About

Robert Sinclair is the Charles M. Pigott Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on materials science and engineering, contributing to the understanding and development of advanced materials. As a faculty member, he is involved in exploring innovative approaches within the field, although specific details of his research interests and key contributions are not provided in the available page text.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Nanotechnology
• Chemistry
• Chemical physics
• Cancer research
• Electronic engineering
• Optoelectronics
• Thermodynamics
• Cell biology
• Biology
• Physical chemistry
• Medicine
• Physics
• Chemical engineering
• Immunology
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• Radiotherapy—A Renaissance for Skin Cancer

  Australasian Journal of Dermatology · 2025-10-23

  articleOpen access1st author

  Radiation therapy has undergone unprecedented advances over the past four decades, both in the understanding of radiobiologic effects and in the technical features of external beam delivery. The extent and scope of these changes have largely remained unappreciated outside the specialty of radiation oncology. The net effect of these advances has been improved dosimetry whereby radiotherapy can more evenly target a planned tissue volume while sparing normal tissues. The term dosimetry describes the evenness (homogeneity) and sharpness (conformality) of photon irradiation. Improved efficacy and safety are now reliably deliverable, prompting a need for a general re-appraisal of the place of modern radiotherapy across the spectrum of skin cancer management. Improved techniques are now widely available for the treatment of high-risk or extensive skin cancers, multiple in-field tumours and severe skin field cancerization. Specialised techniques in development include the use of extended radiation field techniques for micrometastatic disease in lymphatic corridors and harnessing the immune stimulatory potential of radiotherapy, especially in conjunction with immunotherapy and targeted therapies. This review aims to provide a summary of these changes for the non-radiation oncologist. The major advances in radiotherapy most relevant to skin cancer will be discussed along with the evidence for several emerging new applications in cancer management.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• TEM-STEM Studies of Twisted Epitaxial Ag Nanodisks Encapsulated Between Misoriented MoS2 Bilayers

  Microscopy and Microanalysis · 2025-07-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Cross-sectional STEM Imaging of the Interfacial Structure and Defects in Twisted Epitaxial MoS2-Au-MoS2 Heterostructures

  Microscopy and Microanalysis · 2025-07-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• High-Durability Nitinol for Medical Devices: A 100 Million-Cycle Bending Fatigue Characterization Study

  Shape Memory and Superelasticity · 2025-07-29 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract This study investigates the bending fatigue performance of Vacuum Arc Remelted/Electron Beam Refined (VAR/EBR) Nitinol for cardiovascular applications. Diamond-shaped fatigue specimens were manufactured from ultra-clean VAR/EBR Nitinol tubing with inclusion sizes below 10 μm and tested under physiologically relevant conditions to 100 million cycles. Testing included multiple combinations of mean strains (0–7%) and strain amplitudes (0.75–2.50%) to simulate in vivo conditions for cardiovascular devices. Results demonstrate that VAR/EBR Nitinol exhibits as high as 275% improvement in 10 8 -cycle Fatigue Strain Limit (FSL) compared to conventional VAR Nitinol at mean strains between 3 and 5%. The FSL behavior shows three distinct strain regimes: increasing FSL with mean strains from 0 to 3%, plateau between 3 and 5%, and decreasing FSL beyond 5%. Analysis confirms the critical impact of limiting inclusion size below the theoretical critical small crack length of 10 μm, where fatigue performance becomes dictated by cyclic stress/strain rather than flaw size. Advanced (S)TEM imaging of the fatigue specimens provides evidence that advanced thermomechanical processing leads to stable microstructures to enhance fatigue response up to 10 8 fatigue cycles.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction to: High-Durability Nitinol for Medical Devices: A 100 Million-Cycle Bending Fatigue Characterization Study

  Shape Memory and Superelasticity · 2025-10-05

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reducing the Degradation Rate and Surface Diffusion of (La0.5sr0.5)Feo3−Δ Electrodes in Ambient Air Through Multilayering

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Reducing the Degradation Rate and Surface Diffusion of (La0.5sr0.5)Feo3−Δ Electrodes in Ambient Air Through Multilayering

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Reducing the degradation rate and surface segregation of (La0.5Sr0.5)FeO3−δ electrodes in ambient air through multilayering

  Solid State Ionics · 2025-06-24 · 3 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Cross-Sectional Backscattered Electron Imaging of Mechanically Polished Organic-Inorganic Perovskite Photovoltaics

  Microscopy and Microanalysis · 2025-07-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Development of High-Durability Nitinol for Heart Valve Frames

  Conference proceedings from the International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies · 2024-05-02 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract Transcatheter heart valve replacement is a key advancement in the cardiovascular device industry and provides an alternative to open surgical procedures for patients that suffer from severe symptomatic stenosis and/or regurgitation. The functions and boundary conditions of the four heart valves are unique and must be considered separately. It is essential that the structural durability of these high-risk valve replacement implants is thoroughly assessed through testing and analysis. As such, ISO 5840 outlines a comprehensive device durability approach that incorporates worst-case boundary conditions, computational stress/strain analyses, and benchtop fatigue testing. The present study is focussed on 100,000,000-cycle fatigue testing of custom-designed “diamond-shaped” coupons of process-optimized high purity VAR/EBR Nitinol. Benchtop testing was coupled with finite element analysis (FEA) and microstructural characterization to provide an in-depth understanding of durability.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant U54CA151459

  NIH · $9.5M · 2016

• NIH Grant U54CA199075

  NIH · $15.3M · 2022

Frequent coauthors

• Ai Leen Koh

  University of California, San Francisco

  37 shared

• Thomas F. Jaramillo

  33 shared

• Yitian Zeng

  Harvard University

  27 shared

• Joonsuk Park

  22 shared

• Sanjiv S. Gambhir

  Stanford University

  20 shared

• Edwin Chang

  Stanford University

  19 shared

• Toyohiko J. Konno

  Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University

  18 shared

• John Madden

  16 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  Stanford University

  1980

• M.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  Stanford University

  1976

• B.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  Stanford University

  1974