THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN • COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Heller, Adam Ph.D.

Research Professor
Professor Emeritus

Research Areas: Advanced Materials, Polymers & Nanotechnology                                                  and Biotechnology

Research Website

Educational Qualifications

Ph.D., Chemistry, Hebrew University (1961)
M.Sc., Chemistry and Physics, Hebrew University (1957)

Focus

Bioelectrochemistry and bioelectrocatalysis

Biographical Information

Adam Heller received his M.Sc. (Chemistry and Physics, 1957) and Ph.D. (Chemistry, 1961) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, where he studied under Ernst David Bergmann.  Following postdoctoral work at U.C. Berkeley and at Bell Laboratories, he joined GTE Laboratories becoming Manager of Exploratory Research in 1970.  In 1975 he returned to ATT Bell Laboratories, heading from 1977 until 1988 the Electronic Materials Research Department, where he managed research on the materials science underlying high-density, high frequency chip-interconnections, practiced in small portable electronic devices. He was appointed to the Ernest Cockrell, Sr. Chair in Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 1988 and became one of the university’s first Research Professors in 2002.

He conceived and built in 1964-1967 the first inorganic liquid lasers (Appl. Phys. Lett. 9, 106 (1966); Physics Today 20 (11), 35 (1967)).  In 1970-1973, he conceived and built, with James J. Auborn, the lithium thionyl chloride battery. (“Lithium anode cells operating at room temperature in inorganic electrolytic solutions.”  (J. Electrochem. Soc., 120(12):1613-19 (1973)).  The battery is used in applications requiring long life (10+ years).

In the field of photo-electrochemistry, Heller reported the first > 10 % efficient solar cells, the first cells converting sunlight to chemical energy, stored as hydrogen. (Science, 196, 1097 (1977); J. Am. Chem. Soc., 102, 6555 (1980); Phys. Rev. Letters, 46, 1153, (1981)). His studies with Heinz Gerischer showed that the rate of photo-assisted oxidation of organic matter on small titanium dioxide particles was controlled by the rate of reduction of adsorbed oxygen by trapped electrons. (J. Phys. Chem., 95 5261-7 (1991)).  He defined with Michael Pishko and Ephraim Heller the materials science for binding the photocatalytic titanium dioxide particles to surfaces (US 5,616,532, Apr. 1, 1997) and with Yaron Paz designed thin, transparent, photo-active, films of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on window glass, which made the windows self-cleaning under sunlight. Their contribution opened a route to the now worldwide produced self–cleaning windows. (J. Mat. Res., 10, 2842-8 (1995); 12, 2759-66 (1997)).

With his son, Ephraim, he co-founded TheraSense, Inc. (now Abbott Diabetes Care) of Alameda, CA to help diabetic people. He and his colleagues removed the pain associated with obtaining blood samples for glucose-analysis by self-monitoring diabetic people. He conceived with Ben Feldman and colleagues FreeStyleTM , a micro-coulometer, that accurately monitors the glucose concentration in 300 nanoliter blood samples, which are sufficiently small to be  painlessly obtained.  The micro-coulometer, of which more than a billion units are annually produced, is arguably the highest impact nanotechnology and micro-fluidic device to-date. (Diabetes Technology & Therapy 2, 221 (2000)

Heller established the field the electrical connection (“wiring”) of redox centers of enzymes to electrodes. He designed and introduced the use of enzyme wiring electron conducting hydrogels, phases conducting both ions and electrons, that are permeable to water-soluble biochemicals.  He showed that redox hydrogel-wired enzymes are uniquely effective bioelectrocatalysts of direct and selective electrooxidation of water-soluble biochemicals. By electrically wiring glucose oxidase, he built and tested in animals and in people, continuously glucose-monitoring, subcutaneously implanted, miniature glucose sensors. (Anal.Chem. 67, 1326-1331 (1995); Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sci., 95, 6379-6382 (1998); Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.,95, 294-299 (1998).  The sensors he pioneered form the core of the FreeStyle NavigatorTM system which accurately monitors the glucose level minute-by-minute. The system, with alarms for low and high glucose levels, as well as for impending low or high glucose levels, reduces the fraction of time in which the glucose levels of diabetic people are high or low. This fraction now exceeds 1/3 or 8 hours/day even the diabetic people who most carefully manage their disease. As a result, diabetic people are hospitalized four-times as much as non-diabetic people, the cost of maintaining their health is four times that of non-diabetic people and their life-expectancy is shorter. Heller’s wired enzyme based continuous glucose monitoring system was approved for use in the European Community in 2007 by the US Food & Drug Administration in 2008. It is currently available to diabetic people in 29 countries.

Heller’s contributions to science are described in 250 peer reviewed papers cited more than 15,000 times. The new truths he uncovered are the basis for five presently manufactured products. His contributions to technology and engineering are described in 122 issued U.S. Patents, 30 of which are in use.

Awards & Honors

Award for Creative Invention, American Chemical Society (2008)
Hocott Distinguished Engineering Award, The University of Texas at Austin (2005)
AICHE Award in Chemical Engineering Practice (2005)
Charles N. Reilly Award of the Society of Electroanalytical Chemistry (2004)
Chemistry of Materials, American Chemical Society
Grahame (Physical Chemistry), The Electrochemical Society
Battery Research Awards, The Electrochemical Society

Medals

National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2007)
Spiers Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2000)
Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (1996)
Fresenius Gold Medal and Prize, German Chemical Society (2005)
Vittorio De Nora Gold Medal of The Electrochemical Society (1988)

Fellowships

Institute Lecturer, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2004)
Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1996)
Elected Fellow, The Electrochemical Society (1994)
Elected to the U. S. National Academy of Engineering (1987)

Honorary Degrees

Doctor, Honoris Causa, City University of New York (Queens College) (2008)
Doctor, Honoris Causa, Uppsala University, Sweden (1991)

Selected Publications

• Heller, A. Potentially implantable miniature batteries. Anal. Bioanal. Chem.2006, 385(3):469-73.
• Mano, N.; Soukharev, V.; Heller, A.  A laccase-wiring redox hydrogel for efficient catalysis of O2 electroreduction J. Phys. Chem. B 2006 110 (23):11180-7.
• Heller, A. Electron-conducting redox hydrogels: design, characteristics and synthesis. Curr. Op. Chem. Biol. 2006 10(6):664-72.
• Bonnecaze, R. T.; Mano, N.; Nam, B.; Heller, A. On the behavior of the porous rotating disk electrode. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2007, 154(2):F44-7.
• Mano, N.; Yoo, J.E.; Tarver, J.; Loo, Y-L.; Heller, A.  An Electron-Conducting Cross-Linked Polyaniline-Based Redox Hydrogel, Formed in One Step at pH 7.2, Wires Glucose Oxidase. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129 (22): 7006-7.
• Heller, A.  Chemical engineering challenges and investment opportunities in sustainable energy. ChemSusChem 2008, 1(7), 651-652.
• Heller, A. and Feldman, B. Electrochemical Glucose Sensors and Their Applications in Diabetes Management. Chem. Rev. 2008, 108, 2482-2505.
• Heller, A. The need for monitoring the actual nitric oxide concentration in tumors. Bioanal. Rev. 2009, 1(1), 3-6.
• Murthy, A.  P.; Heller, A. Reversible Quantum Confinement of Polarons by Reaction of Protonated Emeraldine with Nitric Oxide. J. Phys. Chem. B  2009,  113(31),  10555-10558.
• Heller, A.; Feldman, B. Electrochemistry in Diabetes Management  Acc. Chem. Res. 2010, 43(7), 963-973.
• Lin, Y-M; Abel, P. R.; Flaherty, D. W.; Wu, J.; Stevenson, K. J.; Heller, A.;  Mullins, C. B.  Morphology dependence of the lithium storage capability and rate performance of amorphous TiO2 electrodes J. Phys. Chem. C  2011, 115(5),  2585-2591.
• Shin, W.; Lee, J.-M.; Nagarale, R. K.; Shin, S. J.; Heller, A. A Miniature, Nongassing Electroosmotic Pump Operating at 0.5 V. 2011, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 2374–2377
• Nafion-Coating of the Electrodes Improves the Flow-Stability of the Ag/SiO2/Ag2O Electroosmotic Pump.  Shin, W.; Zhu, E.; Nagarale, R. K.; Kim, C. H.; Lee, J. M.; Shin, S. J.; Heller, A.  Analytical Chemistry 2011, 83(12), 5023-5025.
• Shin, W; Shin, S. J.; Lee, J. M.;  Nagarale R. K.;  Heller,  A. A Miniature, Single Use, Skin-Adhered, Low-Voltage, Electroosmotic Pumping-Based Subcutaneous Infusion System; 2011, Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 1:342–347
• Rodriguez, L. T.; Friedman, K. A.; Coffman, S. S.; Heller, A. Effect of the Sensor Site-Insulin Injection Site Distance on the Dynamics of Local Glycemia in the Minipig Model   Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics 2011, 13(4), 489-493.