12/31/2009
- Interview with Mark Reed, Ph.D., Harold Hodgkinson Chair of Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University, and Associate Director of the Yale Institute for Nanoscience and Quantum Engineering
A team led by Yale University researchers has used nanosensors to measure cancer biomarkers in whole blood for the first time. Their findings, which appeared December 13 in the advanced online publication of Nature Nanotechnology, could dramatically simplify the way physicians test for biomarkers of cancer and other diseases. The team, led by Yale's Dr. Mark Reed used nanowire sensors to detect and measure concentrations of two specific biomarkers: one for prostate cancer and the other for breast cancer.
During this week's podcast, Dr. Reed provides additional details on the research reported in the Nature Nanotechnology paper. He explains why the team employed a label-free biomarker detection technology and how his group was able to overcome the challenge of whole blood detection. Dr. Reed describes the advantages the new method has over other biomarker detection techniques and looks at the ways doctors might be able to use these novel nanosensor devices in daily medical practice.
Prof. Mark A. Reed received his Ph.D. in Physics from Syracuse University in 1983, after which he joined Texas Instruments. In 1990 Mark joined Yale University where he holds the Harold Hodgkinson Chair of Engineering and Applied Science. He was chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1995 to 2001. He is presently the Associate Director of the Yale Institute for Nanoscience and Quantum Engineering.
Mark's research activities have included the investigation of electronic transport in nanoscale and mesoscopic systems, artificially structured materials and devices, molecular scale electronic transport, plasmonic transport in nanostructures, and chem/bio nanosensors. Mark is the author of more than 180 professional publications and 6 books, has given 20 plenary and over 300 invited talks, and holds 25 U.S. and foreign patents on quantum effect, heterojunction, and molecular devices. He is the Editor in Chief of the journal Nanotechnology, an Editor for IEEE Transactions Electron Devices, and holds numerous other editorial and advisory board positions.
Mark has been elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and Who's Who in the World. His awards include; Fortune Magazine “Most Promising Young Scientist” (1990), the Kilby Young Innovator Award (1994), the Fujitsu ISCS Quantum Device Award (2001), the Yale Science and Engineering Association Award for Advancement of Basic and Applied Science (2002), Fellow of the American Physical Society (2003), the IEEE Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology (2007), and Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2009).