Professor K. Dane Wittrup has conducted pioneering research in protein engineering of biopharmaceuticals. He is the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a faculty member in the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
After the initial invention of yeast display technology, Wittrup has contributed to all facets of antibody discovery and engineering, culminating in the co-founding of Adimab in 2007. Wittrup has had a broad impact on quantitative PK/PD design principles for protein biopharmaceuticals. His predictive tumor targeting theory remains the definitive framework for designing systemically administered tumor-targeting agents. Most recently, he has developed novel technologies for intratumoral cytokine anchoring. These technologies vastly improve the therapeutic index of powerful immunostimulatory molecules by both decreasing toxicity and increasing potency. These agents are currently being tested in clinical trials.
Among other awards, Wittrup has received:
- The 1984 A. McLaren White Award (First Prize in the National American Institute of Chemical Engineers Student Design Contest)
- The 2012 Allan P. Colburn Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (for excellence in publications by an individual under age 35)
- Membership in the National Academy of Engineering (2012)
Wittrup group alumni hold faculty positions at universities including Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, Tennessee, North Carolina State, Calvin College, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Vienna), University Ca' Foscari (Venice), and Ajou University (Korea).
Wittrup has co-founded 7 companies: Adimab, Eleven Bio, BioDisplay, Immunitas, Ankyra, Cullinan Amber, and 76Bio. Collectively, these companies have developed therapeutic proteins tested in 75 clinical trials and 3 marketed drugs to date.