Tim Springer

Timothy A. Springer, Ph.D., is the Latham Family Professor at the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and Senior Investigator at the Program of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. He is a world leader in structural biology and immunology. He discovered many of the adhesion receptors in the immune system with monoclonal antibodies, then cloned and functionally and structurally categorized them. He was the first to demonstrate that lymphocytes and leukocytes had adhesion molecules and used them in antigen recognition and in a series of three steps for emigration from the bloodstream. His work on these receptors has advanced to characterizing their interactions and allosteric transitions by x-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, and laser tweezer force spectroscopy. In recognition of this work, he received the Canada Gairdner International Award in 2019, the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 2022, and was recently awarded the Robert Koch Award in 2023. He is a founder and private investor in biopharmaceutical ventures, including Leukocyte, Scholar Rock, Morphic Therapeutic, Moderna Therapeutic, Editas Medicine, Selecta Biosciences, Tectonic Therapeutic, and Seismic Therapeutic. His research and company formation has led to six FDA-approved drugs, including antibodies for treating cancer and immune diseases. Notably, he also co-founded the Institute for Protein Innovation: a non-profit to advance entrepreneurship and innovation in protein therapeutics and open-source antibodies.