Allan Maxam (born October 28, 1942) is one of the pioneers of molecular genetics.
He was one of the contributors to develop a DNA sequencing method at Harvard University, while working as a student in the laboratory of Walter Gilbert.
[1][2] Walter Gilbert and Allan Maxam developed a DNA sequencing method - now called Maxam-Gilbert sequencing - which combined chemicals that cut DNA only at specific bases with radioactive labeling and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to determine the sequence of long DNA segments.
[3] Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert’s 1977 paper “A new method for sequencing DNA” was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society for 2017.
It was presented to the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University.