Professor of Chemistry
Glenn T. Seaborg Professor
email: pines@berkeley.edu
office: 208B Stanley Hall
phone: 510.642.1220
fax: 510.666.3768
lab: 208C Stanley Hall
lab phone: 510.642.2094
Research Interests
NMR and MRI; Quantum Coherence; Solid State; Materials; Physical, Biophysical and Analytical Chemistry
Pines is a pioneer in the development and applications of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In his early work, he demonstrated time-reversal of dipole-dipole couplings in many-body spin systems, and introduced high sensitivity, high resolution NMR of dilute spins such as carbon-13 in solids (proton-enhanced nuclear induction spectroscopy), thereby helping to launch the era of modern solid-state NMR in chemistry. He also contributed to the areas of multiple-quantum spectroscopy, adiabatic sech/tanh inversion pulses, zero-field NMR, double rotation and dynamic-angle spinning, iterative maps for pulse sequences and quantum control, and the quantum geometric phase. His combination of optical pumping and cross-polarization made it possible to observe enhanced NMR of surfaces and the selective "lighting up" of solution NMR and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by means of laser-polarized xenon.
His current program is composed of two complementary components. The first is the establishment of new concepts and techniques in NMR and MRI, in order to extend their applicability and enhance their capability to investigate molecular structure, organization and function from materials to organisms. Examples of methodologies emanating from these efforts include: novel polarization and detection methods, ex-situ and mobile NMR and MRI, laser-polarized NMR and MRI, functionalized NMR biosensors and molecular imaging, ultralow and zero-field SQUID NMR and MRI, remote detection of NMR and MRI amplified by means of laser magnetometers, and miniaturization including fluid flow through porous materials and "microfluidic chemistry and NMR/MRI on a chip". The second component of his research program involves the application of such novel methods to problems in chemistry, materials science, and biomedicine.
The impact of the program has been substantial. Seeing is believing — novel techniques and devices of magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging have expanded our ability to "see" into materials and organisms. Many of the concepts, methodologies and instrumentation emanating from the Pines lab continue to be adopted worldwide by research groups in academia, federal laboratories and industry, and are being used to investigate molecular structure and organization from the nanoscale dimensions of catalysts and polymers to the macroscopic proportions of human imaging and oil exploration. In terms of education and training, hundreds of scientists (the self-dubbed "Pinenuts") have passed through the lab, and many now hold leading research and teaching positions worldwide. Many patents have been filed, issued and licensed, with methodologies adapted into modern commercial NMR and MRI instrumentation and related commercial applications.
Biography
Alexander Pines is the Glenn T. Seaborg Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, Senior Scientist in the Materials Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Faculty Affiliate at QB3-the California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research, and a Core Member of the UCB/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering. He was born in 1945, grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and studied undergraduate mathematics and chemistry in Israel. Coming to the United States in 1968, Pines obtained his Ph.D. in chemical physics at M.I.T. in 1972 and joined the Berkeley faculty later that year.
Among his many prestigious awards and honors, Pines has received the Langmuir Medal of the American Chemical Society, the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Wolf Prize for Chemistry (together with Richard R. Ernst) in 1991. In 2005, an Ampere Symposium was held in honor of Pines' 60th birthday in Chamonix, France. In 2008, he was awarded the Russell Varian Prize at the European Magnetic Resonance Conference. A renowned educator, Pines has also been recognized by numerous teaching honors, including the University of California's Distinguished Teaching Award. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (London); he is Doctor Honoris Causa at the University of Paris and the University of Rome, and past President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance.