Damian G. Allis Ph.D. has spent the past quarter century exploring the theory and chemistry of mechanosynthesis in pursuit of atomically precise fabrication (APF) and the manufacture (APM) of nanoscale structures, functional devices, and new materials otherwise inaccessible through conventional chemical methods. During his doctoral work at Syracuse University, he capitalized on the broad applicability of quantum and classical mechanical methods and software across research areas, publishing in molecular electronics, the inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy of molecular solids, the design of molecular nonlinear optical materials, bioconjugate radiopharmaceutical and B12-based drug-delivery approaches, the dynamics of molecular crystal polymorphism, molecular building-block approaches to supramolecular structure design, and metal oxide isomerization mechanisms. Prior to graduation, he received the 2004 Student Prize in Nanotechnology from the Foresight Institute. Following graduation, he served as a scientific advisor to Nanorex, Inc. in nanomechanical machine design and structural DNA nanotechnology simulation, as a bioinformaticist investigating RNA aptamer discovery at Aptamatrix, Inc., and as a contributing editor of the 2007 Battelle Memorial Institute and Foresight Institute “Productive Nanosystems: A Technology Roadmap” and author of the “Mechanosynthesis” and “Synthetic Chemistry” articles for that effort — all while funded by the U.S. Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program to study the molecular physics underlying the terahertz spectra used for noninvasive detection and identification of molecular threat agents and bioactive molecules, both illicit and prescribed. In 2008 he joined Nanofactory Corporation (NC) alongside two of the most prominent proponents of diamondoid nanotechnology, working to advance the field beyond its previously academic scope. In 2017 NC was acquired by Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited, becoming what is now CBN Nano Technologies, Inc. (CBNNT), where he serves as a principal scientist and manager of the Modeling and Simulation division. In 2026, CBNNT completed the progression from theoretical assessment to experimental demonstration, reporting the first instances of subtractive (hydrogen, carbon, silicon) and additive (carbon dimer) mechanosynthesis, resolving a feasibility debate that had stood at the center of the nanotechnology field for over three decades.
The connections between APM and the nanotechnological means to dramatically enhance human healthspan and lifespan are both longstanding and wide-ranging. They also have been jointly framed largely in the context of a matured version of both. Dr. Allis’s work is attempting to address chemical foundations within the field of mechanosynthesis while exploring near-term applications that identify experimental directions, opportunities for early automation, and potentials for mechanosynthesis across materials science, engineering, and biology — developments within which the means to radical longevity are to eventually be found.