Weiss, Paul S.

Physical

Weiss Paul

Biography

Paul S. Weiss received his S.B. and S.M. degrees in chemistry from MIT in 1980 and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. He was a post-doctoral member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories from 1986-1988 and a Visiting Scientist at IBM Almaden Research Center from 1988-1989. In 2009, he became Director of the California NanoSystems Institute, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, and Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences. Before coming to UCLA, he was a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the Pennsylvania State University, where he began his academic career as an assistant professor in 1989. His interdisciplinary research group includes chemists, physicists, biologists, materials scientists, electrical and mechanical engineers, and computer scientists. Their work focuses on the atomic-scale chemical, physical, optical, mechanical and electronic properties of surfaces and supramolecular assemblies. He and his students have developed new techniques to expand the applicability and chemical specificity of scanning probe microscopies. They have applied these and other tools to the study of catalysis, self- and directed assembly, physical models of biological systems, and molecular and nano-scale electronics. They work to advance nanofabrication down to ever smaller scales and greater chemical specificity in order to connect, to operate, and to test molecular devices. He has published over 200 papers and patents, and has given over 400 invited and plenary lectures.

Research Interests

His interdisciplinary research group includes chemists, physicists, biologists, materials scientists, mathematicians, bioengineers, electrical and mechanical engineers, computer scientists, clinicians, and physician scientists. They focus on the ultimate limits of miniaturization, exploring the atomic-scale chemical, physical, optical, mechanical, electronic, thermal, and spin properties of surfaces, interfaces, supramolecular, and biomolecular assemblies. They develop new techniques to expand the applicability and chemical specificity of scanning probe microscopies. They apply these and other tools to study self- and directed assembly, and molecular and nanoscale devices. They advance nanofabrication down to ever smaller scales and greater chemical specificity to operate and to test functional molecular assemblies, and to connect to the chemical and biological worlds in neuroscience, gene editing, cancer immunotherapy, tissue engineering, cellular agriculture, and the microbiome.

Honors & Awards

  • National Science Foundation (NSF) Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991-96)
  • B. F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Award (1994)
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1995-97)
  • American Chemical Society (ACS) Nobel Laureate Signature Award for
  • Graduate Education in Chemistry (1996)
  • John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1997)
  • NSF Creativity Award (1997-99)
  • ACS Award in Colloid and Surface Chemistry (2015)
  • ACS Southern California Section Tolman Medal (2017)
  • ACS Patterson-Crane Award in Chemical Information (2018)
  • IEEE Nanotechnology Pioneer Award (2019)
  • Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement (2024)

Elected a fellow of the: 

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (2000)
  • American Physical Society (2002)
  • American Vacuum Society (2007)
  • American Chemical Society (2010)
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014)
  • American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2016)
  • Canadian Academy of Engineering (2017)
  • Materials Research Society (2019)
  • IEEE (2021)
  • National Academy of Inventors (2023)

Honorary fellow:

  • Chinese Chemical Society (2010)
  • Chemical Research Society of India (2020-21).
  • Penn State’s University Teaching Award from the Schreyer Honors College (2004)
  • Alpha Chi Sigma Outstanding Professor Award (2007)

Visiting professor at:

  • University of Washington, Department of Molecular Biotechnology (1996-97)
  • Kyoto University, Electronic Science & Engineering Department and Venture Business Laboratory (1998 and 2000)
  • Distinguished visiting professor at the Kavli Nanoscience Institute and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at Caltech (2015)
  • Visiting Scholar at the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science & Technology and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (2015-)
  • Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) Chaire d’excellence Jacques­ Beaulieu (2016-17)
  • Fulbright Specialist for the Czech Republic (2017-2022). 

Representative Publications

[Recent Publications, complete list here]

  • Effective Liquid Metal Seeds for Silver Nanovines, C. W. Lin, L. A. Stewart, S. Zhao, G. Akopov, R. Mohammadi, M. T. Yeung, P. S. Weiss, R. B. Kaner Wiley Online Library In Press (2022). (Abstract or PDF) DOI: 10.1002/zaac.202200067
  • A Chirality-Based Quantum Leap, C. D. Aiello, J. M. Abendroth, M. Abbas, A. Afanasev, S. Agarwal, A. S. Banerjee, D. N. Beratan, J. N. Belling, B. Berche, A. Botana, J. R. Caram, G. L. Celardo, G. Cuniberti, A. Garcia-Etxarri, A. Dianat, I. Diez-Perez, Y. Guo, R. Gutierrez, C. Herrmann, J. Hihath, S. Kale, P. Kurian, Y.-C. Lai, A. Lopez, E. Medina, V. Mujica, R. Naaman, M. Noormandipour, J. L. Palma, Y. Paltiel, W. T. Petuskey, J. C. Ribeiro-Silva, J. J. Saenz, E. J. G. Santos, M. Solyanik-Gorgone, V. J. Sorger, D. M. Stemer, J. M. Ugalde, A. Valdes-Curiel, S. Varela, D. M. Waldeck, M. R. Wasielewski, P. S. Weiss, H. Zacharias, and Q. H. Wang ACS Nano 16, 4989 (2022). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c01347
  • Tanks and Truth, N. A. Kotov, D. Akinwande, J. Brinker, J. M. Buriak, W. C. W. Chan, X. Chen, M. Chhowalla, W. Chueh, S. C. Glotzer, Y. Gogotsi, M. C. Hersam, D. Ho, T. Hu, A. Javey, C. R. Kagan, K. Kataoka, I. D. Kim, S. T. Lee, Y. H. Lee, L. M. Liz-Marzán, J. E. Millstone, P. Mulvaney, A. E. Nel, P. Nordlander, W. J. Parak, R. M. Penner, A. L. Rogach, M. Salanne, R. E. Schaak, A. K. Sood, M. Stevens, V. Tsukruk, A. T. S. Wee, I. Voets, T. Weil, P. S. Weiss ACS Nano 16, 4975 (2022). or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c01347
  • Template-Enabled Biofabrication of Thick Three-Dimensional Tissues with Patterned Perfusable Macro-Channels, E. Davoodi, H. Montazerian, M. Zhianmanesh, R. Abbasgholizadeh, R. Haghniaz, A. Baydia, H. Pourmohammadali, N. Annabi, P. S. Weiss, E. Toyserkani, and A. Khademhosseini Advanced Healthcare Materials 11, 2102123 (2022). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202102123
  • Towards High-Performance Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaics: Dual-Functional p-Type Soft Interlayer, Y. Zhao, P. Cheng, H. Yang, M. Wang, D. Meng, Y. Zhu, R. Zheng, T. Li, A. Zhang, S. Tan, T. Huang, J. Bian, X. Zhan, P. S. Weiss, and Y. Yang ACS Nano 16, 1231 (2022). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c09018
  • Epidermis-Inspired Wearable Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors Using Reduced Graphene Oxide Self-Wrapped Copper Nanowire Networks, Y. Zhu, M. C. Hartel, N. Yu, P. R. Garrido, S. Kim, J. Lee, P. Bandaru, S. Guan, H. Lin, S. Emaminejad, N. R. de Barros, S. Ahadian, H.-J. Kim, W. Sun, V. Jucaud, M. R. Dokmeci, P. S. Weiss, R. Yan, and A. Khademhosseini Small Methods 6, 2100900 (2022). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202100900
  • Wearable Aptamer Field-Effect Transistor Sensing System for Non-Invasive Cortisol Monitoring, B. Wang, C. Zhao, Z. Wang, K.-A. Yang, X. Cheng, W. Liu, W. Yu, S. Lin, Y. Zhao, K. M. Cheung, H. Lin, H. Hojaiji, P. S. Weiss, M. N. Stojanović, A. J. Tomiyama, A. M. Andrews, and S. Emaminejad Science Advances 8, abk0967 (2022). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk0967
  • Extraction of Hidden Science from Nanoscale Images, K. K. Barr, N. Chiang, A. L. Bertozzi, J. Gilles, S. J. Osher, and P. S. Weiss Journal of Physical Chemistry C 126, 3 (2022). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: acs.jpcc.1c08712
  • Nanotechnology for a Sustainable Future: Addressing Global Challenges with the International Network4Sustainable Nanotechnology, L. Pokrajac, A. Abbas, W. Chrzanowski, G. M. Dias, B. J. Eggleton, S. Maguire, E. Maine, T. Malloy, J. Nathwani, L. Nazar, A. Sips, J. Sone, A. van den Berg, P. S. Weiss, and S. Mitra ACS Nano 15, 18608 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c10919
  • New Leadership at ACS Nano, P. S. Weiss ACS Nano 15, 18593 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c11078
  • A Virtual Issue on Nanomedicine, W. J. Parak, T. Weil, and P. S. Weiss ACS Nano 15, 15397 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c09106
  • Implantable Aptamer–Field-Effect Transistor Neuroprobes for in Vivo Neurotransmitter Monitoring, C. Zhao, K. M. Cheung, W. H. Yang, N. Nakatsuka, W. Liu, Y. Cao, T. Man, P. S. Weiss, H. G. Monbouquette, and A. M. Andrews Science Advances 7, eabj7422 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj7422
  • Nanoengineered Antiviral Fibrous Arrays with Rose-Thorn-Inspired Architectures, A. Nasajpour, M. Samandari, C. D. Patil, R. Abolhassani, R. K. Suryawanshi, R. Adelung, H. G. Rubahn, A. Khademhosseini, Y. K. Mishra, D. Shukla, A. Tamayol, and P. S. Weiss, ACS Materials Letters 3, 1566 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.1c00419
  • Silver Nanoparticles Boost Charge-Extraction Efficiency in Shewanella Microbial Fuel Cells, B. Cao, Z. Zhao, L. Peng, H. Shiu, M. Ding, F. Song, X. Guan, C. K. Lee, J. Huang, D. Zhu, X. Fu, G. C. L. Wong, C. Liu, K. Nealson, P. S. Weiss, X. Duan, and Y. Huang, Science 373, 1336 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1126/science.abf3427
  • Exploration of Chemical Functionality of Self-Assembled Carborane Derivatives, E. Avery, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles (2021).
  • Chiral Nanostructures: New Twists, N. A. Kotov, L. M. Liz-Marzán, and P. S. Weiss ACS Nano 15, 12457 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c06959
  • Stretchable and Bioadhesive Gelatin Methacryloyl-Based Hydrogels Enabled by in Situ Dopamine Polymerization, H. Montazerian, A. Baidya, R. Haghniaz, E. Davoodi, S. Ahadian, N. Annabi, A. Khademhosseini, and P. S. Weiss, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 13, 40290 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c10048
  • From Mouse to Mouse-ear Cress: Nanomaterials as Vehicles in Plantbiotechnology, X. Xia, B. Shi, L. Wang, Y. Liu, Y. Zou, Y. Zhou, Y. Chen, M. Zheng, Y. Zhu, J. Duan, S. Guo, H. W. Jang, Y. Miao, K. Fan, F. Bai, W. Tao, Y. Zhao, Q. Yan, G. Cheng, H. Liu, Y. Jiao, S. Liu, Y. Huang, D. Ling, W. Kang, X. Xue, D. Cui, Y. Huang, Z. Cui, X. Sun, Z. Qian, Z. Gu, G. Han, Z. Yang, D. T. Leong, A. Wu, G. Liu, X. Qu, Y. Shen, Q. Wang, G. V. Lowry, E. Wang, X. J. Liang, J. Gardea-Torresdey, G. Chen, W. J. Parak, P. S. Weiss, L. Zhang, M. M. Stenzel, C. Fan, A. I. Bush, G. Zhang, C. P. L. Grof, X. Wang, D. W. Galbraith, B. Z. Tang, C. E. Offer, J. W. Patrick, and C. P. Song, Exploration 1, 9 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1002/EXP.20210002
  • Fabrication of Multilayered Composite Nanofibers Using Continuous Chaotic Printing and Electrospinning: Chaotic Electrospinning, S. Holmberg, N. A. Garza-Flores, M. A. Almajhadi, C. Chávez-Madero, A. Lujambio-Angeles, B. Jind, C. Bautista-Flores, C. Mendoza-Buenrostro, E. Pérez-Carrillo, H. K. Wickramasinghe, S. O. Martínez-Chapa, M. Madou, P. S. Weiss, M. M. Álvarez, and G. T. Santiago, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 13, 37455 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c05429
  • Whitlockite-Enabled Hydrogel for Craniofacial Bone Regeneration, S. P. Sevari, J. K. Kim, C. Chen, A. Nasajpour, C. Y. Wang, P. H. Krebsbach, A. Khademhosseini, S. Ansari, P. S. Weiss, and A. Moshaverinia, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 13, 35342 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c07453
  • Large-Area Periodic Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Nanopyramid Arrays for High-Performance Photodetector and Image Sensor Applications, X. Xu, W. Liu, Z. Ji, D. Hao, W. Yan, Z. Ye, Y. Hu, M. Fang, C. Wang, L. Ma, J. Huang, X. Xu, and P. S. Weiss, ACS Materials Letters 3, 1189 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.1c00298
  • Single-Step Dual-Layer Photolithography for Tunable and Scalable Nanopatterning, W. Liu, J. Wang, X. Xu, C. Zhao, X. Xu, and P. S. Weiss, ACS Nano 15, 12180 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c03703
  • Entrepreneurial Talent Building for 21st Century Agricultural Innovation, B. K. Yoon, H. Tae, J. A. Jackman, S. Guha, C. R. Kagan, A. J. Margenot, D. L. Rowland, P. S. Weiss, and N. J. Cho, ACS Nano 15, 10748 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c05980
  • Touting the Growing Contributions of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, P. S. Weiss, ACS Nano 15, 10737 (2021). (Abstract or Article or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c05996
  • Supramolecular Nanosubstrate-Mediated Delivery for CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Disruption and Deletion, Q. Ban, P. Yang, S. J. Chou, L. Qiao, H. Xia, J. Xue, F. Wang, X. Xu, N. Sun, R. Y. Zhang, C. Zhang, A. Lee, W. Liu, T. Y. Lin, Y. L. Ko, P. Antovski, X. Zhang, S. H. Chiou, C. F. Lee, W. Hui, D. Liu, S. J. Jonas, P. S. Weiss, and H. R. Tseng, Small 17 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1002/smll.202100546
  • Putting the World Back Together and Announcing the 2021 ACS Nano Award Lecture Laureates, H. Bunje, Y. Li, L. M. Liz-Marzán, J. E. Millstone, G. Nie, S. N. Shmakov, and P. S. Weiss, ACS Nano 15, 7837 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c04048
  • Additively Manufactured Gradient Porous Ti–6Al–4V Hip Replacement Implants Embedded with Cell-Laden Gelatin Methacryloyl Hydrogels, E. Davoodi, H. Montazerian, R. Esmaeilizadeh, A. Ch. Darabi, A. Rashidi, J. Kadkhodapour, H. Jahed, M. Hoorfar, A. S. Milani, P. S. Weiss, A. Khademhosseini, and E. Toyserkani, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 13, 22110 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c20751
  • X-ray-Based Techniques to Study the Nano–Bio Interface, C. Sanchez-Cano, R. A. Alvarez-Puebla, J. M. Abendroth, T. Beck, R. Blick, Y. Cao, F. Caruso, I. Chakraborty, H. N. Chapman, C. Chen, B. E. Cohen, A. L. C. Conceição, D. P. Cormode, D. Cui, K. A. Dawson, G. Falkenberg, C. Fan, N. Feliu, M. Gao, E. Gargioni, C. C. Glüer, F. Grüner, M. Hassan, Y. Hu, Y. Huang, S. Huber, N. Huse, Y. Kang, A. Khademhosseini, T. F. Keller, C. Körnig, N. A. Kotov, D. Koziej, X. J. Liang, B. Liu, S. Liu, Y. Liu, Z. Liu, L. M. Liz-Marzán, X. Ma, A. Machicote, W. Maison, A. P. Mancuso, S. Megahed, B. Nickel, F. Otto, C. Palencia, S. Pascarelli, A. Pearson, O. Peñate-Medina, B. Qi, J. Rädler, J. J. Richardson, A. Rosenhahn, K. Rothkamm, M. Rübhausen, M. K. Sanyal, R. E. Schaak, H. P. Schlemmer, M. Schmidt, O. Schmutzler, T. Schotten, F. Schulz, A. K. Sood, K. M. Spiers, T. Staufer, D. M. Stemer, A. Stierle, X. Sun, G. Tsakanova, P. S. Weiss, H. Weller, F. Westermeier, M. Xu, H. Yan, Y. Zeng, Y. Zhao, Y. Zhao, D. Zhu, Y. Zhu, and W. J. Parak,
    ACS Nano 15, 3754 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c09563
  • Celebrating 50 Years of KAIST: Collective Intelligence and Innovation for Confronting Contemporary Issues, J. Ahn, C. Bae, P. S. Weiss, and I. D. Kim, ACS Nano 15, 1895 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c01101
  • Large-Scale Soft-Lithographic Patterning of Plasmonic Nanoparticles, N. Chiang, L. Scarabelli, G. A. Vinnacombe-Willson, L. A. Pérez, C. Dore, A. Mihi, S. J. Jonas, and P. S. Weiss, ACS Materials Letters 3, 282 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.0c00535
  • Narrower Nanoribbon Biosensors Fabricated by Chemical Lift-off Lithography Show Higher Sensitivity, C. Zhao, Q. Liu, K. M. Cheung, W. Liu, Q. Yang, X. Xu, T. Man, P. S. Weiss, C. Zhou, and A. M. Andrews, ACS Nano 15, 904 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c07503
  • How Do We Assess the Impact of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology? P. S. Weiss, ACS Nano 15, 1 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c00391
  • Continuous Chaotic Bioprinting of Skeletal Muscle-like Constructs, E. J. Bolívar-Monsalve, C. F. Ceballos-González, K. I. Borrayo-Montaño, D. A. Quevedo-Moreno, J. F. Yee-de León, A. Khademhosseini, P. S. Weiss, M. M. Alvareza, and G. Trujillo-de Santiago, Bioprinting 21, e00125 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1016/j.bprint.2020.e00125
  • Nanoengineered Shear-Thinning and Bioprintable Hydrogel as a Versatile Platform for Biomedical Applications, N. Zandi, E. S. Sani, E. Mostafavi, D. M. Ibrahim, B. Saleh, M. A. Shokrgozar, E. Tamjid, P. S. Weiss, A. Simchi, and N. Annabi, Biomaterials 267, 120476 (2021). (Abstract or Paper or PDF) DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120476
  • Seeded-Growth Experiment Demonstrating Size- and Shape-Dependence on Gold Nanoparticle–Light Interactions, G. A. Vinnacombe-Willson, N. Chiang, P. S. Weiss, S. H. Tolbert, and L. Scarabelli, Journal of Chemical Education 98, 546 (2020). (Abstract or Paper or PDF or SI) DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01150