Nadrian C. Seeman
Seeman in 2002
Born(1945-12-16)December 16, 1945
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedNovember 16, 2021(2021-11-16) (aged 75)
Alma materUniversity of Chicago, University of Pittsburgh
Known forDNA nanotechnology
AwardsKavli Prize in Nanoscience (2010)
William H. Nichols Medal (2008)
Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry (2016)
Scientific career
FieldsNanotechnology, Crystallography
InstitutionsNew York University
Doctoral studentsHao Yan

Nadrian C. "Ned" Seeman (December 16, 1945 – November 16, 2021) was an American nanotechnologist and crystallographer known for inventing the field of DNA nanotechnology.[1][2][3]

Biography

Seeman studied biochemistry at the University of Chicago and crystallography at the University of Pittsburgh.[4] He was a postdoctoral researcher with Alexander Rich at MIT. 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.[5][6] 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.[7] The concept of the dissimilar double DNA crossover introduced by Seeman,[8] was important stepping stone towards the development of DNA origami. 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.

The concepts of DNA nanotechnology later found further applications in DNA computing,[9] DNA nanorobotics, and self-assembly of nanoelectronics.[10] He shared the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience 2010 with Donald Eigler “for their development of unprecedented methods to control matter on the nanoscale.”[10][11] He was a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.[12]

He was an atheist.[13] Seeman died on November 16, 2021, at the age of 75.[14]

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.
  3. ^ "NYU Chemistry Remembers Ned Seeman 1945-2021". New York University. Retrieved 2021-11-18.
  4. ^ "Ned's Biography". Nadrian Seeman lab.
  5. ^ Seeman, Nadrian C. (June 2004). "Nanotechnology and the double helix". Scientific American. 290 (6): 64–75. Bibcode:2004SciAm.290f..64S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0604-64. PMID 15195395.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "1995 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology Awarded For Pioneering Synthesis of 3-D DNA Objects". The Foresight Institute. 30 November 1995. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  8. ^ Fu, Tsu-Ju; Seeman, Nadrian (1993). "DNA Double-Crossover Molecules". Biochemistry. 32 (13): 3211–3220. doi:10.1021/bi00064a003. PMID 8461289.
  9. ^ 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. PMC 2905173. PMID 20640192.
  10. ^ a b "NYU Chemist Seeman Wins Kavli Prize in Nanoscience". New York University. 3 June 2010.
  11. ^ "Names of the 2010 Kavli Prize winners announced". The Kavli Prize. Archived from the original on 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  12. ^ "Gruppe 4: Kjemi" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  13. ^ "Nadrian C. Seeman life story". www.kavliprize.org. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  14. ^ NYU Chemistry Remembers Ned Seeman 1945–2021
  15. ^ Pinheiro, A. V.; Han, D.; Shih, W. M.; Yan, H. (December 2011). "Challenges and opportunities for structural DNA nanotechnology". Nature Nanotechnology. 6 (12): 763–772. Bibcode:2011NatNa...6..763P. doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.187. PMC 3334823. PMID 22056726.

External links

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