Matthew R. Linford (born April 9, 1966) is an associate professor at
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
Biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology ...
(Provo, Utah) since September 2006. His lab is devoted towards synthesizing hydrophobic surfaces, diamond stationary phases for
liquid chromatography
In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it through a system (a ...
and microfabricated TLC plates.
Lindford works in
surface modification
Surface modification is the act of modifying the surface of a material by bringing physical, chemical or biological characteristics different from the ones originally found on the surface of a material.
This modification is usually made to solid m ...
and characterization, particularly in studying organic thin films (monolayer and polymer), modifying silicon, diamond, silicon oxide, gold, and polymers, surface patterning, surface
organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clay ...
,
thin-film deposition
A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...
with silanes, alkenes, thiols, and by sputtering. In his group they also undertake liquid chromatography (HPLC and TLC) and
solid phase extraction
Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is an extractive technique by which compounds that are dissolved or suspended in a liquid mixture are separated from other compounds in the mixture according to their physical and chemical properties. Analytical labor ...
(SPE), develop hydrophobic coatings for various materials, study materials for
optical data storage
IBM defines optical storage as "any storage method that uses a laser to store and retrieve data from optical media." '' Britannica'' notes that it "uses low-power laser beams to record and retrieve digital (binary) data." Compact disc (CD) an ...
, and perform
surface analysis
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is t ...
by XPS, ToF-SIMS, wetting, optical ellipsometry, and FTIR. His lab also performs
chemometrics
Chemometrics is the science of extracting information from chemical systems by data-driven means. Chemometrics is inherently interdisciplinary, using methods frequently employed in core data-analytic disciplines such as multivariate statistics, ...
of mass spec data (PCA, MCR,
cluster analysis
Cluster analysis or clustering is the task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters). It is a main task of ...
, and PLS).
Academic history
Lindford did his BS in chemistry from Brigham Young University in September 1990, followed by MS in material sciences and PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University in June 1996. He served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Colloid and Surface Sciences from July 1996 to June 1997.
Linford has worked on topics including
supercritical fluid chromatography
Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is a form of normal phase chromatography that uses a supercritical fluid such as carbon dioxide as the mobile phase. It is used for the analysis and purification of low to moderate molecular weight, thermall ...
and the formation of first alkyl monolayers on silicon using diacylperoxides. He has studied the use of
synchrotron radiation
Synchrotron radiation (also known as magnetobremsstrahlung radiation) is the electromagnetic radiation emitted when relativistic charged particles are subject to an acceleration perpendicular to their velocity (). It is produced artificially in ...
to characterize monolayers on silicon, worked on gas-phase free-radical modification of alkyl monolayers, devised a new method for coating particles, and studied the strong effect of ionic strength on surface dye extraction during dye-polymer multilayer formation. He has worked on growing semiconducting particles in polyelectrolyte multilayers, designed a cell to study the flow-induced orientation of polyelectrolytes on surfaces, described a mixing process using
matrix algebra
In abstract algebra, a matrix ring is a set of matrices with entries in a ring ''R'' that form a ring under matrix addition and matrix multiplication . The set of all matrices with entries in ''R'' is a matrix ring denoted M''n''(''R'')Lang ...
, synthesized and characterized films of novel polyelectrolytes.
Service in industrial sector
Lindford served for a few years in the industrial sector. While working as a senior scientist in Rohm and Haas Company, he developed an IR tool to do rapid screening of
catalyst
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
s, and he designed and built a laser scanner for detecting defects on plastic sheet which was to be used as a substrate for flat panel liquid crystal displays. He has worked as a senior scientist/consultant for Praelux, Inc. and developed methods to immobilize single nucleotides and DNA oligomers onto surfaces, developed procedures to attach a nickel (NTA)
chelator
Chelation is a type of bonding of ions and molecules to metal ions. It involves the formation or presence of two or more separate coordinate bonds between a polydentate (multiple bonded) ligand and a single central metal atom. These ligands are ...
to glass cover slips to bind proteins with 6-his tags, developed novel methods to immobilize amines onto surfaces, performed surface patterning using
microcontact
Components of an electrical circuit are electrically connected if an electric current can run between them through an electrical conductor. An electrical connector is an electromechanical device used to create an electrical connection between ...
printing, worked on
bioconjugation
Bioconjugation is a chemical strategy to form a stable covalent link between two molecules, at least one of which is a biomolecule.
Function
Recent advances in the understanding of biomolecules enabled their application to numerous fields like ...
of a protein to glass microspheres.
Lindford has served as a director of research for NanoTex, LLC. and developed the product “Nano-Dry” to make
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...
and polyester hydrophilic. This product increases the comfort of fabrics and clothing, and is currently being marketed throughout the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. (
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records.
*
*
* Woods is widely regarded as ...
is shown in the October, 2003 issue of
Golf Digest
''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's compet ...
wearing a pair of pants that have this finish on them – Nano-Dry had become part of the Nike golf collection. He has been an inventor on 10 patents from work with Nano-Tex. He designed and synthesized numerous polymers (mostly free radical polymerizations of acrylates and methacrylates) and formulated with polymers, surfactants, wetting agents and defoaming agents.
Companies
Lindford has been a founder of several companies.
* Laser Array Technologies, which develops novel laser patterning of surfaces to make bioarrays.
* Millenniata Inc. As of November 2009, Millenniata had approximately 35 employees, a brick-and-mortar site, and had raised approximately $12 million. He served on the board of Millenniata from June 2007 to April 2010. It also had a manufacturing partner in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
with more than $2 million of equipment dedicated for Millenniata production, in addition to a partner in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
with more than $1MM of equipment dedicated for Millenniata production. Millenniata developed
M-DISC
M-DISC (Millennial Disc) is a write-once optical disc technology introduced in 2009 by Millenniata, Inc.and available as DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Overview
M-DISC's design is intended to provide archival media longevity.M-Disc claims that prop ...
, a write once optical disc recording technology.
* Xeromax, Inc. In 2009 Xeromax received the "Outstanding Product: award at the Global Moot Corp competition at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2009 it also received First Place BYU Business Plan Competition and Second Place at the Wake Forest Elevator Pitch Competition (national business plan competition).
Service in academia
Lindford served as an assistant professor and then as associate professor at Brigham Young University. During this tenure he has published 23 peer-reviewed papers, 2 conference proceedings, 1 book chapter, 7 peer-reviewed contributions to spectral data bases, and 11 patents. His work was highlighted on the cover of ''
Synthetic Metals
''Synthetic Metals'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering electronic polymers and electronic molecular materials.
Abstracting and indexing
''Synthetic Metals'' is abstracted and indexed in the following services:
According to the '' ...
'', in the ''
Journal of the American Chemical Society
The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ''Journal of Analytica ...
'', in ''
Accounts of Chemical Research
''Accounts of Chemical Research'' is a semi-monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society containing overviews of basic research and applications in chemistry and biochemistry. It was established in 1968 and t ...
'', in ''
Chemical and Engineering News
''Chemical & Engineering News'' (''C&EN'') is a weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society, providing professional and technical news and analysis in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering.Langmuir''. His work on polymer growth on silicon appeared on the cover of '' Macromolecular Rapid Communications'' in 2008.
Lindford received the BYU Technology Transfer Award on August 25, 2009 at the annual BYU university conference. He was invited and was the first speaker at the Nagasaki Syposium on Nano-Dynamics 2009,
Nagasaki University
is a national university of Japan. Its nickname is ''Chōdai'' (). The main campus is located in Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.
History
Nagasaki University was established in 1949 by incorporating several nation ...
in Japan. He was named to the editorial board of the journal ''Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters'' (NNL) in 2008. He was a Co-PI on a $1,000,000 grant from NSF in 2007.
. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
Linford is also an accomplished and high ranking tennis player for the state of Utah, and frequently takes time out of his research to travel and participate in national tennis tournaments. His 2018 Estimated Dynamic is 3.5559, his current NTRP 3.5 S, and estimated rating as of 2018 is 4.0.