Charles R. Cantor (born 26 August 1942) is an American

molecular geneticist Molecular genetics is a sub-field of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the ...

who, in conjunction with David Schwartz, developed

pulse field gel electrophoresis Pulsed field gel electrophoresis is a technique used for the separation of large DNA molecules by applying to a gel matrix an electric field that periodically changes direction. Historical background Standard gel electrophoresis techniques for s ...

for very large DNA molecules. Cantor's three-volume book, ''Biophysical Chemistry'' co-authored with

Paul Schimmel Paul Reinhard Schimmel (born August 4, 1940) is an American biophysical chemist and translational medicine pioneer. Career Paul Schimmel is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute. Prior to joining The Scripps Resear ...

, was an influential textbook in the 1980s and 1990s.

Career

Charles Cantor received his AB from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1963 and PhD from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1966. He is Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

. While on a two-year sabbatical acting as Chief Scientific Officer at Sequenom, Inc. he maintained his research laboratory at Boston University. He is also a co-founder and Director of Retrotope, a US-based company using heavier isotopes of carbon (¹³C) and hydrogen (²H,

deuterium Deuterium (or hydrogen-2, symbol or deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen (the other being protium, or hydrogen-1). The nucleus of a deuterium atom, called a deuteron, contains one proton and one ...

) to stabilize essential compounds like amino acids,

nucleic acids Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main cl ...

and

lipids Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

to target age-related diseases. Cantor held positions at

(1981–1989) and the

(1989–1992), before moving to

in 1992. In 2017 he became Professor Adjunct in Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research. He has been director of the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-re ...

Human Genome Project and Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. He is a consultant to more than 16 biotech firms, has published more than 400 peer reviewed articles, been granted 54 US patents, and co-authored a three-volume textbook on

Biophysical Chemistry Biophysical chemistry is a physical science that uses the concepts of physics and physical chemistry for the study of biological systems. The most common feature of the research in this subject is to seek explanation of the various phenomena in ...

Publications

Papers

Charles Cantor obtained his Ph.D. in the group of

Ignacio Tinoco Ignacio is a male Spanish language, Spanish and Galician Language, Galician name originating either from the Roman family name Egnatius (disambiguation), Egnatius, meaning born from the fire, of Etruscan origin, or from the Latin name "Ignatius" ...

, with whom he published work on the optical properties of nucleotides. In post-doctoral work with Thomas Jukes he studied repetitive sequences in polypeptides, but most of his independent research has concerned nucleic acids, from his early work with

nuclear magnetic resonance Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a ...

(NMR) and repetitive sequences in polydeoxyribonucleotides. onwards. Cantor’s laboratory at

has developed methods for separating large DNA molecules, for studying structural relationships in complex proteins and

, and for sensitive detection of proteins and nucleic acids in a variety of settings. His work has been very highly cited, with five papers cited more than 1000 times each: 2709 citations of work on a toggle switch in Escherichia coli, 2594 of his paper on microtubule assembly, 2412 on his paper on pulsed field gradient gel-electrophoresis, 1437 on the launching of the

ENCODE The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) is a public research project which aims to identify functional elements in the human genome. ENCODE also supports further biomedical research by "generating community resources of genomics data, software ...

project (with about 200 authors), and 1176 on a study of noise in gene expression.

Reviews

Cantor's reviews include one on the physical chemistry of nucleic acids.

Books

Cantor co-authored ''Biophysical Chemistry'' with Paul Schimmel, which was published in three volumes: Part 1, The Conformation of Biological Macromolecules; Part 2, Techniques for the Study of Biological Structure and Function; Part 3, The Behavior of Biological Macromolecules With Cassandra Smith, he wrote ''Genomics: The Science and Technology Behind the Human Genome Project''.

References

External links

CharlesCantor.OrgA schedule of Dr. Charles Cantor's upcoming scientific talksManagement Team of Sequenom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantor, Charles Living people 1942 births Columbia University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Boston University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences New England Complex Systems Institute Columbia College (New York) alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni