Chad Mirkin

Professor Chad Mirkin

Chad A. Mirkin (born November 23, 1963) is an American chemist. He is the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly at Northwestern University. He received his B.S. degree from Dickinson College in 1986 and his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1989.^[1]

Mirkin is known for his development of nanoparticle-based biodetection schemes, the invention of Dip-Pen Nanolithography, and contributions to supramolecular chemistry, nanoelectronics, and nanooptics. He is listed as the most cited chemist in the world over the last decade in terms of total citations, the second highest most cited chemist^[2] in terms of impact factor^[3] and the top most cited nanomedicine researcher.^[4] He is one of only eleven scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and the only chemist to be elected into all three branches of the National Academies.

The focus of his research is on developing methods for controlling the architecture of molecules and materials on the 1 - 100 nm length scale, and on utilizing such structures in the development of analytical tools that can be used in the areas of chemical and biological sensing, lithography, catalysis, and optics. Mirkin has pioneered the use of biomolecules as synthons in materials science and the development of nanoparticle-based biodiagnostics.^[1] A common strategy used by Mirkin's group is the use of the unique properties of polyvalent DNA gold nanoparticles to enable the synthesis of novel materials and colloidal crystals, the development of high sensitivity probes for chemical and medical diagnostic purposes, single-entity structures capable of intracellular gene regulation.

On April 27, 2009, it was announced that Mirkin was appointed to President Barack Obama's President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.^[5][6]

Mirkin has served on a number of Editorial Advisory Boards, including the Journal of the American Chemical Society and Angewandte Chemie. He is the founding editor of the journal Small, one of the premier international nanotechnology journals. Mirkin is a founder of three companies, Nanosphere, NanoInk, and Aurasense.

Awards and honors

• 2011 – American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention
• 2010 – Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2010 – Member of the Institute of Medicine
• 2010 – Member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 2009 – Member of the National Academy of Engineering
• 2009 – Lemelson-MIT Prize
• 2007 – Alumni Fellow, Pennsylvania State University
• 2004 – NIH Director's Pioneer Award
• 2004 – Collegiate Inventors Award, National Inventors Hall of Fame
• 2004 – Outstanding Science Alumni Award, Pennsylvania State University
• 2004 – Honorary Degree, Dickinson College
• 2004 – American Chemical Society Nobel Laureate Signature Award
• 2003 – Collegiate Inventors Award, National Inventors Hall of Fame
• 2003 – Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize
• 2002 – Feynman Prize
• 2001 – Leo Hendrik Baekeland Award
• 1999 – ACS Award in Pure Chemistry

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Faculty Details, Chemistry Department, Northwestern University. [1] Retrieved 2010-04-30.
2. ^ most cited chemist in the world
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ Kelleher, Lauren. The Daily Northwestern. "NU professor named to Obama's science council."[4] 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2010-04-30
6. ^ Fellman, Megan. Northwestern NewsCenter. "Mirkin Named to Obama's Science and Technology Advisory Council." [5] 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2010-04-30.

External Links and Resources

• Northwestern Chemistry Faculty
• The Mirkin Research Group
• Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University

Persondata
Name	Mirkin, Chad
Alternative names
Short description	American chemist
Date of birth	November 23, 1963
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death