Thinking Small: Angela Belcher
I thought, “Well nature of trying to make
IT scored a major coup in
M September 2002 when they at-
tracted Dr. Angela Belcher
away from UT Austin. Her ap-
proach to science is so exciting that senior ex-
ecutives at IBM told me privately that they
wish they’d been able to court her first. An-
gela is a materials chemist with interdiscipli-
nary expertise in inorganic chemistry, bio-
chemistry, molecular biology and electrical
engineering. Her area of specialty is bio-
mimicry (see “Using Mother Nature’s Blue-
print,” August 2002), reverse engineering the
way Mother Nature makes materials like
bones or shells. In her lab, Belcher is able to
make viruses, proteins and other organic ma-
chinery to assemble inorganic materials like
semiconducting nanoparticles into useful de-
vices like LCDs, sensors and even memory
chips. She’s modest about being called a pio-
neer, but is undoubtedly responsible for in-
spiring scores of other scientists to see the
power of using biology to assemble electronic
devices in exciting new ways. Angela is a fast
rising star who exudes strong ethics, high-en-
ergy and contagious passion for her work.
She was chosen in 2002 as one of 12 women
at the forefront of chemistry in addition to
over 15 other such accolades, awards or fel-
lowships in the past five years.
What kind of approach do you take with your
research?
I learn about as much as I can about dif-
ferent fields. It is a way to ask questions and
approach problems that are next generation
problems. Surprisingly, most of the grad
school applications I get are not biologists,
but instead range from computer science to
molecular engineering. When I look at
someone's application, I don’t care where
they came from, but instead I ask “Are you
willing to start from scratch and learn an en-
tirely new approach?” It’s getting harder and
harder for me to choose because more and
more people want to learn from scratch. My
lab is made up of physical chemists, bio-
chemists, chemical engineers material scien-
tists, physicists, computer scientists and mo-
lecular biologists.
What was the inspiration for your work?
I was standing on my desk, looking at the
periodic table of elements and thinking
about my previous work with abalone and
proteins that controlled the formation of
© Copyright 2003 Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report
calcium carbonate.
hasn’t evolved the ability to control these
other elements and materials, so let's do it
ourselves!”
Do you find your work hard to explain because
catalysts—that have
all one crystal type
or orientation—and
control them with a
biological mecha-
it’s so unlike anything else?
nism. This would yield a higher quality mate-
Yes. I first started talking about evolving
rial. Other people want us to present biologi-
organisms to grow semiconductors and
cal molecules on a surface where all the active
other types of materials. I still feel like it’s
sites are pointing in one direction so that you
difficult in some settings to explain the
could get accurate measurements of the num-
background of many different fields and
ber of enzymes or enzyme activity in a single
how they can be integrated. I've had a lot of
cell. This could be important for drug discov-
practice and all my formal training in a very
ery. You could have theoretically bi-functional
cross-disciplinary science, between physics,
molecules where one end is biological end and
chemistry and molecular biology.
the other is very specific for inorganic or mag-
What impact could your work have netic materials. This way a small peptide unit
scientifically? can bind to an inorganic particle and also fit
I think that one of the main things is learn- with a biological molecule.
ing how to work out rules for how biological
How far away is this kind of thing
materials can control the synthesis of inor-
commercially?
ganic materials. It’s a very important part of
I'm looking longer term, not, say, the next
our work. Learning how they can control and
three years. Some of the applications like sen-
what kinds of material they can control. Then
sors and biologically possible applications are
we can make rational predictions with the data
shorter term than self-assembled electronics.
we already have to do new things. Learning
If I had to predict, I'd say things that are the
how the interactions work and what the possi-
closest are more at the biological interface like
bilities are. I think this can give new routes to
drug discovery and delivery. Then maybe in-
developing materials. By controlling crystal
termediate term it would be growing specific
orientation and phase, it gives you the possibil-
materials and catalysts and pigments and then
ity to give a more environmentally sensitive
longer-term it would be growing and self-as-
approach to materials. We are using non-toxic
sembling practical electronic materials.
materials and taking a biological approach.
For Luddites and technophobes, your style of
How about its commercial impact?
science could be a double whammy. You’re
The commercial aspect is developing new
working not only with nanotechnology, but
routes to making materials and organizing
viruses also. How do you defend it to critics?
them into multidimensional structures. I
I give a lot of public lectures to non-sci-
think it could lead to possibilities in the
entists and one of the things about viruses I
biotechnology end of things. With the thin-
use is that they are actually non-toxic to hu-
films we are making, there are possibilities for
mans and don’t affect mammals. It’s very
stable storage of biological molecules for both
important to me as a scientist and we are
proteins and DNA. This is still at the science
very interested in green chemistry. Nature
stage, but could be used for drug delivery.
uses non-toxic precursors to create materials
We’re also interested in interfacing biological
and doesn’t put a lot of toxic waste in the en-
and inorganic materials. People come to me
vironment. We are trying to harness that to
all the time with problems in this area. The
create materials in a non toxic way. I'm very
key question is “How do you get biological
protective of the people in my lab, and I
materials to mix with inorganic materials?”
don’t like using toxic materials as at all, not
We're trying to work out a detailed database
even radioactivity—it’s just not something
where you put different material combina-
I’m interested in. We work with bacteria that
tions of biological and inorganic, biological
are totally harmless. They are on your desk
and biological inorganic and inorganic and
and in the soil, these things that are com-
work through to determine end products. De-
pletely non-toxic. I haven’t come across the
livering contrast agents for medical imaging is
people who are afraid of nanoparticles. ¤
another key area. There is also the possibility
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