Email address: schwartz@chem.wisc.edu
B.A. 1976, Hampshire College
Ph.D. 1985, Columbia University
Also: Kellett Professor of Chemistry and Genetics
Research Description
Our laboratory creates functional systems for many types of genome analysis engendering large data sets for providing scalable biological insights. For this purpose we investigate the biochemical and physical attributes of individual molecules or complexes because reduction of experimental scale terminates at the level of a single molecule. Single molecules are the ultimate analyte since they represent the pinnacle of miniaturization and, when systematically analyzed as ensembles, offer the greatest advantages for generation of large-scale data sets. Such large and often complex data sets are the currency of modern biological analysis requiring extensive statistical and informatic components for revealing biological stories. In this regard, we have incorporated these components into our single molecule systems allowing us to discover novel human genome polymorphisms and to know the detailed architecture of cancer genomes. The new systems we are developing are pushing us to understand molecular nanoconfinement in ways fostering development of fluidic devices that when combined with novel molecular labeling or detection schemes, will power personal genomics and offer new routes for grappling with the complexity inherent to all biological systems.
Awards and Honors
Vilas Associates Award | 2009 |
Kellett Mid-Career Faculty Researcher Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison | 2002 |
Amgen Prize, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | 1995 |
Beckman Young Investigator Award, Arnold and Mable Beckman Foundation | 1993 |
National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award | 1990 |
Selected Publications
Chromosome 2 sequence of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Science. 1998;282:1126-1132. | .
The genome of opportunistic fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum carries a unique set of lineage-specific chromosomes. Communications Biology. 2020;3. | .
A simple dialysis device for large DNA molecules. BioTechniques. 2019;66:93-95. | .
Discrete and Continuum Models for the Salt in Crowded Environments of Suspended Charged Particles. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 2018;14:4901-4913. | .
Microscale Objects via Restructuring of Large, Double-Stranded DNA Molecules. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2018;10:41215-41223. | .