Founders
Michael Cima, PhD
Professor of Engineering, Material Science & Engineering, MIT
Dr. Michael J. Cima is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has an appointment at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Cima joined the MIT faculty in 1986 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to full Professor in 1995. He was elected a Fellow of the American Ceramics Society in 1997.
Dr. Cima now holds the Sumitomo Electric Industries Chair at MIT. Prof. Cima is author or co-author of over two hundred peer reviewed scientific publications, forty-five patents, and is a recognized expert in the field of materials processing. Prof. Cima is actively involved in materials and engineered systems for improvement in human health such as treatments for cancer, metabolic diseases, trauma, and urological disorders. Prof. Cima's research concerns advanced forming technology such as for complex macro and micro devices, colloid science, MEMS and other micro components for medical devices that are used for drug delivery and diagnostics, high-throughput development methods for formulations of materials and pharmaceutical formulations. He is a co-inventor of MIT’s three dimensional printing process. His research has led to the development of chemically derived epitaxial oxide films for HTSC coated conductors. He and collaborators are developing implantable MEMS devices for unprecedented control in the delivery of pharmaceuticals and implantable diagnostic systems. Finally, through his consulting work he has been a major contributor to the development of high throughput systems for discovery of novel crystal forms and formulations of pharmaceuticals. Prof. Cima also has extensive entrepreneurial experience. He is co-founder and a director of MicroChips Inc., a developer of microelectronic based drug delivery and diagnostic systems. Prof. Cima took two sabbaticals to act as senior consultant and management team member at Transform Pharmaceuticals Inc. a company that he helped start and that was ultimately acquired by Johnson and Johnson Corporation. He is a co-founder and director at T2 Biosystems a medical diagnostics company. Most recently, Prof. Cima co-founded Entra Pharmaceuticals a specialty pharmaceutical company and Taris Biomedical a urology products company.
He earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1982 (phi beta kappa) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1986, both from the University of California at Berkeley. Prof.
Tyler Jacks, PhD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director of the Center for Cancer Research, MIT
Dr. Jacks is the Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also Professor of Biology at MIT and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His graduate thesis was performed with Harold Varmus at the University of California, San Francisco, and he was a postdoctoral fellow with Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Dr. Jacks joined the faculty at MIT in 1992. He has pioneered the use of gene-targeting technology in the mouse to study cancer-associated genes and to construct mouse models of many human cancer types. His laboratory has made seminal contributions to the construction of novel mouse models of human cancer and to the understanding of the effects of mutations of several tumor suppressor genes on tumor development, normal development and other cellular processes, including apoptosis, cell cycle control, intracellular signaling and cell migration. Dr. Jacks served on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR); he is currently President of the AACR. Dr. Jacks was a Merck Fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, a Markey Scholar and a Searle Scholar. In recognition to his contribution to our understanding of cancer genetics, he has received the AACR Outstanding Achievement Award, the Amgen Award from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences as well as the Academy’s Institute of Medicine in 2009.
Dr. Jacks received his B.A. from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude with highest honors in biology in 1983. He received his PhD from the University of California, San Francisco in 1988.
Lee Josephson, PhD
Lee Josephson was a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Guido Guidotti at Harvard University, where he collaborated with Lew Cantley in discovering the biological activity of vanadate. He was a cofounder of AMAG Pharmaceuticals (formerly Advanced Magnetics), and was a pioneer in the development of magnetic nanoparticles for cell sorting, for immunoassays, and for use as contrast agents with magnetic resonance imaging. He served as the Director of Research and Chief Scientific Officer of AMAG from 1982 until 1997. He joined Dr. Ralph Weissleder at the Center for Molecular Imaging Research in 1997 and is currently an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He was a co-founder of T2 Biosystems, a company engaged in using MR to measure the levels of analytes in various fluids. In 2009, he joined the Center for Translational Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (CTNMI) led by Dr. Tom Brady at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he serves as the Director of Probe Chemistry. His research interests include the magnetic nanoparticles and MRI, multifunctional imaging agents, probes for imaging apoptosis and cell death, and the biological activity of viridins (natural product inhibitors of the PI3 kinases). He is an author on over 100 publications and an inventor on more than 30 issued US patents.
Lee Josephson received his BS in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Robert Langer, PhD
Institute Professor, MIT
Robert S. Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor (there are 14 Institute Professors at MIT; being an Institute Professor is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member). Dr. Langer has written approximately 1,050 articles. He also has approximately 750 issued and pending patents worldwide. Dr. Langer’s patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 220 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies. He is the most cited engineer in history.
He served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s SCIENCE Board, the FDA’s highest advisory board, from 1995—2002 and as its Chairman from 1999-2002.
Dr. Langer has received over 170 major awards including the 2006 United States National Medal of Science; the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers and the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize. He is the also the only engineer to receive the Gairdner Foundation International Award; 72 recipients of this award have subsequently received a Nobel Prize. Among numerous other awards Langer has received are the Dickson Prize for Science (2002), Heinz Award for Technology, Economy and Employment (2003), the Harvey Prize (2003), the John Fritz Award (2003) (given previously to inventors such as Thomas Edison and Orville Wright), the General Motors Kettering Prize for Cancer Research (2004), the Dan David Prize in Materials Science (2005), the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2005), the largest prize in the U.S. for medical research, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2006), the Max Planck Research Award (2008) and the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2008). In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine.” In 1989 Dr. Langer was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1992 he was elected to both the National Academy of Engineering and to the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of very few people ever elected to all three United States National Academies and the youngest in history (at age 43) to ever receive this distinction.
Forbes Magazine (1999) and Bio World (1990) have named Dr. Langer as one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology in the world. Discover Magazine (2002) named him as one of the 20 most important people in this area. Forbes Magazine (2002) selected Dr. Langer as one of the 15 innovators worldwide who will reinvent our future. Time Magazine and CNN (2001) named Dr. Langer as one of the 100 most important people in America and one of the 18 top people in science or medicine in America (America’s Best). Parade Magazine (2004) selected Dr. Langer as one of 6 “Heroes whose research may save your life.” Dr. Langer has received honorary doctorates from Harvard University, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Yale University, the ETH (Switzerland), the Technion (Israel), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), the Universite Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), the University of Liverpool (England), the University of Nottingham (England), Albany Medical College, the Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, Uppsala University (Sweden) and the University of California – San Francisco Medal.
Dr. Langer received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
W. David Lee
Integrative Program Officer, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Mr. Lee has a research appointment in the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research where he leads several important cancer research programs. He is also an Executive in Residence at Kodiak Venture Partners, where he works from early concepts in biological research and technology development and evolves commercial applications and then new companies. He founded Lumicell Diagnostics Inc. David also has an appointment in the Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering Departments of Stanford as a senior advisor for developing technology life science diagnostics. Prior to his role at MIT David was the Senior Vice President of Arthur D Little, Inc for Technology and Product Development which was one of the three lines of business of the company.
David has his undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT and holds numerous patents.
Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD
Director, Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Weissleder is a Professor at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Attending Clinician at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Weissleder is also a member of the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center, an Associate Member of the Broad Institute (Chemical Biology Program) and a member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). Dr. Weissleder’s research interests include the development of novel molecular imaging techniques, tools for detection of early disease detection, development of nanomaterials for sensing and systems analysis. His research has been translational and several of his developments have led to advanced clinical trials with anticipated major impacts when these methods become routinely available. Dr. Weissleder is currently the principal investigator of several RO1 NIH grants, a P50 Center grant, a U24 grant, and a UO1 consortium focusing on nanotechnology. He has published over 500 original publications in peer reviewed journals and has authored several textbooks. He is a founding member of the Society for Molecular Imaging Research and has served as its President in 2002. His work has been honored with numerous awards including the J. Taylor International Prize in Medicine, the Millenium Pharmaceuticals Innovator Award, the AUR Memorial Award, the ARRS President's Award, The Society for Molecular Imaging Lifetime Achievement Award, the Academy of Molecular Imaging 2006 Distinguished Basic Scientist Award and the 2008 RSNA Outstanding Researcher Award. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academies.
Dr. Weissleder received both his MD and PhD from the University of Heidelberg.