Carson Presidential Chair in Physics
Academic Affiliation
Professor with a joint appointment in the College of Liberal Arts and Science departments of Physics; and Chemistry and Biochemistry
Credentials
PhD, 1976, University of Manchester
Bio
Stuart Lindsay, PhD, specializes in biophysics at the molecular level and scanning probe microscopy. Much of his work is aimed at speedier diagnosis as well as to medical breakthroughs to understand and cure many diseases. He holds 27 patents and is a technology advisor for the Atomic Force Microscope Division of Agilent Technologies. Agilent has acquired Molecular Imaging Corporation, which he co-founded in 1993.
Dr. Lindsay’s lab conducts innovative research in biological physics, molecular electronics, solar energy and condensed matter physics. The Lindsay Lab researchers are interested in how genes work, and study the way in which proteins change DNA structure to switch genes on and off. They are also interested in the chemistry and physics of the liquid-solid interface, and are trying to understand electrochemical and charge transfer processes at the single-molecule level. One project that Dr. Lindsay is pursuing is a new method of DNA sequencing to allow much faster and cheaper sequencing of individual human genomes. His radical approach involves using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), which is customarily used to analyze the surface structure of materials at molecular resolution with the ultra-small tip of a sensitive probe, in combination with naturally occurring ring-shaped sugar molecules called cyclodextrins. Lindsay believes that the ring molecules, when paired with the AFM probe tip, can effectively be used as sensors to "read" the sequence of nucleic acid code (DNA "bases") in the human genome that comprises many millions of bases.
Dr. Lindsay also constructs specialized scanning probe microscopes in collaboration with Molecular Imaging Corporation. His 27 patents include one in 2004 for "Devices based on molecular electronics".
After receiving his PhD in Physics from the University of Manchester, Dr. Lindsay spent two years as a consultant at Philips Industries in London before joining the faculty at ASU. He has been at ASU for 25 years. His body of published work comprises over 138 articles in peer-reviewed journals and many book chapters and refereed conference papers.
Dr. Lindsay sits on the editorial boards of Biophysical Journal and AIP Press International Series in Basic and Applied Biological Physics. He also holds the position of Associate Editor for Probe Microscopy at Ultramicroscopy, and Associate Editor for the Americas at Nanobiology. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.