S. Patrick Walton

Endowed Professors College of Engineering

• C. Robert and Kathryn M. Weir Endowed Professorship
• Established through a gift from C. Robert and Kathryn M. Wier

• Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Bio

Patrick Walton, the C. Robert and Kathryn M. Weir Endowed Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, has more than 20 years of theoretical and experimental experience in the analysis of nucleic acid structures and hybridization interactions. His research group focuses on the design, development, and mechanistic understanding of nucleic acid applications in research, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

His recent efforts have focused on improving the understanding of the interactions between siRNAs and RNAi pathway proteins and developing improved delivery vehicles for siRNAs through mechanism-based design.

He received his B.ChE. from Georgia Tech, where he began his biomedical research career in the Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. He received both an MS and Sc.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while working jointly with researchers at the Shriners Burns Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. While at MIT, he was awarded a Shell Foundation Fellowship and was an NIH biotechnology predoctoral trainee.

Upon completion of his doctoral studies, he joined the Stanford University Genome Technology Center, receiving an NIH Kirschstein post-doctoral fellowship. He joined Michigan State University in 2004 and has been recognized for his accomplishments in both teaching and research, receiving the MSU Teacher-Scholar Award, the College of Engineering Withrow Teaching Excellence Award, and being named an MSU Lilly Teaching Fellow.