Jeffrey Karp (born 1975) is a Canadian

biomedical engineer Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

, and the principal faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Affiliate Faculty at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

through the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He is also an affiliate faculty at the

Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The institu ...

Education

Karp was born and raised in

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

. He graduated from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in 1999 with a degree in chemical engineering. While at McGill he also co-founded the McGill Engineering Code of Ethics "The Blueprint". He received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 2004. From 2004 until 2006, Karp was a postdoctoral fellow in

Robert Langer Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng (born August 29, 1948) is an American biotechnologist, businessman, chemical engineer, chemist, and inventor. He is one of the nine Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was fo ...

's laboratory at MIT in the Harvard–MIT Program of Health Sciences and Technology; Karp had applied for the position but Langer had no funds to pay him, so Karp secured funding from the

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

and Langer accepted him.

Research

In the Langer lab, Karp was inspired by another lab's publication in ''Nature'' that described adhesives based on the way that

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

's feet stick to surfaces; he and Langer applied for funding from NSF to make medical adhesives based on geckos, and received the funding. In 2007 he received an appointment and his own lab at

Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

, at a location near MIT; he retained his association with the Harvard–MIT HST program. He has made mentoring high school students, undergraduates, PhD students, and post docs a priority, and in 2008 he won the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Mentor Award at MIT, and in 2010 he won the Thomas A. McMahon Mentoring Award from the HST program. In 2013 the company Gecko Biomedical was founded based on the gecko adhesive work, as well as subsequent work done in the Karp lab based on secretions of

sandcastle worm ''Phragmatopoma californica'', commonly known as the sandcastle worm, the honeycomb worm or the honeycomb tube worm, is a reef-forming marine polychaete worm belonging to the family Sabellariidae, Sabellarididae. It is dark brown in color with a ...

s. In 2014 the company Skintifique was formed to commercialize a barrier cream Karp had invented to prevent skin reactions in people with

nickel allergy Nickel allergy is any of several allergy, allergic conditions provoked by exposure to the chemical element nickel. Nickel allergy often takes the form of nickel allergic contact dermatitis (Ni-ACD), a form of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). Ni- ...

. In 2015 the company Frequency Therapeutics was founded to create treatments for hearing loss based on work done by Langer and Karp inspired by the ability of some amphibians and birds to regrow hair cells that have been damaged. In 2016 the company Alivio Therapeutics was founded based on work by Langer and Karp on a hydrogel to deliver drugs, intended to stick to tissue and only release the drug in response to inflammation.

Recognition

Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

'' listed him in 2008 as one of the top innovators under the age of 35 (

TR35 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at '' Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...

). Karp received the 2011 Young Investigator award from the Society for Biomaterials, and also in 2011, the ''

Boston Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes ''The Business Journals'', which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States with each market ...

'' profiled him as a Champion in Health Care Innovation.

References

External links

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TEDmed talk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karp, Jeffrey American bioengineers Stem cell researchers Harvard Medical School faculty McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni University of Toronto alumni People from Peterborough, Ontario Living people Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering 1976 births Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni