Donald E. Ingber (born 1956) is an American cell biologist and bioengineer. He is the founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is also a member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Ingber is a founder of the emerging fields of biologically inspired engineering. He has made pioneering contributions to numerous other disciplines including mechanobiology, cytoskeletal biology, extracellular matrix biology, integrin signaling, tumor angiogenesis, tissue engineering, nanobiotechnology, systems biology, and translational medicine. Ingber has authored more than 470 publications in scientific journals and books, and is an inventor on more than 190 patents spanning anti-cancer therapeutics, tissue engineering, medical devices, drug delivery systems, biomimetic materials, nanotherapeutics, and bioinformatics software.
Ingber has been scientific founder of five companies: Neomorphics, Inc., a tissue engineering startup which led to clinical products through subsequent acquisitions (Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc.); Tensegra, Inc. (formerly known as Molecular Geodesics, Inc.,) which 3D-printed medical devices; and most recently, Emulate, Inc., which formed to commercialize human "organs-on-chips" that accelerate drug development, detect toxicities and advance personalized medicine by replacing animal testing; Boa Biomedical, Inc. (originally known as Opsonix, Inc.), which aims to reduce deaths due to sepsis and blood infections by removing pathogens from the blood; and FreeFlow Medical Devices, LLC, which develops special coatings for medical devices to eliminate the formation of blood clots and biofilms on materials.
Education and academic research
Ingber grew up in East Meadow, New York. He received a combined B.A./M.A. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale College and Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1977; an M.Phil. in cell biology from Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1981; and a combined M.D./Ph.D. from Yale School of Medicine and Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1984. At Yale, he carried out undergraduate research on DNA repair with Paul Howard-Flanders, and on cancer metastasis with Alan Sartorelli.
Ingber worked on development of cancer therapeutics with Kenneth Harrap at the Royal Cancer Hospital/Royal Marsden Hospital in England, with support from a Bates Traveling Fellowship. He carried out his Ph.D. dissertation research under the direction of Dr. James Jamieson in the department of cell biology, and his advisory committee included George Palade, Elizabeth Hay and Joseph Madri. From 1984 to 1986 he completed his training as an Anna Fuller Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Judah Folkman in the Surgical Research Laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Scientific career
Appointments
In 1986, Ingber became an instructor in pathology at Harvard Medical School, as well as a research associate in surgery at Boston Children's Hospital and in pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital In 1993, appointed a research associate in pathology at Boston Children's Hospital In 1999, promoted to Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School In 2002, appointed a senior associate in the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital In 2004, Ingber became the first incumbent of the Judah Folkman Professorship of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School. As of December 2019, he currently holds this position. In 2008, appointed as Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As of December 2019, he currently holds this position. In 2009, appointed as the Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. As of 2020, he currently holds this position. In 2018, appointed to Friedrich Merz Guest Professorship at Goethe University.
