Dr. Steven Block

Biography

S.M. Block holds the W. Ascherman Chair in the Departments of Applied Physics and Biology at Stanford University. He is best known as a founder in the field known as “single molecule biophysics.” Block has earned degrees from both Oxford University and the California Institute of Technology. Before joining Stanford in 1999, he was part of the faculty at the Rowland Institute at Harvard and Princeton. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been honored as a Fellow of various scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the Biophysical Society. His research focuses on the interface of physics and biology, particularly the study of biomolecular motors such as kinesin and RNA polymerase, as well as the folding of nucleic acid-based structures. His group pioneered the use of laser-based optical traps, known as ‘optical tweezers’, to study the nanoscale motions of biomolecules. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing and playing bluegrass music on the banjo and mandolin.

Research Interests

Patents

Courses