David Sargent

David was born and brought up in Victoria, B.C., Canada. After a B.Sc. in Physics at UBC (Vancouver, B.C.) he did his Ph.D. in Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) on the effects of light on the respiratory metabolism of the green alga Chlorella. He had Postdocs at the ETHZ (Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics) studying the electrical and transport properties of artificial lipid bilayers, and at the University of Sydney (Australia) on algal metabolism, before joining the staff of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics (ETHZ), again using artificial lipid bilayers to study membrane binding and transport of charged species. With a change of professors in the Institute, David entered the field of structural biology, using x-​ray diffraction to determine the atomic structure of large macromolecular complexes in crystals. He has always enjoyed modifying existing equipment or developing new apparatus and electronics. At MSRL Hsi-​Wen and David are developing a system aimed at the selection and manipulation of objects in the micrometer to millimeter range in liquids. As a particular application they’re looking into the use of microrobots for the automatic mounting of protein crystals, with the aim of making this process faster and more robust. Progress in this field will contribute to high-​throughput structure determination of biological macromolecules by x-​ray crystallography, with corresponding benefits to both basic science and medicine.