Derrick Rossi Explained

Derrick J. Rossi (born 5 February 1966),[1] is a Canadian stem cell biologist and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of the pharmaceutical company Moderna.

Early life and education

Rossi was born in Toronto as the youngest of five children of a Maltese immigrant family.[2] His father Fred worked in auto body shops for 50 years[3] and his mother Agnes co-owned a Maltese bakery.

Rossi attended the Dr. Norman Bethune High School in Scarborough where he early discovered his passion for molecular biology. He then did his undergraduate and master's degrees in molecular genetics at the University of Toronto.[4] He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki in 2003 and held a post-doc position from 2003 to 2007 at Stanford University in Irving Weissman’s lab.[5]

Career

Rossi was appointed Associate Professor at the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University.[6] At the same time he was a principal faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and an investigator at the Immune Disease Institute (IDI),[7] as well as in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Children’s Hospital Boston.[8]

Moderna was founded in 2010, based on discovery that pluripotent stem cells can be transformed and reprogrammed.[9] [10] Time magazine cited this pluripotent discovery as one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of the year.[11]

In 2013 Rossi, Chien and their team reported that they "were able to improve heart function in mice and enhance their long-term survival with a "redirection of their [stem cell] differentiation toward cardiovascular cell types" in a significant step towards regenerative therapeutics for Moderna.[12] In the same year and on the strength of the same paper Moderna was able to partner with AstraZeneca in exchange for $240 million "in upfront cash (plus much more in potential milestone payments)", and then received from other investors $110 million.[12]

In 2014 Rossi retired from his functions at the board and as a scientific advisor at Moderna.

In 2015 Rossi was scientific co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics. In 2016 Rossi co-founded Magenta Therapeutics. Rossi was involved in the foundation of Stelexis Therapeutics, which develops new medication for treating cancerous stem cells.[13]

In 2018 Rossi retired from all of his Harvard positions in order to focus on his activities as an entrepreneur. Rossi serves as the interim CEO of the New York Stem Cell Foundation. Rossi is also CEO of Convelo Therapeutics.[14]

Scientific contributions

Rossi develops and promotes new therapies using biotechnological methods thus contributing to novel approaches in regenerative medicine. His research focussed on different aspects of stem cell biology. In order to avoid ethical issues related to the use and exploitation of human stem cells, Rossi based his developments on the results of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman on mRNA. He succeeded in finding investors for his plans to transfer these findings into new medications and vaccinations by founding Moderna.[15]

Rossi is on record as writing of his synthetic modified mRNA: "because our technology is RNA based, it completely eliminates the risk of genomic integration and insertional mutagenesis inherent to all DNA-based methodologies."

Awards and honours

In 2021 he was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award in the category "Scientific Research".[16]

Selected papers

Family life

Rossi is married to Finnish biologist Nina Korsisaari and father of three daughters.[17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. American Men & Women of Science (2015). 33rd Edition. Cengage Learning: Detroit.
  2. News: Joe O'Connor . Meet the Canadian hockey dad behind COVID-19 vaccine developer Moderna . nationalpost.com . 28 May 2020. 6 March 2021.
  3. News: How Dad Made a Difference . 9 August 2018 . . 16 June 2011 . D1 . subscription.
  4. Web site: Rahul Kalvapalle . From the lab to saving lives: Moderna co-founder Derrick Rossi on becoming a serial entrepreneur . utoronto.ca . 22 February 2021 . 6 March 2021.
  5. Web site: About the researcher . harvard.edu . 6 March 2021 . 9 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220209104526/https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/researchers/r/derrick-rossi . dead .
  6. Web site: Derrick Rossi, PhD. NYSCF. 6 March 2021.
  7. Web site: Derrick J Rossi's scientific contributionswhile affiliated with Harvard University (Cambridge, United States) and other places. Research Gate. 26 February 2018.
  8. Web site: Derrick J. Rossi, Ph.D.. VOR Biopharma. 26 February 2018. 26 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180226152011/http://www.vorbiopharma.com/derrick-rossi/. dead.
  9. News: Kutz . Erin . ModeRNA, Stealth Startup Backed By Flagship, Unveils New Way to Make Stem Cells . Xconomy, Inc . 4 October 2010.
  10. Web site: Lawrence Goodman. Rosenstiel Award winners celebrated for life-saving scientific breakthroughs . brandeis.edu . 10 February 2021 . 6 March 2021.
  11. Web site: Children's researcher honored by TIME Magazine. Thriving. 26 February 2018. 26 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180226211843/https://thriving.childrenshospital.org/childrens-researcher-honnored-by-time-magazine/. dead.
  12. News: Timmerman . Luke . Moderna Vacuums Up Another $110M to Make Messenger RNA Drugs . Xconomy, Inc . 20 November 2013.
  13. News: Servick . Kelly . This mysterious $2 billion biotech is revealing the secrets behind its new drugs and vaccines . 9 August 2018 . Science . 1 February 2017 . en.
  14. Web site: The Science of Startups: Drs. Derrick Rossi and Paul Tesar Discuss How Their Biotechs Are Bringing Stem Cell Research to Patients. Dec 10, 2020.
  15. News: Damian Garde, Jonathan Saltzman . The story of mRNA: How a once-dismissed idea became a leading technology in the Covid vaccine race . statnews.com . 10 November 2020 . 6 March 2021.
  16. Web site: Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman, Philip Felgner, Uğur Şahin, Özlem Türeci, Derrick Rossi and Sarah Gilbert - Laureates - Princess of Asturias Awards. Developed with webControl CMS by Intermark. IT. The Princess of Asturias Foundation. 13 December 2021.
  17. News: Courtney Shea . "It's likely we'll see another pandemic in the next 20 years": The Toronto scientist who invented the Covid vaccine technology says we need to prepare for the next virus. torontolife.com . 17 February 2020 . 6 March 2021.