![Derrick Rossi 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Derrick_Rossi_2.jpg)
Derrick J. Rossi (born 5 February 1966), is a Canadian
stem cell biologist and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
. He is a co-founder of the
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
company
Moderna
Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to pro ...
.
Early life and education
Rossi was born in Toronto as the youngest of five children of a
Maltese immigrant family.
His father Fred worked in auto body shops for 50 years and his mother Agnes co-owned a Maltese bakery.
Rossi attended the
Dr. Norman Bethune High School in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
where he early discovered his passion for
molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...
.
He then did his undergraduate and master's degrees in
molecular genetics
Molecular genetics is a sub-field of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the ...
at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
.
He earned his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
from the
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
in 2003 and held a
post-doc position from 2003 to 2007 at
Stanford University in
Irving Weissman
Irving Lerner "Irv" Weissman (born Great Falls, Montana, October 21, 1939) is a Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology at Stanford University where he is the Director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medic ...
’s lab.
Career
Rossi was appointed Associate Professor at the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department at
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 consi ...
and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
At the same time he was a principal faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and an investigator at the Immune Disease Institute (IDI),
as well as in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the
Children’s Hospital Boston.
Moderna
Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to pro ...
was founded in 2010, based on discovery that
pluripotent stem cells Pluripotency: These are the cells that can generate into any of the three Germ layers which imply Endodermal, Mesodermal, and Ectodermal cells except tissues like the placenta.
According to Latin terms, Pluripotentia means the ability for many thin ...
can be transformed and reprogrammed.
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine cited this pluripotent discovery as one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of the year.
He was also named as one of "People Who Mattered" for ''Time'' in 2010.
He was cited because the discovery "involved the invention of a safer method for creating
pluripotent stem cells Pluripotency: These are the cells that can generate into any of the three Germ layers which imply Endodermal, Mesodermal, and Ectodermal cells except tissues like the placenta.
According to Latin terms, Pluripotentia means the ability for many thin ...
... a new method (which) could help move stem cell–based treatments for diseases such as
diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
and
Parkinson’s
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms become ...
more quickly from the lab to the clinic."
[ Rossi was selected one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2011 by ''Time''.]
In 2013 Rossi, Chien and their team reported that they "were able to improve heart function in mice and enhance their long-term survival with a "redirection of their tem celldifferentiation toward cardiovascular cell types" in a significant step towards regenerative therapeutics
Regeneration may refer to:
Science and technology
* Regeneration (biology), the ability to recreate lost or damaged cells, tissues, organs and limbs
* Regeneration (ecology), the ability of ecosystems to regenerate biomass, using photosynthesis ...
for Moderna. In the same year and on the strength of the same paper Moderna was able to partner with AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...
in exchange for $240 million "in upfront cash (plus much more in potential milestone payments)", and then received from other investors $110 million.[
In 2014 Rossi retired from his functions at the board and as a scientific advisor at Moderna.]
In 2015 Rossi was scientific co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel, potentially curative therapeutics leveraging CRISPR-based technologies. To fully realize the transformative potential of CRISPR-based technologies, Inte ...
, which uses CRISPR gene editing
CRISPR gene editing (pronounced "crisper") is a genetic engineering technique in molecular biology by which the genomes of living organisms may be modified. It is based on a simplified version of the bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 antiviral defense syst ...
for developing new drugs for treating genetic disease
A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosomal abnormality. Although polygenic disorders ...
s. In 2016 Rossi co-founded Magenta Therapeutics focussing on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood in order to replicate inside of a patient and to produce ...
in order to reset the patient’s immune system
The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splint ...
in case of autoimmune diseases, blood cancer
Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...
s and genetic diseases. Rossi was involved in the foundation of Stelexis Therapeutics, which develops new medication for treating cancerous
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...
stem cells.
In 2018 Rossi retired from all of his Harvard positions in order to focus on his activities as an entrepreneur. Rossi currently serves as the interim CEO of the New York Stem Cell Foundation. Rossi is now the CEO of Convelo Therapeutics.
Scientific contributions
Rossi develops and promotes new therapies using biotechnological methods thus contributing to novel approaches in regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...
. His research focussed on different aspects of stem cell biology. In order to avoid ethical
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
issues related to the use and exploitation of human stem cells, Rossi based his developments on the results of Katalin Karikó
Katalin Karikó ( hu, Karikó Katalin, ; born 17 January 1955) is a Hungarian-American biochemist who specializes in RNA-mediated mechanisms. Her research has been the development of in vitro- transcribed mRNA for protein therapies. She co-fo ...
and Drew Weissman
Drew Weissman (born 1959) is an American physician-scientist best known for his contributions to RNA biology. His work helped enable development of effective mRNA vaccines, the best known of which are those for COVID-19 produced by BioNTech/P ...
on mRNA
In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of synthesizing a protein.
mRNA is created during the ...
. He succeeded in finding investors for his plans to transfer these findings into new medication
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
s and vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
s by founding Moderna.
Rossi is on record as writing of his synthetic modified mRNA: "because our technology is RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...
based, it completely eliminates the risk of genomic integration and insertional mutagenesis In molecular biology, insertional mutagenesis is the creation of mutations of DNA by addition of one or more base pairs. Such insertional mutations can occur naturally, mediated by viruses or transposons, or can be artificially created for research ...
inherent to all DNA-based methodologies." The abstract from this paper which earned him recognition of ''Time'' reads in part: "Here we describe a simple, nonintegrating strategy for reprogramming cell fate based on administration of synthetic mRNA modified to overcome innate antiviral responses (in Murine
The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families ex ...
embryos
An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...
and human epidermis and human ESC-derived dH1f and MRC-5
MRC-5 ( Medical Research Council cell strain 5) is a diploid cell culture line composed of fibroblasts, originally developed from the lung tissue of a 14-week-old aborted Caucasian male fetus. The cell line was isolated by J.P. Jacobs and colle ...
fetal lung fibroblasts, Detroit 551 human fetal skin fibroblasts, BJ neonatal foreskin
In male human anatomy, the foreskin, also known as the prepuce, is the double-layered fold of skin, mucosal and muscular tissue at the distal end of the human penis that covers the glans and the urinary meatus. The foreskin is attached to the ...
fibroblasts, and fibroblast-like cells cultured from a primary skin biopsy taken from an adult cystic fibrosis patient). We show that this approach can reprogram multiple human cell types to pluripotency Pluripotency: These are the cells that can generate into any of the three Germ layers which imply Endodermal, Mesodermal, and Ectodermal cells except tissues like the placenta.
According to Latin terms, Pluripotentia means the ability for many thin ...
with efficiencies that greatly surpass established protocols (for neuronal myocyte or cardiomyocyte
Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle, myocardium, cardiomyocytes and cardiac myocytes) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, with the other two being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle th ...
targets). We further show that the same technology can be used to efficiently direct the differentiation of RNA-induced pluripotent stem cells (RiPSCs) into terminally differentiated myogenic cells. This technology represents a safe, efficient strategy for somatic cell reprogramming and directing cell fate that has broad applicability for basic research, disease modeling, and regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...
."[
In his 2010 paper, Rossi described his preference for "complexing the RNA with a ]cationic
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...
vehicle to facilitate uptake by endocytosis" instead of electroporation
Electroporation, or electropermeabilization, is a microbiology technique in which an electrical field is applied to cells in order to increase the permeability of the cell membrane, allowing chemicals, drugs, electrode arrays or DNA to be introd ...
because "this would allow for repeated transfection to sustain ectopic protein expression over the days to weeks required for cellular reprogramming." Rossi and his team "treated synthesized RNA with a phosphatase" to overcome the interferon resistance pathway, and substituted "5-methylcytidine (5mC) for cytidine
Cytidine (symbol C or Cyd) is a nucleoside molecule that is formed when cytosine is attached to a ribose ring (also known as a ribofuranose) via a β-N1- glycosidic bond. Cytidine is a component of RNA. It is a white water-soluble solid. which ...
" and "pseudouridine
Pseudouridine (abbreviated by the Greek letter psi- Ψ) is an isomer of the nucleoside uridine in which the uracil is attached via a carbon-carbon instead of a nitrogen-carbon glycosidic bond. (In this configuration, uracil is sometimes referred ...
for uridine
Uridine (symbol U or Urd) is a glycosylated pyrimidine analog containing uracil attached to a ribose ring (or more specifically, a ribofuranose) via a β-N1-glycosidic bond. The analog is one of the five standard nucleosides which make up nucle ...
". The team hit upon a "modified ribonucleotides and phosphatase treatment" (henceforth "mod-RNAs") and masked the mod-RNA past the interferon barrier through use of the vaccinia virus
''Vaccinia virus'' (VACV or VV) is a large, complex, enveloped virus belonging to the poxvirus family. It has a linear, double-stranded DNA genome approximately 190 kbp in length, which encodes approximately 250 genes. The dimensions of the ...
B18R protein, which served as inhibitor, but still the kinetics dictated a daily transfection
Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing naked or purified nucleic acids into eukaryotic cells. It may also refer to other methods and cell types, although other terms are often preferred: " transformation" is typically used to des ...
treatment regime. Valproic acid
Valproate (VPA) and its valproic acid, sodium valproate, and valproate semisodium forms are medications primarily used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder and prevent migraine headaches. They are useful for the prevention of seizures in those ...
, a histone
In biology, histones are highly basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create structural units called nucleosomes. Nucleosomes in turn a ...
deacetylase inhibitor, was used because it had been reported to increase reprogramming efficiency.[
In 2021 he was awarded the ]Princess of Asturias Award
The Princess of Asturias Awards ( es, Premios Princesa de Asturias, links=no, ast, Premios Princesa d'Asturies, links=no), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 ( es, Premios Príncipe de Asturias, links=no), are a series of a ...
in the category "Scientific Research".
Selected papers
*
*
*
Family life
Rossi is married to Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
Nina Korsisaari and father of three daughters.
References
External links
*
Convelo Therapeutics: Team
Derrick Rossi, PhD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossi, Derrick J.
Living people
1966 births
21st-century Canadian biologists
Place of birth missing (living people)
University of Toronto alumni
University of Helsinki alumni
Harvard University faculty
Harvard Medical School faculty
Canadian people of Maltese descent
Moderna people