Michael W. Deem is an American engineer, scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. Deem received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1991 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994. His thesis research was in statistical mechanics and disordered materials with David Chandler. He did postdoctoral research at Harvard University in physics with David R. Nelson. Deem joined the faculty at University of California, Los Angeles, in 1996 and rose to the rank of associate professor of chemical engineering. From 2002 to 2020 Deem was the John W. Cox Professor of Biochemical and Genetic Engineering and professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Deem was the founding director of the graduate program in systems, synthetic, and physical biology at Rice University, 2012-2014. From 2014 to 2017, Deem served as the chair of the bioengineering department at Rice University.[1]

Michael W. Deem
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCalifornia Institute of Technology (BS)
University of California at Berkeley (PhD)
Known forparallel tempering
AwardsNational Science Foundation CAREER Awards (1997)
Top 100 Young Innovator, MIT Technology Review (1999)
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (2009)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemical and Genetic Engineering
Doctoral students

Deem has been elected Fellow to the American Physical Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1997), Top 100 Young Innovator by the MIT Technology Review (1999), Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (2000) (2000), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2002), Allan P. Colburn Award of the AIChE (2004), Professional Progress Award of the AIChE (2010), Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award of TAMEST, visiting scholar of Phi Beta Kappa (2012-2013), and Donald W. Breck Award in Molecular Sieve Science from the International Zeolite Association (2019).

From 2008 to 2010, Deem was an academic adviser to He Jiankui, the controversial scientist who was involved with the He Jiankui affair related to gene-edited babies. Deem was involved in the research, and was present when people involved in the study gave consent.[2] In November 2018, Rice University announced it would open a 'full investigation' into Deem's involvement in that project.[3] Deem resigned from the university in 2020.[4]

From 2021 to 2022, Deem was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Khosla Ventures, where he worked to select, mentor, and incubate portfolio companies.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Home". mwdeem.org.
  2. ^ "Chinese researcher claims first gene-edited babies". AP News. 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  3. ^ Joseph, Andrew (26 November 2018). "Rice opens investigation into researcher who worked on CRISPR'd baby project". StatNews.com. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  4. ^ "The creator of the CRISPR babies has been released from a Chinese prison". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
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