Bio
Molecular assembly, DNA computing, robot motion planning, parallel algorithms, randomized algorithms, graph algorithms, algebraic computation, data compression, optical computation, and quantum computation.
Education
- B.S. Tufts University, 1973
- M.S. Harvard University, 1975
- Ph.D. Harvard University, 1977
Positions
- A. Hollis Edens Distinguished Professor of Computer Science
- Professor of Computer Science
- Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- Tufts Notable. Tufts University. 2010
- AAAS Fellow. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2003
- Highly Cited Researcher. Thomson Reuters. 2001
- Fellow. Association for Computing Machinery. 1997
- Fellows. Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 1993
Courses Taught
- COMPSCI 93: History of Computing, Cryptography, and Robotic Devices
- COMPSCI 590D: Advanced Topics in Computer Science
- COMPSCI 534D: Computational Complexity
- COMPSCI 531D: Introduction to Algorithms
In the News
- Designing With DNA (Dec 23, 2022)
- I.D. Verification, Now for Cancer (Nov 22, 2019)
- Tiny Light-Up Barcodes Identify Molecules by Their Twinkling (Apr 11, 2019)
- Analog DNA Circuit Does Math in a Test Tube (Aug 23, 2016)
- Carolyn McAllaster, Susan S. Reif: Funding fails to keep pace with South's HIV epidemic (Dec 1, 2015 | The News & Observer)
Representative Publications
- Nagipogu, Rajiv Teja, and John H. Reif. “Neural CRNs: A Natural Implementation of Learning in Chemical Reaction Networks.” ACS Synthetic Biology 14, no. 10 (October 2025): 3899–3912. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.5c00099.
- Fu, Daniel, and John Reif. “A biomimetic branching signal-passing tile assembly model with dynamic growth and disassembly.” Journal of the Royal Society, Interface 21, no. 217 (August 2024): 20230755. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0755.
- Nagipogu, R. T., and J. H. Reif. “Leak-resilient enzyme-free nucleic acid dynamical systems through shadow cancellation.” Journal of the Royal Society Interface 21, no. 215 (June 19, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0053.
- Nagipogu, Rajiv Teja, Daniel Fu, and John H. Reif. “A survey on molecular-scale learning systems with relevance to DNA computing.” Nanoscale 15, no. 17 (May 2023): 7676–94. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2nr06202j.
- Yang, M., and J. Reif. “Social DNA Nanorobots.” In Natural Computing Series, Part F821:371–96, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9891-1_20.