Carlos Bustamante

Carlos José Bustamante (born 1951 in Lima, Peru) is an American scientist. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Biography

Bustamante is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator and professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he has held since 1998. He received his BS from Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, his masters in biochemistry from National University of San Marcos in Lima, and his PhD in biophysics from UC Berkeley, where he studied with Ignacio Tinoco, Jr. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Bustamante studied with Marcos Maestre. Before moving to Berkeley, he was an HHMI investigator at the University of Oregon.

Research focus

Carlos Bustamante uses novel methods of single-molecule visualization, such as scanning force microscopy, to study the structure and function of nucleoprotein assemblies. His laboratory is developing methods of single-molecule manipulation, such as optical tweezers, to characterize the elasticity of DNA, to induce the mechanical unfolding of individual protein molecules, and to investigate the machine-like behavior of molecular motors.

Positions

• Research Assistant, UC Berkeley (1976–1981)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, UC Berkeley (1981–1982)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of New Mexico (1982–1986)
• Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of New Mexico (1986–1989)
• Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of New Mexico (1989–1990)
• Professor of Chemistry and Member of the Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon (1991–1998)
• Professor in Molecular and Cell Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, UC Berkeley (1998–present)
• Honorary Professor, National University of San Marcos, Lima, Peru

Fellowships and awards

• Kellogg Foundation scholarship during the Master in Biochemistry (1973–1975)
• Fulbright Commission and Institute of International Education Fellow (1975–1976)
• Abraham Rosenberg scholarship, UC Berkeley (1975–1976)
• Searle Scholar (1984)
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow (1985)
• Presidential Lecturer in Chemistry, University of New Mexico (1986)
• State of New Mexico Eminent Scholar (1989)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (1994–1998, 2000–present)
• Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (1995)
• Member of the Science Advisory Board of the Searle Scholars Program (1997–2000)
• Member of the Board of Trustees at the IMDEA Nanoscience Institute
• Elected member, National Academy of Sciences, Biophysics 2002
• Max Dulbruck Prize in Biological Physics (2002)
• In 2005 he received the Richtmyer Memorial Award given annually by the American Association of Physics Teachers.
• Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics (2004)
• Doctor Honoris Causa of National University of San Marcos, Lima, Peru
• Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science (2012)