Biography: John Kasianowicz

Dr. John Kasianowicz is a physical scientist in the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He received a B.A. with distinction in Physics from Boston University, a M.A. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Physiology & Biophysics from SUNY at Stony Brook. His current research interests include ion transport through membranes, ion channel structure-function, bioenergetics, novel sensing systems, single molecule detection and characterization, the physics of polymer structure and transport, novel methods for RNA/DNA characterization, and model systems for studying viral infection and protein secretion. Previously, he served as leader of the Biomolecular Materials Group, also at NIST. Prior to his staff appointments at NIST, Dr. Kasianowicz was an Office of Naval Research post-doctoral fellow at the NIH and a National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Research Associate at NIST. He is also a visiting adjunct professor at Columbia University. His work on RNA and DNA transport through single nanopores led to the development of single molecule DNA sequencing devices.