Prof. Richard Mathies, Ph.D., is Professor of Chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley. In collaboration with Prof. Evan Williams, he co-founded the Center for Analytical Biotechnology. Prof. Mathies' recent work in the area of biotechnology and the Human Genome Project has led to the development of new high-speed, high-throughput DNA analysis technologies such as capillary array electrophoresis and energy transfer fluorescent dye labels for DNA sequencing and analysis. He also pioneered the development of microfabricated capillary electrophoresis devices, capillary array electrophoresis microplates, and microfabricated integrated sample preparation and detection methods. His early work at Berkeley focused on the use of resonance Raman and time resolved optical spectroscopy to elucidate the structure and reaction dynamics of energy and information transducing photoactive proteins.

Professor Mathies received his B. S. Degree in Chemistry in 1968 at the University of Washington, an M. S. Degree in 1970 and a Ph. D. in 1973 in Physical Chemistry at Cornell University. After two years at Yale (1974-76) as a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellow, he joined the Chemistry Department at the University of California at Berkeley in 1976, where he was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1979-81). He is a Member of the Biophysical Society, American Optical Society, American Society for Photobiology, and AAAS. He has received the Harold Lamport Award from the New York Academy of Sciences (1983); American Society for Photobiology Research Award (1989); Frederick Conference on Capillary Electrophoresis Award (1998); A.D. Little Lecturer, M.I.T. (1998); and Association for Laboratory Automation 2001 Research Award. He is author of over 250 publications and 20 patents on photochemistry, photobiology, bioanalytical chemistry and genome analysis technology.