Garry A. Rechnitz
Professor Emeritus
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Department of Chemistry
2545 The Mall, Honolulu,
HI 96822-2275
Phone: (808) 956-5789
Fax: (808) 956-5908
Email: garry@gold.chem.hawaii.edu
Garry Rechnitz received his B.S. degree in 1958 from the University of Michigan and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois in 1959 and 1961. Prior to joining the University of Hawaii faculty in 1989, he held the Unidel Chair at the University of Delaware (1978-1989) and served on the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo (1966-1977) and the University of Pennsylvania (1961-1966). He has been an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1966-1972), a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study (1982-1983), and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1980. He received the Van Slyke Award in Clinical Chemistry in 1978 and the American Chemical Society Delaware Section Award in 1983. In 1987-1988, he served as Visiting Professor of Pathology at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. Recent lecture awards include the Harold A Iddles Lectureship (1988-1989) and the First Annual Gardinier Lectureship (1989). In 1992 he received the American Chemical Society Award in Electrochemistry. His research interests focus on bioanalytical chemistry with emphasis on biosensors for biomedicine and biotechnology.
Research on bioelectrodes and bioanalysis is aimed at exploring novel molecular recognition elements for biosensor design under NSF sponsorship.
Major emphasis is being given to biosensors of four diverse types:
(a) Biomagnetic neurosensors for studying the effect of neuromodulatory agents through the use of magnetic stimulation and/or detection.(b) Immunosensors incorporating monoclonal antibodies, binding proteins, or conjugates for measurements in clinical diagnosis or biotechnology.
(c) Receptor-based sensors using sensory structures of certain marine animals or isolated receptors from such sources.
(d) Biocatalytic sensors using immobilized enzymes, whole cells, and plant or animal tissue sections.
All of these subareas are aimed at the development of novel biosensors having improved sensitivity and selectivity. Our research has resulted in more than 350 publications and several patents.
More than 160 graduate and post-doctoral students have been trained in our group. Recent graduates have found excellent careers in academia, industry, and government laboratories.
Representative Publications
- "Biomagnetic Neurosensors," G.A. Rechnitz, C.W. Babb,Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 1, 55-59 (1996).
- "Biomagnetic Neurosensors. 4. Design and Optimization for Analytical use," D.R. Coon, C.W. Babb, G.A. Rechnitz, Analytical Chemistry, 68, 1671-1675 (1996).
- "Linear Response Function for Fluorescence-Based Fiber-Optic CO_2 Sensors," X. He, G.A. Rechnitz, Analytical Chemistry, 67, 2264-2268 (1995).
- "Hybrid Tissue/Enzyme Biosensor for Pectin," Hideki Horie, G.A. Rechnitz, Analytica Chimica Acta, 306, 123-127 (1995).