Draft:Jan Liphardt

Jan Liphardt (born 1972 in Germany) is a German biophysicist. His research primarily focuses on single molecule biophysics. As a postdoctoral fellow in the labs of Carlos Bustamante and Ignacio Tinoco Jr. in the physics department at University of California, Berkeley, he developed technologies that allowed single RNA molecules to grabbed and mechanically unfolded. Subsequent work includes the development of "Plasmon Rulers" (with Paul Alivisatos), the use of super-resolution imaging to understand the organization of microbial biofilms (with Steven Chu), and the use of photo activation localization microscopy to characterize the organization of single transmembrane proteins (with Eric Betzig). He is an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University. His research has been cited more than 15,000 times.

Mechanical Manipulation of Single Nucleic Acids
In the original work performed in 2001, single RNA hairpins were attached to long RNA/DNA 'handles' which were chemically coupled to beads held by optical tweezers. The RNA/DNA handles allow nanometer scale movements (and piconewton range forces) to be applied and measured. This basic tool geometry has been cited by more than 1100 papers covering RNA structure/function (reviewed in  ), studies of thermodynamics of small perturbed systems (reviewed in  ), and studies of molecular machines that act on RNA, such as RNA helicases (reviewed in ). The original work (and followup studies) are used in life sciences and nanotechnology textbooks to illustrate the energetics and kinetics of nucleic acid folding.

NCI PS-OC Program
In 2009, Liphardt became the principal investigator of one of 12 national physical science oncology centers, which were intended to bring physical scientists to cancer research.

Biden Cancer Moonshot
In 2016, as part of the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, he led a team of scientists and volunteers from a Bay Area social network to build a system for cancer patients to share their healthcare data with teachers, researchers, and journalists.