Matthew B. Francis

LBNL Faculty Scientist
Professor of Chemistry
Univ. of California, Berkeley

francis@cchem.berkeley.edu
phone: 510-643-9915

Education
B.S. Chemistry, Miami University
Ph.D. Chemistry, Harvard University
Postdoctoral Fellow University of California Berkeley

Major Awards
2006 GlaxoSmithKline Young Investigator Award
2007 Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
2005 NSF Early Career Development Award
2001 Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award

General Research Interests
Organic, Bioorganic, and Materials Chemistry -- New Synthetic Methods For Site-Selective Protein Modification, Modified Viral Capsids For Nanoscience Applications, and Interactive Interfaces Engineered for Communication with Living Cells

Research in the Francis group is focused on the development of new synthetic methods for the construction of nanoscale materials. The central strategy involves the attachment of new functional components to specific locations on structural proteins, and the subsequent self-assembly of these conjugates into new types of materials with useful electronic and biological functions.

The coat protein monomers of the tobacco mosaic virus (blue) serve as a non-toxic and biorenewable scaffold for the
construction of efficient light harvesting materials. Light is absorbed by the donor dyes (shown in green)and shuttled to the red acceptor dyes. Through the introduction of transition metal catalysts, the energy of collected light is being used to drive chemical reactions.

MSD Research Projects:
Biomolecular Materials

Personal website: http://wasabi.cchem.berkeley.edu