Watt W. Webb
Samuel B. Eckert Professor in Engineering; Professor of Applied Physics; Director of Developmental Resource for Biophysical Imaging Opto-electronics

Phone

607-255-3331

Address

School of Applied and Engineering Physics
223 Clark Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703

Email

Web Sites

Background

Watt W. Webb is a Professor of Applied Physics, S.B. Eckert Professor in Engineering and Director of the National Institutes of Health Developmental Resource for Biophysical Imaging Opto-Electronics [DRBIO] since 1988. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1961 as Associate Professor of Engineering Physics and was named Professor of Applied Physics in 1965 and S.B. Eckert Professor in Engineering in 1998. He served as the Director of Cornellýs School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1983 to 1988. He began his career at Union Carbide Research Laboratories as a Research Engineer in 1947-1952. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1955, he returned to Union Carbide in successive positions as a Research Scientist (1955-1959), Coordinator of Fundamental Research (1959-1960), and Assistant Director of Research (1960-1961). As a Cornell faculty member, he has supervised over 45 Ph.D. theses.  

Webb's recent awards include the National Lectureship of the Biophysical Society (2002), Rank Prize in Opto-electronics (2000), the Jablonski Prize of the Biophysical Society (2000), the Michelson-Morley Award of Case-Western Reserve University (1999), and the Biological Physics Prize of the American Physical Society (1991). He is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Biophysical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineers. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lectures broadly and is active as a consultant and in various national advisory committees.

Research Description

The solution of seeming impossible experimental problems drives our creation of new experimental technologies, which during the past thirty years have focused primarily on observing the dynamics of the biomolecular processes of life. This challenge requires benign, effectively non-invasive methods that frequently push the physical limits of resolution in space, time and sensitivity. See www.drbio.cornell.edu for some of the research program and for publication lists.

• Seeming Impossible Biological Problems
• Membrane Heterogeneity
• DNA-Protein Crosslinking
• Enzyme Kinetics
• Clinical Medicine

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Publications

• Levene, M. J., J. Korlach, S. W. Turner, M. Foquet, H. G. Craighead and W. W. Webb, "Zero-mode waveguides for single molecule analysis at high fluorophore concentrations," Science 299, 682-686, 2003
• Christie, R.H., B.J. Bacskai, W.R. Zipfel, R.M. Williams, S.T. Kajdasz, W.W. Webb and B.T. Hyman, "Growth arrest of individual senile plaques in a model of Alzheimerýs disease observed by in vivo multiphoton microscopy," Journal of Neuroscience 21(3), 858-864, 2001
• Webb, W.W., "Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy: Inception, biophysical experimentations and prospectus," Applied Optics 40(24), 3969-3983, 2001
• Christie, R.H., B.J. Bacskai, W.R. Zipfel, R.M. Williams, S.T. Kajdasz, W.W. Webb and B.T. Hyman, "Growth arrest of individual senile plaques in a model of Alzheimerýs disease observed by in vivo multiphoton microscopy," Journal of Neuroscience 21(3), 858-864, 2001

Full Publication List