Paul Wilhelm Karl Rothemund is a research professor at the Computation and Neural Systems department at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. He has become known in the fields of DNA nanotechnology and

synthetic biology Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature. It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad ran ...

for his pioneering work with

DNA origami DNA origami is the nanoscale folding of DNA to create arbitrary two- and three-dimensional shapes at the nanoscale. The specificity of the interactions between complementary base pairs make DNA a useful construction material, through design of ...

. He shared both categories of the 2006 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology with

Erik Winfree Erik Winfree (born September 26, 1969) is an American applied computer scientist, bioengineer, and professor at California Institute of Technology. He is a leading researcher into DNA computing and DNA nanotechnology. In 1998, Winfree in colla ...

for their work in creating DNA nanotubes, algorithmic

molecular self-assembly In chemistry and materials science, molecular self-assembly is the process by which molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source. There are two types of self-assembly: intramolecular and intermol ...

of DNA tile structures, and their theoretical work on DNA computing. Rothemund is also a 2007 recipient of the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

Life

Rothemund graduated from Laconia High School,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, in 1990. He was the team captain of the championship Laconia team for the television quiz show ''

Granite State Challenge ''Granite State Challenge'' is an American television quizbowl game show that airs on New Hampshire Public Television and began in 1983. Description High schools from around the state compete against each other to win "brainy bragging rights" and ...

''. After graduating, Rothemund studied as an undergraduate at Caltech from 1990–1994, where he was a resident and member of Ricketts House. He attained his Ph.D. from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in 2001. As a research fellow at Caltech, Rothemund has developed a technique to manipulate and fold strands of DNA known as

. Eventually, Rothemund hopes that self-assembly techniques could be used to create a "programming language for molecules, just as we have programming languages for computers." His work on large-scale sculptures of his DNA origami was exhibited at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

from February 24 to May 12, 2008. His grandfather, Paul Rothemund, was a chemist as well.

References

External links

Paul Rothemund's home page

March 2007 TED Talk

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) MacArthur Fellows California Institute of Technology faculty DNA nanotechnology people California Institute of Technology alumni California Institute of Technology fellows University of Southern California alumni {{US-scientist-stub