Inc., a world leader in the production and supply of reagents for the life
science industry, located in Beverly, MA.
Frank Reynolds, InVivo founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am
delighted to welcome Dr. Roberts to our scientific advisory board. His
demonstrated expertise in molecular biology will bring a valuable new
perspective to InVivo's work."
Educated in England, Roberts completed postdoctoral research at Harvard
University and later worked with James D. Watson, PhD, at Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory, in New York State. Roberts is known for his work in molecular
and computational biology—and especially for his pioneering use of computer
methods and databases for studying DNA and its component structures.
In 1993, he won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery
that a given gene could be present in DNA as several, well-separated
segments. The discovery of "split genes" has been of great importance to
basic biological and more medically-oriented research.
InVivo was founded in 2005 to develop cellular therapies for spinal cord
injuries, based on work initiated in the laboratories of Robert Langer, PhD,
and Yang (Ted) Teng, MD, PhD. Langer is Institute Professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Teng is associate professor of
neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School. Both are InVivo founders and members
of the company’s scientific advisory board.
Langer said: "I am very pleased that Dr. Roberts will be joining InVivo’s
scientific advisory board. I look forward to working with such a
distinguished scientist."
Roberts said: "What I’ve seen so far looks absolutely fascinating. I
believe this work holds great promise for the future. It is crucial that
such work move from the laboratory to the clinic because there is a
desperate need to help people with spinal cord injuries."
Every year, more than 170 thousand people worldwide are left paralyzed by
traumatic spinal cord injuries, according to US government statistics.
Although it is not currently possible to repair such injuries, the InVivo
team believes that by minimizing additional injury to surrounding tissue and
promoting new tissue growth, it will be able to improve function in spinal
cord injury patients, Reynolds said.
*
InVivo Therapeutics Corporation is a Cambridge, MA medical device company
focused on combining polymers and stem cells to restore function in
individuals paralyzed as a result of traumatic spinal cord injury. The
company was founded in 2005 on the basis of research initiated in the
laboratories of Robert Langer, PhD, of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. and Yang (Ted) Teng, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School.
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