course is the integrationand balancing of business and technology. Instructors need to familiarize students with a host of newbusiness concepts, but they also need to make students comfortable with embracing uncertainty in dataand encourage them to make judgments based on incomplete information. The latter tasks arechallenging given the mostly deductive and converging mode of thinking of science and engineeringstudents. Our efforts and experiences in surmounting these challenges will be discussed. This paper will describe the pedagogical approaches we used for student engagement andcoherent delivery of business concepts. Also included will be the evaluation and team developmentmethods we applied. Several guest instructors from the industry brought a truly multi-disciplinarycharacter to this course sequence. In addition, students were given numerous opportunities to practicetheir critical thinking skills. This paper will detail our actions and student reactions.

  PublisherDOI

• Measurement of Protein−Ligand Binding Constants from Reaction-Diffusion Concentration Profiles

  Analytical Chemistry · 2010-10-05 · 21 citations

  article

  Protein-ligand dissociation constants, K(d), are determined precisely and down to the picomolar range from reaction-diffusion (RD) concentration profiles created by proteins diffusing through hydrogels functionalized with protein ligands. The RD process effectively amplifies the molecular-scale binding events into macroscopic patterns visible to the naked eye. The method is applicable to various protein-ligand pairs and does not require any prior knowledge about the protein structure.

  PublisherDOI

• Detection of <b><i>Escherichia coli</i></b> O157:H7 bacteria by a combination of immunofluorescent staining and capillary electrophoresis

  Electrophoresis · 2003-02-01 · 35 citations

  article1st author

  As the number of incidents of bacterial infections continues to rise around the globe, simpler, faster, and more sensitive diagnostic techniques are required to improve the safety of the food supply and to screen for potential bacterial infections in humans. We present here direct and indirect approaches for the detection of bacteria, which are based upon a combination of immunofluorescent staining and capillary electrophoresis. In the direct approach, Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteria stained with fluorescein-tagged specific antibodies are detected by CE, while in the indirect approach fluorescein-tagged specific antibodies to E. coli are first captured by E. coli O157:H7 bacteria and then released and detected by CE. We have identified suitable bacteria staining and CE protocols, which involved a 10 mM Tris-borate-EDTA (TBE) buffer, 0.25 micro g antibody/1 million bacteria, and capillaries dynamically coated with poly-N-hydroxyethylacrylamide (polyDuramide). We have also successfully detected the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in contaminated meat. The total time required for analysis was 6-8 h, which is less than that realized in most commercial assays presently available.

  PublisherDOI

• Optimized Sample Preparation for Tandem Capillary Electrophoresis Single-Stranded Conformational Polymorphism/Heteroduplex Analysis

  BioTechniques · 2002-08-01 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Here we describe DNA sample preparation methods that allow the rapid, simultaneous generation of both single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) and heteroduplex DNA elements from a single sample in a single tube, which are suitable for direct injection into a capillary electrophoresis (CE) instrument with excellent sensitivity of genetic mutation detection. The p53 gene was used as a model DNA region for this study, which was performed on a high-throughput MegaBACE 96-capillary array electrophoresis instrument. We found that, contrary to the practice common in slab-gel SSCP analysis, denaturants such as formamide are incompatible with this novel technique because they result in homo- and heteroduplex peak broadening in CE (possibly as a result of incomplete dsDNA re-hybridization) that reduces the peak resolution and hence the sensitivity of mutation detection. We also have found that PCR buffers, which are typically used to suspend samples for slab-gel heteroduplex analysis (HA), but which are less suitable for CE because of the presence of extra salt that reduces the efficiency of electrokinetic injection, may be substituted with a 10 mM Tris-HCI buffer (pH 8.5). The use of this Tris-HCl buffer for sample preparation provides both a high sensitivity of mutation detection by tandem SSCP/HA and high efficiency ofelectrokinetic injection by CE. In a related study (published elsewhere), we have applied this optimized protocol to the screening of a set of 32 mutant DNA samples from p53 exons 7 and 8 and recorded 100% sensitivity of mutation detection for tandem CE-SSCP/HA, whereas each individual method yielded lower sensitivity on its own (93% for SSCP and 75% for HA).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Critical factors for high-performance physically adsorbed (dynamic) polymeric wall coatings for capillary electrophoresis of DNA

  Electrophoresis · 2002-08-01 · 89 citations

  article

  Physically adsorbed (dynamic) polymeric wall coatings for microchannel electrophoresis have distinct advantages over covalently linked coatings. In order to determine the critical factors that control the formation of dynamic wall coatings, we have created a set of model polymers and copolymers based on N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA) and N,N-diethylacrylamide (DEA), and studied their adsorption behavior from aqueous solution as well as their performance for microchannel electrophoresis of DNA. This study is revealing in terms of the polymer properties that help create an "ideal" wall coating. Our measurements indicate that the chemical nature of the coating polymer strongly impacts its electroosmotic flow (EOF) suppression capabilities. Additionally, we find that a critical polymer chain length is required for polymers of this type to perform effectively as microchannel wall coatings. The effective mobilities of double-stranded (dsDNA) fragments within dynamically coated capillaries were determined in order to correlate polymer hydrophobicity with separation performance. Even for dsDNA, which is not expected to be a strongly adsorbing analyte, wall coating hydrophobicity has a deleterious influence on separation performance.

  PublisherDOI

• Technical challenges in applying capillary electrophoresis-single strand conformation polymorphism for routine genetic analysis

  Electrophoresis · 2002-05-01 · 63 citations

  review1st author

  Recent and future advances in population genetics will have a significant impact on health care practices and the economics of health care provision only if a spectrum of patient-tailored, effective methods of DNA screening for sequence alterations has been developed. Genetic screening by capillary electrophoresis-single strand conformation polymorphism (CE-SSCP), which is based upon the differences in electrophoretic mobilities of wild-type and mutant DNA species, offers an important complement to other presently available techniques such as Sanger sequencing and DNA hybridization arrays due to its simplicity, versatility, and low cost of analysis. A two-part review of CE-SSCP that discusses its advantages and limitations is presented. Emphasis is placed on technological aspects of CE-SSCP (including such rarely addressed issues as sample preparation protocols and the nature of the polymeric DNA separation matrix) as well as on the potential of CE-SSCP for routine genetic analysis. An attempt is made to organize and present the information in sufficient detail to allow the use of SSCP for routine genetic screening even by those inexperienced in CE. Some discussion of CE-based heteroduplex analysis (HA) is also presented.

  PublisherDOI

• High-Throughput, High-Sensitivity Genetic Mutation Detection by Tandem Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism/Heteroduplex Analysis Capillary Array Electrophoresis

  Analytical Chemistry · 2002-05-03 · 63 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  We present the first optimization of linear polyacrylamide (LPA)-based DNA separation matrixes for an automated tandem microchannel single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP)/heteroduplex analysis (HA) method, implemented in capillary arrays dynamically coated with poly(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide) (polyDuramide). An optimized protocol for sample preparation allowed both SSCP and HA species to be produced in one step in a single tube and distinguished in a single electrophoretic analysis. A simple, two-color fluorescent sample labeling and detection strategy enabled unambiguous identification of all DNA species in the electropherogram, both single- and double-stranded. Using these protocols and a panel of 11 p53 mutant DNA samples in comparison with wild-type, we employed high-throughput capillary array electrophoresis (CAE) to carry out a systematic and simultaneous optimization of LPA weight-average molar mass (Mw) and concentration for SSCP/HA peak separation. The combination of the optimized LPA matrix (6% LPA, Mw 600 kDa) and a hydrophilic, adsorbed polyDuramide wall coating was found to be essential for resolution of CAE-SSCP/HA peaks and yielded sensitive mutation detection in all 11 p53 samples initially studied. A larger set of 32 mutant DNA specimens was then analyzed using these optimized tandem CAE-SSCP/HA protocols and materials and yielded 100% sensitivity of mutation detection, whereas each individual method yielded lower sensitivity on its own (93% for SSCP and 75% for HA). This simple, highly sensitive tandem SSCP/HA mutation detection method should be easily translatable to electrophoretic analyses on microfluidic devices, due to the ease of the capillary coating protocol and the low viscosity of the matrix.

  PublisherDOI

• Rationally-Designed Redox-Active Materials for the Separation of Isomers

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2000-03-01 · 5 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCommunicationNEXTRationally-Designed Redox-Active Materials for the Separation of IsomersIgor V. Kourkine, Chad A. Mirkin, Kin-Chung Lam, and Arnold L. RheingoldView Author Information Department of Chemistry, 2145 Sheridan Road Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 Cite this: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 11, 2659–2660Publication Date (Web):March 2, 2000Publication History Received1 December 1999Published online2 March 2000Published inissue 1 March 2000https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja994197ahttps://doi.org/10.1021/ja994197arapid-communicationACS PublicationsCopyright © 2000 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views361Altmetric-Citations4LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-AlertscloseSupporting Info (1)»Supporting Information Supporting Information SUBJECTS:Mixtures,Molecules,Oxidation,Pyridines,Redox reactions Get e-Alerts

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 109929: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2000-01-01

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 109930: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2000-01-01

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• David S. Glueck

  Dartmouth College

  11 shared

• Arnold L. Rheingold

  University of California, San Diego

  9 shared

• Chad A. Mirkin

  Northwestern University

  5 shared

• Louise M. Liable‐Sands

  Widener University

  5 shared

• Denyce K. Wicht

  Suffolk University

  5 shared

• Annelise E. Barron

  Stanford University

  5 shared

• Glenn P. A. Yap

  Indiana University Bloomington

  4 shared

• Caroline S. Slone

  4 shared