John H. Reif, A. Hollis Edens Distinguished Professor of Computer Science

Contact Info:

Office Location:	D223 LSRC
Office Phone:	(919) 407-1961, (919) 660-6500
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://www.cs.duke.edu/~reif/

Teaching (Spring 2026):

• COMPSCI 590D.001, ADVANCED TOPICS IN CS Synopsis

  LSRC A156, TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

• COMPSCI 590D.01D, ADVANCED TOPICS IN CS Synopsis

  LSRC D243, W 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

Education:

Ph.D.	Harvard University	1977
M.S.	Harvard University	1975
B.S.	Tufts University	1973
High School Diploma	Wellesley High School, Wellesley, MA	1970

Specialties:

Algorithms

Research Interests:

Molecular assembly, DNA computing, robot motion planning, parallel algorithms, randomized algorithms, graph algorithms, algebraic computations, data compression, and optical computation.

Keywords:

algebraic • algorithms • Computers, Molecular • DNA • Molecular motor • Molecular computation • motion planning • Nanobiotechnology • nanostructure • Nanostructures • Nanotechnology • optical computing • parallel • randomized • robot

Curriculum Vitae

Postdocs Mentored

• Xiaoju Guan (jointly supervised with Hao Yan) (2003/05-2005/05)  
• Sang J. Ahn (jointly supervised with Thom LaBean) (January, 2003 - December, 2004)  
• Dage Liu (July 1, 2001 - June, 2004)  
• Hao Yan (2001/07-2002/07)  
• Thom LaBean (1998/07-2001/07)  
• Sandeep K. Gupta (1995)  
• Steven Tate (1991/07-1993/07)  
• Hillel Gazit (1989 - 1991)  

Representative Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. Peng Yin, Rizal F. Hariadi, Sudheer Sahu, Harry M.T.Choi, Sung Ha Park, Thomas H. LaBean, John H. Reif, Programming DNA Tube Circumferences, Science, Vol. 321. no. 5890, pp. 824–826 (August 8, 2008) (DOI: 10.1126/science.1157312.) [pdf]
2. John H. Reif and Thomas H. LaBean, Autonomous Programmable Biomolecular Devices Using Self-Assembled DNA Nanostructures, Communications of the ACM (CACM), Special Section entitled “New Computing Paradigms (edited by Toshinori Munakata), Volume 50, Issue 9, pp. 46-53 (September, 2007) [pdf]
3. Sudheer Sahu, Thom H. LaBean and John H. Reif, A DNA Nanotransport Device Powered by Polymerase, Nano Letters, vol. 8 no. 11 (October, 2008), pp. 3870–3878
4. Sudheer Sahu and John H. Reif, Capabilities and Limits of Compact Error Resilience Methods for Algorithmic Self-Assembly in Two and Three Dimensions, Algorithmica (2008) [pdf]
5. Urmi Majumder, John H. Reif, and Sudheer Sahu, Stochastic Analysis of Reversible Self-Assembly. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, Volume 5, Number 7, pp. 1289-1305 (July, 2008) [pdf]

Selected Patents

• Analyte Detection Using Autocatalytic Chain Reactions, 8043810, 2009/04/02.      
• Autonomous in Vitro Evolution.      
• Solar Concentrator System for Solar Energy Plants.      
• Microelectronic Devices for Harvesting Vibrational Energy and Associated Systems and Methods.