Alan Heeger

Professor Emeritus

Contact Phone

(805) 893-3184

Office Location

4415 Broida

Specialization

Bio

Widely known for his pioneering research in and the co-founding of the field of semiconducting and metallic polymers, Professor Heeger is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2000), the Oliver E. Buckley Prize for Condensed Matter Physics, the Balzan Prize for the Science of New Materials, the President.s Medal for Distinguished Achievement from the University of Pennsylvania, the Chancellor.s Medal from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is a member of the National Academy of Science (USA), the National Academy of Engineering (USA), the Korean Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Science.

Prof. Heeger has more than 800 publications in scientific journals and more than 50 patents. He founded UNIAX Corporation in 1990; UNIAX was acquired by DuPont in 2000. Prof. Heeger is a co-founder and serves on the Board of Directors Konarka Technologies Inc. He is co-founder and Chairman of CBrite Inc. in Santa Barbara. He is co-founder and Vice-Chairman of Cynvenio (micro fluidics for cell sorting and related areas) and Cytomx Therapeutics (novel technology for targeted drug delivery).

He has long been interested in and a fan of theatre. Prof. Heeger has participated in the production of three Broadway plays: "In the Heights" (2008 Best Musical and still ruinning), "West Side Story" (revival currently running) and "Barefoot in the Park" (a revival in 2007 --- did not survive the critics!).

Research

Current Research

His research group at UC Santa Barbara continues to study aspects of the science and technology of semiconducting and metallic polymers with focus on the gate-induced insulator-to-metal transition in polymer Field Effect Transistors and low cost .plastic. solar cells. Current interests also include biosensors for the detection of specific targeted sequences on DNA, the detection of specific proteins and the detection of biologically relevant small molecules.

Publications

Selected Research Publications

Biosensors Based on Binding-Modulated Donor-Acceptor Distances, C. Fan, K.W. Plaxco, A.J. Heeger, Science Direct, vol. 23, no. 4, 186-192 (2005).

The Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) Gate: A Time Resolved-Study, A. Xu, S. Wang, D. Korystov, A. Mikhailovsky, G.C. Bazan, D. Moses, A.J. Heeger, PNAS 102, (N3) 530-535 (2005).

Water/Methanol-Soluble Conjugated Copolymer as an Electron-Transport Layer in Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes, W. Ma, P.K. Iyer, X. Gong, B. Liu, D. Moses, G.C. Bazan, A.J. Heeger, Adv. Mater. 17 (N3) 274-277 (2005).

Ultrafast Photogeneration of Charged Polarons on Conjugated Polymer Chains in Dilute Solution, P B. Miranda, D. Moses, A. J. Heeger, Physical Review B, 70 (8) 085212 (2004).

Time-Resolved Energy Transfer in DNA Sequence Detection Using Water-Soluble Conjugated Polymers: The Role of Electrostatic and Hydrophobic Interactions, Q.-H. Xu, B.S. Gaylord, S. Wang, G.C. Bazan, D. Moses, A.J. Heeger, PNAS 101, (N32) 11634-11639 (2004).