Biography

EDUCATION

California Institute of Technology

Physical Organic Chemistry

Postdoctoral, 1965-1966

The Johns Hopkins University

Organic Chemistry

Ph.D., 1963

The Johns Hopkins University

Organic Chemistry

M.A., 1961

The Johns Hopkins University

Chemistry

B.A., 1959

BIOGRAPHY

David Whitten has had a long career in academia at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), the University of Rochester and the University of New Mexico. He also spent more than 2 years at Los Alamos before starting a company (QTL Biosystems) with a colleague from Los Alamos. His research is currently focused on conjugated polyelectrolytes and their counterpart small oligomers as antimicrobials and a basis for fluorescent sensors. He continues to study photochemical and photophysical properties of these compounds and materials, a career long aspect of his work.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2016-present

University Distinguished Professor, University of New Mexico.

2012-present

Associate Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of New Mexico

2009-2012

Interim Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of New Mexico.

2005-present

Co-Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering • University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

2005-2016

Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of New Mexico.

2000-2004

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University (Part Time 2000-2002, Adjunct 2002-2004)

2000-2005

Cofounder and Chief Science Officer, QTL Biosystems, LLC

2001-present

Associate Editor, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

1997-2015

Editor-in-Chief, Langmuir

1997-2001

Technical Staff Member, Los Alamos National Laboratory

1995-1997

Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of Rochester

1989-1995

Director, NSF Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer, University of Rochester

1988-1991

Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of Rochester..

1983-1997

C. E. Kenneth Mees Professor, University of Rochester.

1980-1983

M. A. Smith Professor, University of North Carolina.

1980

Invited Visiting Professor, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

1975-1976

Vice Chairman, Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina.

1973-1980

Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina.

1970-1973

Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina.

1966-1970

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Achyuthan K. A., Lu L., Lopez G. P., Whitten D. G., Supramolecular Photochemical Self-Assemblies for Fluorescence “turn on” and “turn off” Assays for Chem-Bio Helices, Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 2006, 5, 859-868.

• Whitten D. G., Kim O.-K., Lopez, G. P., Achyuthan, K. E. Cooperative Self-Assembly of Cyanines on Carboxymethylamylose and other Anionic Scaffolds, Pure Appl. Chem. 2006, 78, 2313-2323.

• Zeineldin R., Piyasena M. E., Bergstedt T. S., Sklar L. A., Whitten D. G, Lopez G. P. “Superquenching as a Detector for Microsphere-Based Flow Cytometric Assays” Cytometry, Part A, 2006, 69A, 335-341.

• Kim O.-K., Je J., Jernigan G., Buckley L., Whitten D. G,Super-Helix Formation Induced by Cyanine J-Aggregates onto Random-Coil Carboxymethyl Amylose as Template, J. Am. Chem. Soc.; 2006; 128(2); 510-516.

• Rininsland F., Xia W., Wittenberg S., Shi X., Stankewicz C., Achyuthan K., McBranch D., Whitten D. G.,“Metal Ion Mediated Polymer Superquenching for Highly Sensitive Detection of Kinase and Phosphatase Activities” Proceedings Natl. Acad. Sci. US, 2004, 101 (43), 15295-15300..

• Kumaraswamy S., Bergstedt T., Shi X., Rininsland F., Kushon S., Xia W., Ley K., Achyuthan K., McBranch D., Whitten D. G, "Fluorescent Conjugated Polymer Superquenching Facilitates Highly Sensitive Detection of Proteases” Proceedings Natl. Acad. Sci. US, 2004, 101 (20), 7511-7515.

• Kushon Stuart A., Bradford Kirsten, Marin Violeta, Suhrada Chris, Armitage Bruce A., McBranch Duncan, Whitten D. G., "Detection of Single Nucleotide Mismatches via Fluorescent Polymer Superquenching.", Langmuir (2003), 19(16), 6456-6464.

• Kushon S. A., Ley K. D., Bradford K., Jones R. M., McBranch D., Whitten D. G, "Detection of DNA Hybridization via Fluorescent Polymer Superquenching", Langmuir (2002), 18(20), 7245-7249.

• Lucia L. A., Yui T., Sasai R., Takagi S., Takagi K., Yoshida H., Whitten D. G., Inoue, H. “Enhanced aggregation behavior of antimony (V) porphyrins in polyfluorinated surfactant/clay hybrid microenvironment” J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 3789-3797.

TEACHING INTERESTS

• Biomedical engineering research practices
• Biosensors
• Ethics and scientific writing

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Antimicrobial activity of conjugated polyelectrolytes
• New biosensors based on quenching or enhancement of fluorescence
• Synthesis and study of conjugated oligomeric phenylene ethynylene derivative

CENTER/LABORATORY/PROGRAM AFFILIATIONS

• Center for Biomedical Engineering