Beaker List – Stanford Edition

Top Entrepreneurial Life Science Professors @ Stanford

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Aug 13, 2021

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By:

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.

Stanford University is ranked among the world’s leading institutions for research and entrepreneurship. Containing 18 institutes, 20 libraries, and almost $1.93 billion in annual research funding, Stanford is dedicated to high impact innovation. Beyond academic support, the university, located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, is described as having one of the strongest and most supportive venture cultures by which students and faculty are encouraged, and often funded, to launch their own companies. Businesses founded by Stanford alumni generate more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue, equivalent to the 10th-largest economy in the world. As an example of the amazing work that this university is producing, we would like to highlight ten professors leading life science entrepreneurship efforts at Stanford…

We asked, recent Nobel Laureate, Carolyn Bertozzi for comment on how Stanford fosters an entrepreneurial environment:

“Stanford has a truly unique ecosystem where innovation and entrepreneurship are intertwined with fundamental and translational science, providing an exciting environment for research and education.”
— Carolyn Bertozzi

Carolyn R. Bertozzi | Biography, Bioorthogonal Chemistry, Nobel Prize, & Facts | Britannica

Carolyn Bertozzi

Carolyn Bertozzi is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology and Radiology (by courtesy) at Stanford University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is the inventor of “bioorthogonal chemistry”, a class of chemical reactions compatible with living systems that enable molecular imaging and drug targeting. She also runs the Bertozzi Group, which develops chemical tools to study the glycobiology underlying diseases such as cancer, inflammation, tuberculosis and most recently COVID-19.

Bertozzi's research interests span the disciplines of chemistry and biology. She invented the concept of “bioorthogonal chemistry” and has widely applied such reactions to study biological processes and build new types of molecular therapeutics. As well, her lab studies the roles of cell surface glycosylation in human health and disease. Her lab focuses on profiling changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection, and exploiting this information for development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, most recently in the area of immuno-oncology.

Bertozzi has been recognized with many honors and awards for both her research and teaching accomplishments. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and she is a Foriegn Fellow of the Royal Society, UK. Her efforts in undergraduate education have earned her the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award and the Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Some awards of note include the Lemelson-MIT award for inventors, Ernst Schering Prize, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, and the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Several of the technologies developed in the Bertozzi lab have been adapted for commercial use leading to the founding of: Redwood Bioscience (Acquired by Catalent), Enable Biosciences, Palleon Pharmaceuticals, InterVenn Bio, OliLux Bio, Grace Science, Lycia Therapeutics, GanNA Bio, & Virsti Therapeutics.

Bertozzi is also a member of the Board of Directors of OmniAb.