John Ryan

Director of the Bionanotechnology IRC at Oxford University

John Ryan is Director of the Bionanotechnology IRC at Oxford University, the UK’s principal nanotechnology research initiative at the interface between the physical, biological and medical sciences. His interests in bionanotechnology include molecular motors, membrane proteins and single-molecule electronics.

He is a graduate of Edinburgh University where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1972. After doing research at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Ryan moved to Oxford University where he established research programs in quantum optoelectronics, including ultrafast processes in semiconductor nanostructures. He held the prestigious EPSRC Senior Fellowship from 1993-98, and was Head of Condensed Matter Physics at Oxford University from 1999-2002. Dr. Ryan is a member of various national and international advisory groups on nanotechnology including the Royal Society/Royal Academy of Engineering Working Group on Nanotechnology, the DTI National Strategy Advisory Group on Micro- and Nanotechnology, and he was recently Science Advisor on Nanotechnology to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology. He is Chair of the Institute of Physics Bioscience Forum, Executive Member of the Life Science Interface Doctoral Training Centre at Oxford University and Editor-in-Chief of the IEE journal Nanobiotechnology.