Beaker List – Seattle Edition: UW + Fred Hutch
Top Entrepreneurial Life Science Professors @ UW + Fred Hutch
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Alix Ventures: Supporting Early Stage Life Science Startups Engineering Biology to Drive Radical Advances in Human Health
Overview
Behind every transformative technology is a team of brilliant scientists and researchers. Academic research in particular is a driving force for technological innovation. Here, we have identified a ‘Midas List’ of researchers who have pioneered highly transformative technologies that have translated to the clinic. Using venture backed startups as a primary guide along with other impact metrics such as patents, citations, and thought leadership, the following professors have demonstrated patient impact, providing significant contributions to the startup ecosystem.
In this double feature, we are excited to spotlight two of Seattle’s top biotech institutes & some of the world’s leading translational research hubs - The University of Washington & The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
UW has a rich history of research and a diverse set of facilities to tackle current and future challenges of life sciences. With an academic ranking that is consistently top 10 over the last two decades, The University of Washington is able to provide a rich set of research that attracts amazing talents including over 300 specialized research centers, 7 Nobel prizes, over 5,452 awards, and $1.89B Sponsored Grants and Contracts. As an example of the amazing work that this university is producing, we would like to highlight ten top professors leading Life Science Entrepreneurship efforts @ The University of Washington.
The Hutch, founded in 1975, is dedicated to producing some of the most important breakthroughs in the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer, HIV and other diseases. The Hutch is home to some of the highest level researchers dedicated to the study of every aspect of the disease process — from the cellular level to the population level — to uncover the factors that influence disease risk and progression. Fred Hutch has been home to three Nobel laureates, and our faculty includes more than 200 renowned researchers who collaborate with colleagues across the globe and mentor the next generation of scientific innovators.
Below, we introduce Seattle’s leading entrepreneurial academics. These extraordinary professors have played a significant role in shaping the state of modern medicine by going beyond the bench to drive patient impact…
We asked the ever incredible David Baker for comment on how UW fosters an entrepreneurial environment & what entrepreneurship means to him:
“I feel very fortunate to be @ UW — where we are able to participate in cutting edge basic research and then have the opportunity to translate our discoveries. In large part thanks to my colleague Lance Stewart, the UW Institute for Protein Design has set up a translational research program that has enabled us to spin out many new companies which are bringing our advances into the real world.”
— David Baker
David Baker
David Baker is the director of the Institute for Protein Design, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington. Baker has received multiple awards for developing methods to predict and design the three-dimensional structures of proteins including awards from the National Science Foundation, the Beckman Foundation, the recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Feynman Prize from the Foresight Institute, among many others. His research group, the Baker Lab, is focused on the design of macromolecular structures and functions.
Sixty-five of his mentees have gone on to independent faculty positions, he has published over 500 research papers, been granted over 100 patents, and Co-founded 13 companies including: Neoleukin, Icosavax, Sana, Lyell, Outpace, PVP Biologics (acquired by Takeda) amongst others.
Learn More about David Baker’s work on BIOS Podcast: Listen Now