A global HIV epidemic and an impending influenza pandemic challenge chemical engineers to design biological processes at macro-, micro-, and nano- scales using transport phenomena in systems containing virus, protein and nucleic acid. Professor Ed Lightfoot pioneered design and optimization of novel operating strategies and bioseparations equipment that improve throughput, recovery and purity of recombinant proteins by orders of magnitude using accurate mathematical descriptions that incorporate physicochemical parameters measured using nuclear magnetic resonance and include characteristic features observed by magnetic resonance imaging. Surface plasmon resonance was recently applied to develop tools to detect, analyze and purify virus and nucleic acid. Now a call for radically improved instrumentation and methods to reduce time and cost of genomic processing by orders of magnitude using advances in microfluidics, optics and nanotechnologies promises faster identification and treatment of gene disorders and more rapid detection and prophylaxis of infectious agents.