Milan Stojanovic, of the Division of Clinic Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Columbia University, New York, investigates the construction of autonomous therapeutic and diagnostic molecular devices based on nucleic acids.    

What was your motivation behind the work described in your ChemComm article? 

Most chemists in the field are interested in what happens when a molecule interacts with a receptor.  They like to come up with rules "functional group on molecule A interacts with functional group on molecule B".  While we can still do that, it seems to me at some intuitive level much more interesting to study what happens with "classification"  - when a molecule interacts with a whole array of similar sensors. 

Think of it as the deconstruction of a mini olfactory system, in which you get to pick and choose receptors.  Another interesting thing is, these are aptamers, and individual receptors are separated in the receptor space by single-point mutations.  But, that topic is for future papers. 

Why did you choose ChemComm to publish your work? 

I was brought up as a traditionally trained organic chemist, and my Ph.D. adviser used to say that he liked ChemComm because he often found papers that were unusual and intellectually braver than in other chemistry journals.    

Where do you see your research heading next? 

This particular project has a practical component and I'd like to develop cheap screening tests to be used in third-world countries based on our arrays. On a basic science level, I would like to understand the computing (classification) powers of these arrays, what makes them tick. 

What do enjoy doing in your spare time? 

I enjoy spending time with my family.

Interviewed by Mary Badcock