Dr. Charles Cantor Sequenom Inc., USA

Charles Cantor is Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology at Boston University. Dr. Cantor is currently on a leave of absence, acting as Chief Scientific Officer at Sequenom, Inc. in San Diego, California. In the past Dr. Cantor held positions at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley.... read moreDr. Cantor is a consultant to more than 16 biotech firms, has published over 400 peer reviewed articles, authored and co-authored over 50 US and international patents, and co-authored a three-volume textbook on biophysical chemistry. He is one of the pioneers of the Human Genome and is an author of the first genomics textbook, Genomics: The Science and Technology of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Cantor's research is focused on identifying biological problems that are resistant to conventional analytical approaches and then developing new methodologies or techniques for solving these problems. His current interests include the development of new methods for faster DNA sequencing, the development of new variations and analogs of the polymerase chain reaction, the development of bacterial strains suitable for environmental detoxification, and the discovery of human genes associated with sense and taste. He is also interested in exploring the possible use of biological molecules for applications in nanoengineering and microrobotics, and in making detectors capable of recognizing specific single molecules.