Douglas Lauffenburger
Douglas Lauffenburger is Ford Professor of Engineering in the Departments of Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was the founding Head of the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT, and served in that capacity from 1998 until 2019. He was recently selected as an Institute Professor, MIT's highest faculty honor.
Lauffenburger received his B.S. degree from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1975) and his Ph.D. from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (1979), both in chemical engineering. Before joining MIT, he had previously been on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania (1979-1990) and Illinois (1991-1994).
The Lauffenburger research program centers on systems biology approaches to cell-cell communication and cell signaling in pathophysiology, emphasizing translational application to therapeutics discovery and development in cancer, pathogen infection, and inflammatory diseases. More than 130 doctoral students and postdoctoral associates have undertaken research education under his supervision. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and the American Scientific Affiliation. Lauffenburger has served as President of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Chair of the College of Fellows of American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, on the Advisory Council for the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and as a co-author of the 2009 National Research Council report A New Biology for the 21st Century.