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Christoph Westphal
Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., is a biomedical entrepreneur. Background and training Westphal graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University, summa cum laude, in 1990 and finished the MD–PhD program at Harvard University in six years. Career He worked at McKinsey & Company for two years after getting his degrees. From 2000 to 2005 he was a partner at Polaris Venture Partners, a venture capital firm. VC and Serial Entrepreneur In 2001, he worked with Robert Langer to found Mimeon based on work by Langer on glycoengineering; the company changed its name to Momenta Pharmaceuticals the next year and went public in 2004. Westphal was the founding CEO. Momenta brought to market the first generic, low-molecular-weight heparin. To expand the portfolio of treatments for autoimmune disorders, Johnson & Johnson acquired Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $6.5 billion in an all-cash deal in 2020, after nipocalimab, a treatment developed by Momenta received a rare paediatric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consistently ranked first for research among medical schools by '' U.S. News & World Report''. Unlike most other leading medical schools, HMS does not operate in conjunction with a single hospital but is directly affiliated with several teaching hospitals in the Boston area. Affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes include Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, McLean Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, The Baker Center for Children and Families, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. History Harvard Medical School was founded on September 19, 1782, after President Joseph Willard presented a report with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics for genetically defined diseases. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2016, ''Forbes'' included the company on its "100 Most Innovative Growth Companies" list. History The company is a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. In 2002, Alnylam was founded by scientists Phillip Sharp, Paul Schimmel, David Bartel, Thomas Tuschl, and Phillip Zamore, and by investors Christoph Westphal and John Kennedy Clarke; John Maraganore was the founding CEO. The company was named after Alnilam, a star in Orion’s belt. The spelling was modified to make it unique. In 2003, the firm merged with the German pharmaceutical company, Ribopharma AG. The newly formed company also received $24.6 million in funding from private-equity firms. On February 27, 2004 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transforming Growth Factor
Transforming growth factor (, or TGF) is used to describe two classes of polypeptide growth factors, TGFα and TGFβ. The name "Transforming Growth Factor" is somewhat arbitrary, since the two classes of TGFs are not structurally or genetically related to one another, and they act through different receptor mechanisms. Furthermore, they do not always induce cellular transformation, and are not the only growth factors that induce cellular transformation. Types * TGFα is upregulated in some human cancers. It is produced in macrophages, brain cells, and keratinocytes, and induces epithelial development. It belongs to the EGF family. * TGFβ exists in three known subtypes in humans, TGFβ1, TGFβ2, and TGFβ3. These are upregulated in Marfan's syndrome and some human cancers, and play crucial roles in tissue regeneration, cell differentiation, embryonic development, and regulation of the immune system. Isoforms of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β1) are also thought to be inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Growth Factors
A growth factor is a naturally occurring substance capable of stimulating cell proliferation, wound healing, and occasionally cellular differentiation. Usually it is a secreted protein or a steroid hormone. Growth factors are important for regulating a variety of cellular processes. Growth factors typically act as signaling molecules between cells. Examples are cytokines and hormones that bind to specific receptors on the surface of their target cells. They often promote cell differentiation and maturation, which varies between growth factors. For example, epidermal growth factor (EGF) enhances osteogenic differentiation, while fibroblast growth factors and vascular endothelial growth factors stimulate blood vessel differentiation (angiogenesis). Comparison to cytokines ''Growth factor'' is sometimes used interchangeably among scientists with the term ''cytokine.'' Historically, cytokines were associated with hematopoietic (blood and lymph forming) cells and immune syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Massague
Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (other), multiple tropical cyclones are named Joan Music * ''Joan'' (album), a 1967 album by Joan Baez *"Joan", a song by The Art Bears from their 1978 album ''Hopes and Fears'' *"Joan", a song by Lene Lovich from her 1980 album ''Flex'' *"Joan", a song by Erasure from their 1991 album ''Chorus'' *"Joan", a song by The Innocence Mission from their 1991 album ''Umbrella'' *"Joan", a song by God Is My Co-Pilot from their 1992 album ''I Am Not This Body'' Other uses *Jōan (era), a Japanese era name * ''Joan'' (play), 2015 one-woman play written by Lucy J. Skillbeck *Joan Township, Ontario, a geographic township See also *''Jo-an'' tea house, National Treasure in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan * *Jane (other) *Jean (other) *Jeanne (di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wylie Vale
Wylie Walker Vale Jr. (July 3, 1941 – January 3, 2012) was an American endocrinologist who helped identify hormones controlling basic bodily functions. Early life and education Vale was born in Houston, Texas, on July 3, 1941. He completed a B.A. degree in biology at Rice University and obtained a Ph.D. in physiology and biochemistry from Baylor College of Medicine. He commenced employment at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, in 1970. Career In collaboration with his advisor and mentor Roger Guillemin, Vale contributed to the discovery, isolation and identification of thyrotropin releasing hormone and gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the 1970s; work that led to the Nobel Prize for Guillemin. At the Salk Institute, Vale led efforts in identifying the group of hormones involved in human growth, reproduction and temperature. His group discovered, isolated and identified corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRF/CRH) in 1981 and growth hormone releasin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Ptashne
Mark Ptashne (born June 5, 1940, in Chicago) is a molecular biologist. He is the Ludwig Chair of Molecular Biology at Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Ptashne grew up in Chicago. He earned his undergraduate degree at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1961 and his PhD from Harvard in 1968, after which he joined the faculty of Harvard. He was made professor there in 1971 and became chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1980. In 1993 he was awarded an endowed chair, and in 1997 he left Harvard for MSK. The focus of his scientific career has been gene regulation. Ptashne was the first scientist to demonstrate specific binding between protein and DNA, and his lifelong work has been the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of switch between lytic and lysogenic lifecyle of bacteriophage lambda, as well as how the yeast transcriptional activator Gal4 works. He was the originator of the "ball and stick" model of transcription fact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Maniatis
Tom Maniatis (born May 8, 1943), is an American professor of molecular and cellular biology. He is a professor at Columbia University, and serves as the Scientific Director and CEO of the New York Genome Center. Education Maniatis received B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and a PhD in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University. He carried out postdoctoral studies at Harvard University and at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. Research and career Maniatis developed and disseminated gene cloning technologies and their applications in the study of gene regulatory mechanisms. cDNA Cloning While an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard, and a member of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) faculty, Maniatis collaborated with Drs. Fotis Kafatos and Argiris Efstratiadis to develop a method for synthesizing and cloning full length double stranded DNA copies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acceleron Pharma
Acceleron Pharma, Inc. is an American clinical stage biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a broad focus on developing medicines that regulate the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) superfamily of proteins, which play fundamental roles in the growth and repair of cells and tissues such as red blood cells, muscle, bone, and blood vessels. Pipeline Acceleron has four drugs in clinical trials, and one in preclinical development. * Luspatercept (ACE-536) for anemia * Sotatercept (ACE-011) for kidney disease * Dalantercept (ACE-041) for kidney cancer * ACE-083 for muscular disorders History The company was formed in June 2003 in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a Delaware corporation; the original name was Phoenix Pharma. The founders were scientists Jasbir Seehra, Tom Maniatis, Mark Ptashne, Wylie Vale, and scientific advisor Joan Massague, and business people and investors John Knopf and Christoph Westphal of Polaris Venture Partners, who served as f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Tuschl
Thomas Tuschl (born June 1, 1966) is a German biochemist and molecular biologist, known for his research on RNA. Biography Tuschl was born in Altdorf bei Nürnberg. After graduating in Chemistry from Regensburg University, Tuschl received his PhD in 1995 from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen. He spent four years as a post-doctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA. In 1999 he returned to Göttingen, to continue his research at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. There he received international recognition in Genetics for his studies of RNA interference in collaboration with the laboratory of Klaus Weber. This enables "switching off" certain genes by introducing synthetic short RNA into the cell. The mRNA is destroyed and the gene in deactivated. Possible future applications of this method include treatment of tumors or genetic disorders. The function of certain ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Bartel
David P. Bartel is an American molecular biologist best known for his work on microRNAs. Bartel is a Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Member of the Whitehead Institute, and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Biography Bartel earned his B.A. degree in Biology from Goshen College in 1982 and his Ph.D. degree in Virology from Harvard University in 1993, under the mentorship of Jack W. Szostak Jack William Szostak (born November 9, 1952) is a Canadian American biologist of Polish British descent, Nobel Prize laureate, university professor at the University of Chicago, former Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Alexan .... While in the Szostak lab, Bartel isolated the first ribozymes directly from random sequence, using ''in vitro'' evolution (among these, the Class I ligase). After he became independent at the Whitehead Institute, he further evolved this ribozyme to function as a RNA-dependent RNA poly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Schimmel
Paul Reinhard Schimmel (born August 4, 1940) is an American biophysical chemist and translational medicine pioneer. Career Paul Schimmel is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute. Prior to joining The Scripps Research Institute, he was a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...). Author or coauthor of many scientific research publications, he is also coauthor of a widely used 3-volume textbook on biophysical chemistry. His research interests have focused on aminoacyl tRNA synthetases as fundamental interpreters of the genetic information. Through career-long investigations of this ancient and universal set of essential enz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
