- Paul W. K. Rothemund
Paul W.K. Rothemund is a senior research fellow at the Computation and Neural Systems department at
Caltech . [cite web | url = http://www.dna.caltech.edu/~pwkr/ | title = Paul W.K. Rothemund official website | accessdate = 2007-12-28] He has become known in the fields ofDNA nanotechnology andsynthetic biology for his pioneering work withDNA origami . Rothemund is a 2007 recipient of theMacArthur Fellowship .Rothemund graduated from Laconia High School in 1990. He was the team captain of the championship Laconia team for the television quiz show Granite State Challenge. After graduating, Rothemund studied as an undergraduate at Caltech from 1990-1994, where he was a resident of
Ricketts House . He lived in the same room for all four years of his undergraduate career; since his graduation this room has been renamed "Roto" in honor of his freshman nickname,Roto-Rooter , which was a play on his last name.As a research fellow at Caltech, Rothemund has developed a technique to manipulate and fold strands of
DNA known asDNA Origami . Eventually, Rothemund hopes this technology could be used to create microscopic organisms with multiple purposes. The DNA created would be able to devour certain pollutents in the air, or be able to determine which cells in a person's body are cancerous and destroy them before the cancer spreads. He is currently working on a large-scale sculpture of his DNA Origami, and expects to exhibit these sculptures at theMuseum of Modern Art in New York from February 24 to May 12, 2008.References
External links
* [http://www.dna.caltech.edu/~pwkr/ Paul Rothemund's home page]
* [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7082/abs/nature04586.html March 2006 Nature paper on DNA origami]
* [http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/183 March 2007 TED Talk]
* [http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_rothemund_details_dna_folding.html September 2008 TED Talk]
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