Nadrian Seeman

Nadrian C. Seeman

Fields Nanotechnology, Crystallography
Institutions New York University
Alma mater University of Chicago, University of Pittsburgh
Known for DNA nanotechnology

Nadrian C. "Ned" Seeman (December 16th, 1945 - ) is an American nanotechnologist and crystallographer known for inventing the field of DNA nanotechnology.[1][2]

Seeman studied biochemistry at the University of Chicago and crystallography at the University of Pittsburgh.[3] He became a faculty member at the State University of New York at Albany, and in 1988 moved to the Department of Chemistry at New York University.

He is most noted for his development of the concept of DNA nanotechnology beginning in the early 1980s.[1] In fall 1980, while at a campus pub, Seeman was inspired by the M. C. Escher woodcut Depth to realize that a three-dimensional lattice could be constructed from DNA. He realized that this could be used to orient target molecules, simplifying their crystallographic study by eliminating the difficult process of obtaining pure crystals.[4][5] In pursuit of this goal, Seeman's laboratory published the synthesis of the first three-dimensional nanoscale object, a cube made of DNA, in 1991. This work won the 1995 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology.[6]

The concepts of DNA nanotechnology later found further applications in DNA computing,[7] DNA nanorobotics, and self-assembly of nanoelectronics.[8] He shared the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience 2010 with Donald Eigler “for their development of unprecedented methods to control matter on the nanoscale.”[8][9] The goal of demonstrating designed three-dimensional DNA crystals was achieved by Seeman in 2009, nearly thirty years after his original elucidation of the idea.

Notable publications

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Pelesko, John A. (2007). Self-assembly: the science of things that put themselves together. New York: Chapman & Hall/CRC. pp. 201, 242, 259. ISBN 978 1 58488 687 7. 
  2. ^ Dennis Overbye (3 June 2010). "8 Scientists Share $3 Million in Prizes". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/science/04kavli.html. 
  3. ^ "Ned's Biography". Nadrian Seeman lab. http://seemanlab4.chem.nyu.edu/Seeman.html. 
  4. ^ Seeman, Nadrian C. (June 2004). "Nanotechnology and the double helix". Scientific American 290 (6): 64–75. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0604-64. PMID 15195395. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nanotechnology-and-the-do. 
  5. ^ See Nadrian Seeman's homepage, Current crystallization protocol for a statement of the problem, and Nadrian Seeman's homepage, DNA cages containing oriented guests for the proposed solution.
  6. ^ "1995 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology Awarded For Pioneering Synthesis of 3-D DNA Objects". The Foresight Institute. 30 November 1995. http://www.foresight.org/Updates/Update23/Update23.1.html#anchor415574. 
  7. ^ Ng, W. D.; Wong, C. K. B. (2007). "Self-Recognition of DNA: From Life Processes to DNA Computation". Biophysical Reviews and Letters 2 (2): 123–137. doi:10.1142/S1793048007000490. PMID 20640192. 
  8. ^ a b "NYU Chemist Seeman Wins Kavli Prize in Nanoscience". New York University. 3 June 2010. http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2010/06/03/nyu-chemist-seeman-wins-kavli-prize-in-nanoscience-.html. 
  9. ^ "Names of the 2010 Kavli Prize winners announced". The Kavli Prize. http://www.kavliprize.no/nyheter/vis.html?tid=46747.