Douglas Lauffenburger

Douglas Lauffenburger

Ford Professor of Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Biology

Douglas Lauffenburger fosters the interface of bioengineering, quantitative cell biology, and systems biology to determine fundamental aspects of cell dysregulation — identifying and testing new therapeutic ideas.

617-252-1629

Phone

16-429

Office

lauffen@mit.edu

Email

Lab Website
Lindsay King

Assistant

617-253-0805

Assistant Phone

Education

  • PhD, 1979, University of Minnesota
  • BS, 1975, Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Research Summary

The Lauffenburger laboratory emphasizes integration of experimental and mathematical/computational analysis approaches, toward development and validation of predictive models for physiologically-relevant behavior in terms of underlying molecular and molecular network properties. Our work has been recognized as providing contributions fostering the interface of bioengineering, quantitative cell biology, and systems biology. Our main focus has been on fundamental aspects of cell dysregulation, complemented by translational efforts in identifying and testing new therapeutic ideas. Applications addressed have chiefly resided in various types of cancer (including breast, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers along with leukemias and lymphomas), inflammatory pathologies (such as endometriosis, Crohn's disease, colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease), and the immune system (mainly for vaccines against pathogens such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis). We have increasingly emphasized complex tissue contexts, including mouse models, human subjects, and tissue-engineered micro-physiological systems platforms in association with outstanding collaborators. From our laboratory have come more than 100 doctoral and postdoctoral trainees. Many hold faculty positions at academic institutions in the USA, Canada, and Europe; others have gone on to research positions in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies; and others yet have moved into policy and government agency careers.

Awards

  • Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, National Academy of Engineering, 2021
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science, Member, 2019
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 2001
  • John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Guggenheim Fellowship, 1989

Recent Publications

  1. Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts and Squamous Epithelial Cells Constitute a Unique Microenvironment in a Mouse Model of Inflammation-Induced Colon Cancer. Vega, PN, Nilsson, A, Kumar, MP, Niitsu, H, Simmons, AJ, Ro, J, Wang, J, Chen, Z, Joughin, BA, Li, W et al.. 2022. Front Oncol 12, 878920.
    doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.878920PMID:35600339
  2. Delayed fractional dosing with RTS,S/AS01 improves humoral immunity to malaria via a balance of polyfunctional NANP6- and Pf16-specific antibodies. Das, J, Fallon, JK, Yu, TC, Michell, A, Suscovich, TJ, Linde, C, Natarajan, H, Weiner, J, Coccia, M, Gregory, S et al.. 2021. Med (N Y) 2, 1269-1286.e9.
    doi: 10.1016/j.medj.2021.10.003PMID:35590199
  3. Defining the determinants of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and viral control in a dose-down Ad26.CoV2.S vaccine study in nonhuman primates. Zhu, DY, Gorman, MJ, Yuan, D, Yu, J, Mercado, NB, McMahan, K, Borducchi, EN, Lifton, M, Liu, J, Nampanya, F et al.. 2022. PLoS Biol 20, e3001609.
    doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001609PMID:35512013
  4. Functional compartmentalization of antibodies in the central nervous system during chronic HIV infection. Spatola, M, Loos, C, Cizmeci, D, Webb, N, Gorman, MJ, Rossignol, E, Shin, S, Yuan, D, Fontana, L, Mukerji, SS et al.. 2022. J Infect Dis , .
    doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac138PMID:35417540
  5. Collateral responses to classical cytotoxic chemotherapies are heterogeneous and sensitivities are sparse. Dalin, S, Grauman-Boss, B, Lauffenburger, DA, Hemann, MT. 2022. Sci Rep 12, 5453.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09319-1PMID:35361803
  6. mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccines elicit antibodies with differences in Fc-mediated effector functions. Kaplonek, P, Cizmeci, D, Fischinger, S, Collier, AR, Suscovich, T, Linde, C, Broge, T, Mann, C, Amanat, F, Dayal, D et al.. 2022. Sci Transl Med 14, eabm2311.
    doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abm2311PMID:35348368
  7. Altered maternal antibody profiles in women with HIV drive changes in transplacental antibody transfer. Dolatshahi, S, Butler, AL, Siedner, MJ, Ngonzi, J, Edlow, AG, Adong, J, Jennewein, MF, Atyeo, C, Bassett, IV, Roberts, DJ et al.. 2022. Clin Infect Dis , .
    doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac156PMID:35245365
  8. Landscape of HIV neutralization susceptibilities across tissue reservoirs. Wang, C, Schlub, TE, Yu, WH, Tan, CS, Stefic, K, Gianella, S, Smith, DM, Lauffenburger, DA, Chaillon, A, Julg, B et al.. 2022. Clin Infect Dis , .
    doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac164PMID:35234862
  9. Serological Markers of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection. Siddiqui, SM, Bowman, KA, Zhu, AL, Fischinger, S, Beger, S, Maron, JS, Bartsch, YC, Atyeo, C, Gorman, MJ, Yanis, A et al.. 2022. mBio , e0214121.
    doi: 10.1128/mbio.02141-21PMID:35073738
  10. Upper and lower respiratory tract correlates of protection against respiratory syncytial virus following vaccination of nonhuman primates. Zohar, T, Hsiao, JC, Mehta, N, Das, J, Devadhasan, A, Karpinski, W, Callahan, C, Citron, MP, DiStefano, DJ, Touch, S et al.. 2022. Cell Host Microbe 30, 41-52.e5.
    doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.11.006PMID:34879230
More Publications
Photo credit: Kathy Wittman