Detailed Biography:

Dr. Gimzewski is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles and Director of the Nano & Pico Characterization Core Facility of the California NanoSystems Institute. He is scientific director of the Art|Sci Center at CNSI and the Broad Art Center and a member of the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center. He is also Principal Investigator and Satellites Co-Director of the WPI Center for Materials NanoArchitectonics (MANA) in Tsukuba Japan. Dr. Gimzewski is an associate of the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics.

Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, he was a group leader at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, where he research in nanoscale science and technology for more than 18 years. Dr. Gimzewski pioneered research on mechanical and electrical contacts with single atoms and molecules using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and was one of the first persons to image molecules with STM. His accomplishments include the first STM-based fabrication of molecular suprastructures at room temperature using mechanical forces to push molecules across surfaces, the discovery of single molecule rotors and the development of new micromechanical sensors based on nanotechnology, which explore ultimate limits of sensitivity and measurement. This approach was recently used to convert biochemical recognition into Nanomechanics.

His current interests are in the nanomechanics of cells, bacteria, exosmes and actin binding and RNA profiling where he collaborates with the UCLA MBI, Medical and Dental Schools.

Dr. Gimzewski is also involved in numerous art-science collaborative projects that have been exhibited in museums throughout the world and has appeared on many TV and Radio shows on BBC, NHK, CBC and Arte and NPR.