Dr. Anita Goel, who won the 1999 Foresight Distinguished Student Award, went on to earn a PhD and MD from Harvard/MIT and then founded her own company, Nanobiosym. She explains the motivation and process in a Technology Review article:
“More than 10 years ago, as a physics undergraduate at Stanford University, I fell in love with the way the molecular motors known as polymerases read and write information from and into DNA…I hypothesized that the dynamics of a molecular motor depend not only on the sequence of the DNA it is reading but also on the milieu in which it operates…
“Since my Stanford days, I had dreamed of harnessing these molecular motors for various nanotechnology and biotechnology applications, such as controlled synthesis, molecular manufacturing, and reading and writing information on the nanoscale…Our approach compensates for some of the shortcomings of current sensors, enabling detection down to the single-molecule level. It is a personal interest of mine to make our technology available in the developing world, where the lack of infrastructure, such as electricity and running water, can preclude effective diagnostics.”
It’s been a pleasure to watch Dr. Goel’s career unfold, and we wish her continued success. —Christine
