Young Industrialist of the Year Award 2009 - Highly Commended

James Clarke
Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Highly commended for his contribution to the commercialisation of nanopore research.

About the candidate

Dr James Clarke is a Principal Scientist at Oxford Nanopore Technologies where he is responsible for the development and characterisation of amphorae constructs for DNA sequencing and medical diagnostic applications. This technology promises a significant advance in the analysis of DNA, providing a method of identifying single molecules without the need for fluorescent labels.

Dr Clarke joined the company from the research group of Professor Hag an Alley where he was a post-doctoral researcher examining amphorae chemistry and lipid membrane stabilisation for biosensor applications. He obtained a PhD from the chemistry department at Imperial College London studying lipid-cholesterol phase behaviour via solid-state NM under the supervision of Professor. J. Seddon and Dr. R. Law.

Dr Clarke was the lead scientist charged with improving the base resolution of amphorae technology. This research resulted in continuous nucleotide detection and greatly improved base resolution. The work was published in Nature Nanotechnology in February 2009 and a patent application was filed in 2008.

Dr Clarke was also a leading member of the team that designing methods for forming membranes over wells in a multi-electrode array. This approach allows amphorae technology to be highly scalable with parallel recordings through multiple channels.

Dr Clarke also plays a key role in creating, maintaining and protecting Oxford Nanopore's intellectual property portfolio. The strong IP position and the high quality of the science underway at Oxford Amphorae has been central to the Company's ability to raise more than £20 million within the last year, in a challenging financial climate.