Aksan obtained his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and did his postdoctoral studies at the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His expertise is in the area of stabilization and preservation of biological systems. Aksan has worked towards developing biostabilization technologies and bioencapsulation platforms for encapsulating biologicals — such as enzymes, mammalian cells and bacteria — in silica-based, porous materials to be used in a variety of areas ranging from biomedicine to biotechnology. He has consulted for numerous governmental and commercial entities both nationally and internationally.