David A. Tirrell

David A. Tirrell (* 1953 in Easton (Pennsylvania) ) is an American chemist and chemical engineer ( macromolecular chemistry , protein biosynthesis).

biography

Tirrell studied chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in 1974 and received his doctorate in 1978 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst under Otto Vogl . As a post-doctoral student, he worked with Takeo Saegusa at Kyoto University . From 1978 he was Assistant Professor and later Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and from 1984 to 1998 Professor and Director of the Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. From 1998 he was Professor at Caltech , where he is Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering . From 1999 to 2009 he was head of the chemistry and chemical engineering department. From 2012 to 2018 he was director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech. In 2017 he became Provost of Caltech.

In 1982 he became a research fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation ( Sloan Research Fellow ). From 1988 to 1999 he was editor of the Journal of Polymer Science .

plant

He uses biologically inspired methods for polymer and protein synthesis. In his laboratory, Tirrell changed the molecular machinery of DNA selection from cells so that they use other than the usual amino acids to build proteins or new types of artificial proteins. Applications are, for example, in biomedicine (materials for surgery, etc.).

In polymer synthesis he developed techniques to create materials with predetermined, programmable molecular properties. These included liquid crystals and gels.

His laboratory also develops techniques for studying the dynamics of protein synthesis and proteomics in living organisms and cells.

Memberships and honors

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2006), the National Academy of Engineering (2008), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005), the American Philosophical Society (2019) and the Institute of Medicine (2011). In 2010 he received the Dickson Prize in Science . In 2007 he was Arthur C. Cope Scholar at ACS, in 2004 GN Lewis Lecturer at Berkeley and received the ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry in 2001 . He is an honorary doctor of the TU Eindhoven .

Fonts

• with June G. Tirrell, Thomas L. Mason, Maurille J. Fournier: Engineered Proteins in Materials Research, in: SM Hecht (Ed.): Bioorganic chemistry: peptides and proteins, Oxford University Press 1998
• with Robert Langer: Designing materials for biology and medicine, Nature, Volume 428, 2004, pp. 487-492
• Reinterpreting the Genetic Code: Implications for macromolecular design, evolution and analysis, in: Ahmed H. Zewail (Ed.), Physical Biology: From Atoms to Medicine: From Atoms to Medicine, London: Imperial College Press, 2008, p. 165– 187.

Web links

• Tirrell Lab at Caltech