David Wendell is an associate professor at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

Background

David Wendell studied at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. Wendell's field of study is

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

and his PhD focused on

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...

. In 2009, Wendell and a team of scientists from the

undertook a research program that resulted in the successful development of an artificial pore. In September 2009, their subsequent paper, “Translocation of double-stranded DNA through membrane-adapted phi29 motor protein nanopores,” appeared in the Journal

Nature Nanotechnology ''Nature Nanotechnology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group. It was established in October 2006. The editor-in-chief is Alberto Moscatelli. It covers all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology. ...

. The engineered channel has potential applications in nano-sensing,

gene delivery Gene delivery is the process of introducing foreign genetic material, such as DNA or RNA, into host cells. Gene delivery must reach the genome of the host cell to induce gene expression. Successful gene delivery requires the foreign gene deliver ...

, drug loading and

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The ...

. The researchers identified ways to take energy from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, and carbon from the air to create new forms of bio-fuels. Their report, "Artificial Photosynthesis in Ranaspumin-2 Based Foam" was published in the journal

Nano Letters ''Nano Letters'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society. It was established in January 2001. The editor-in-chief is Teri W. Odom (Northwestern University). The journal covers all aspects of nanosci ...

, in March 2010.

Artificial Photosynthetic Foam

In 2010, David Wendell, as Research Assistant Professor, worked alongside student Jacob Todd and College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Carlo Montemagno to create a new artificial photosynthetic material which uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes, trapped within a foam housing, to produce sugars from sunlight and carbon dioxide, known as Artificial Photosynthetic Foam. In August 2010, David Wendell was announced as one of six finalists for The Earth Awards - an annual competition for design and innovation with the potential to improve quality of life. He was later awarded the 50,000 USD Grand Prize for The Earth Awards in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on September 16, 2010.

References

External links

David Wendell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendell, David Living people University of Cincinnati faculty Cornell University College of Engineering alumni UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Year of birth missing (living people)