Nanoscience pioneer Alivisatos to speak on new technique for creating biological imaging tools

Feb. 23, 2009 -- Nanoscience and its applications will play a major role in future scientific and medical breakthroughs, and for the past two decades, A. Paul Alivisatos has been at the forefront of this revolution. For the Arthur Holly Compton Lecture, he will speak on the "Development of New Nanocrystal Molecules for Biological Sensing and Detecting" at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4 in Graham Chapel.

Alivisatos

Alivisatos has gained worldwide recognition for his pioneering work in the creation of nanocrystals that are now being used as tracers because, depending on size, they emit light of different colors.

His many contributions to nanotechnology have been acknowledged through numerous awards, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. His research has been published in the journals Nature and Science.

In the private sector, he is founder and editor-in-chief of Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society, as well as the scientific founder of the Quantum Dot Corporation. He has helped launch several successful nanotech startups and has mentored a growing number of young nanoresearchers.

Alivisatos graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, receiving a B.A. in chemistry in 1981. He received a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. After postdoctoral work at AT&T Bell Labs, he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. He is the Larry and Diane Bock Professor of Nanotechnology and holds a joint appointment as professor in the departments of chemistry and materials science. In addition, he is associate lab director for physical sciences and director of the materials sciences division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

The event is free and open to the public. Graham Chapel is located north of Mallinckrodt Center on the Washington University Danforth campus.

For more information, call (314) 935-4620 or visit the Assembly Series Web page at http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu.