John H. Reif

About

John H. Reif is the A. Hollis Edens Distinguished Professor in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University. He has been a full professor of Computer Science at Duke University since 1986. Additionally, he holds secondary appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University since June 2016, and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science since December 2024. Professor Reif's academic background includes a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, awarded in July 1977, an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in July 1975, and a B.S., magna cum laude, in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Tufts University in Spring 1973.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Biochemistry
• Artificial Intelligence
• Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Biology
• Mathematics
• Medicine
• Theoretical computer science
• Combinatorial chemistry

Selected publications

• Fast and compact DNA logic circuits based on single-stranded gates using strand-displacing polymerase

  Nature Nanotechnology · 2019-09-23 · 240 citations

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• Nucleic Acid Databases and Molecular-Scale Computing

  ACS Nano · 2019-05-22 · 75 citations

  reviewSenior author

  DNA outperforms most conventional storage media in terms of information retention time, physical density, and volumetric coding capacity. Advances in synthesis and sequencing technologies have enabled implementations of large synthetic DNA databases with impressive storage capacity and reliable data recovery. Several robust DNA storage architectures featuring random access, error correction, and content rewritability have been constructed with the potential for scalability and cost reduction. We…

  PublisherDOI

• Programming DNA-Based Biomolecular Reaction Networks on Cancer Cell Membranes

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2019-10-10 · 69 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  DNA is a highly programmable biomolecule and has been used to construct biological circuits for different purposes. An important development of DNA circuits is to process the information on receptors on cell membranes. In this Communication, we introduce an architecture to program localized DNA-based biomolecular reaction networks on cancer cell membranes. Based on our architecture, various types of reaction networks have been experimentally demonstrated, from simple linear cascades to reaction…

  PublisherDOI

• A lyophilized colorimetric RT-LAMP test kit for rapid, low-cost, at-home molecular testing of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens

  Scientific Reports · 2022 · 55 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Access to fast and reliable nucleic acid testing continues to play a key role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the context of increased vaccine break-through risks due to new variants. We report a rapid, low-cost (~ 2 USD), simple-to-use nucleic acid test kit for self-administered at-home testing without lab instrumentation. The entire sample-to-answer workflow takes < 60 min, including noninvasive sample collection, one-step RNA preparation, reverse-transcription loop-mediate…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Using Strand Displacing Polymerase To Program Chemical Reaction Networks

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020 · 32 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  as a use-case of our framework since such amplifiers require the intricate design of DNA sequences and reaction conditions.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• SHF: Small: Hot DNA Computation: Speeding up DNA-based Computation, CRNs, and Robotics using Strand-Displacing Polymerase

  NSF · $225k · 2018–2021

• NANO: EMT: A DNA-Based Autonomous Programmable Molecular Transport Network

  NSF · $400k · 2005–2009

• SHF: Small: Error Correction for Biomolecular Computations

  NSF · $458k · 2012–2015

Frequent coauthors

• Thomas H. LaBean

  North Carolina State University

  72 shared

• Hao Yan

  31 shared

• Erik Winfree

  California Institute of Technology

  27 shared

• Sudheer Sahu

  Duke University

  26 shared

• Sung Ha Park

  24 shared

• Victor Y. Pan

  24 shared

• Harish Chandran

  23 shared

• Hieu Bui

  University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

  19 shared

Labs

• John H. Reif LabPI

Education

• Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, Division of Applied Sciences

  Harvard University

  1977

• M.S. in Applied Mathematics, Division of Applied Sciences

  Harvard University

  1974

• B.S., magna cum laude, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science

  Tufts University

  1973

Awards & honors

• A. Hollis Edens Distinguished Professor of Computer Science…

Similar researchers at Duke University

• Pankaj K. Agarwalh-62
• Alberto Bartesaghih-56
• Cynthia D. Rudinh-56