Dr

Newsletter
of the Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering
University of California, San Diego October 2001 Vol. 8, No. 2

WIBE Member: Michael Heller, Ph.D.

Professor Michael J. Heller began his new position at UCSD in July 2001. He has a joint appointment between the departments of Bioengineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Dr. Heller received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Colorado State University. His rich scientific experience includes working as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, supervising the DNA Technology Group at Amoco Corporation, and serving as the Director of Molecular Biology at Molecular Biosystems, Inc. In 1987 Dr. Heller was elected President and Chief Operating Officer at Integrated DNA Technologies. He was also a co-founder and the Chief Technical Officer at Nanogen, Inc., located in San Diego, California and the principal inventor of Nanogen’s microelectronic-based DNA chip technology. His experience includes many areas of biotechnology, with particular expertise in DNA molecular diagnostics and fluorescent/optoelectronic based detection technologies. Dr. Heller’s most recent work involved the development of integrated DNA chip devices and systems for genomic and biomedical research and clinical diagnostic applications.

Dr. Heller’s appointment brings to UCSD Bioengineering a much needed expertise in modern DNA chip technology and nanotechnology as applied to genomic and biomedical research. Therefore, his expertise and interest fit in several of our research thrusts, including genetic circuits, molecular biomechanics, and systems bioengineering. He brought with him rich industrial experience, which will be extremely valuable to our new initiatives in technology transfer and industrial collaboration. Furthermore, the joint appointment with the Department of ECE, together with the activities of Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia and others in the Department of Bioengineering, will greatly enhance our activities in this frontier area that require rich inter-departmental interactions.

Dr. Heller’s area of research at UCSD will involve work on the next generation of DNA array devices, lab-on-a-chip devices, and integrated bioanalysis systems. In particular, his focus is on developing higher performance devices that meet the growing demands of researchers in genomics, pharmacogenomics, proteomics and molecular diagnostics.

Professor Heller’s future area of research will involve enabling nanotechnology. Concepts for nanotechnology encompass a wide variety of potential applications. Generally, molecular or nanoelectronic devices and systems are envisioned as the more revolutionary application of this new technology. Many examples of individual molecular components with appropriate basic properties including carbon nanotubes and various organic molecules with electronic switching capabilities exist nowadays. The research focus is now on the development of a viable technology that would allow billions of molecular/nanoelectronic components to be assembled and interconnected into useful logic/memory devices and systems. In addition to electronic applications, nanodevices and nanosystems with higher order photonic, mechanical, mechanistic, sensory, chemical, catalytic, and therapeutic properties are also envisioned. To date, it has not been possible to design a synthetic model of these solid-state photonic transfer systems with the efficiency of the biological system. Thus, there is a need for technology that allows assembly of molecular and nanoscale components into higher order functioning devices or systems. The acceleration of a “molecular engineering” perspective may be key to enabling nanotechology, particularly if self-organization or self-assembly based scenarios are required for the integration of components into the higher order devices and systems. Dr. Heller’s research interests lie in this area.

While Dr. Heller’s background was mainly in industry, he is an excellent teacher. He gave outstanding workshops on DNA Technology at UCSD jointly sponsored by Bioengineering and ECE. He is extremely effective in transferring complex information to a mixed audience, and his educational activities were appreciated by students and faculty alike. In his future teaching activities at UCSD, Dr. Heller is in the process of developing new graduate level courses that better integrate biological and engineering perspectives (e.g., BioPhotonics, Engineering of Molecular Mechanisms).

Dr. Heller’s achievements in DNA research were recognized with a $2 million NIST Advanced Technology Program award for an integrated microelectronic DNA diagnostic system project and with Bode Technology Group award for his project called “DNA finger printing using microelectronic devices”.

We would like to congratulate Dr. Heller for joining our faculty and the family of the Whitaker Institute members. We are sure he will contribute importantly to the advancement of biomedical engineering at UCSD.