Laura Elizabeth Niklason is a physician, professor and internationally recognized researcher in vascular and lung tissue engineering. She is the Nicholas M. Greene Professor of Anesthesiology and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University[1] and co-founder, chief executive officer and president of Humacyte, a regenerative medicine company developing bioengineered human tissues.[2]
Her work on lab-grown lungs was recognized as one of the top 50 most important inventions of 2010 by Time magazine.[3][4] Niklason was included on Fortune’s “Digital Health Care Leaders” list in 2017 for her work in regenerative medicine.[5]
Niklason was a faculty member at Duke University from 1998 to 2005.[1] In 2004, Niklason along with Drs. Shannon Dahl and Juliana Blum, co-founded Humacyte, a company based in Durham, North Carolina, that is pioneering the development and manufacture of off-the-shelf, universally implantable, bioengineered human tissues to improve the lives of patients and transform the practice of medicine.[2][11] In 2006, Niklason joined the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine, where she currently serves as an adjunct professor of anesthesia and biomedical engineering.[12]
In 2010, Niklason and her colleagues were able to successfully produce an engineered rat lung that could inhale and exhale carbon dioxide.[13] In 2013, Niklason along with Duke researcher Dr. Jeffery Lawson, developed a bioengineered blood vessel, which Lawson grafted into an artery in a Duke patient's arm.[14]
In 2016, Niklason was named as the Nicholas M. Greene Professor of Anesthesiology and Biomedical Engineering at Yale.[15] As part of a research team, Niklason conducted clinical trials into the effectiveness of giving patients experiencing kidney failure bioengineered blood vessels.[16]
In 2020, Niklason was appointed CEO and president of Humacyte.[17] Under Niklason’s leadership, the company went public through a merger with Alpha Healthcare Acquisition Corp in 2021.[18][19][20][21]
Niklason, a renowned world leader in cellular therapies and regenerative medicine, continues to maintain an active scientific laboratory, and speaks globally on her research in vascular and non-vascular tissue engineering.
Philanthropy
The Brady W. Dougan and Laura E. Niklason House at University of Chicago was named for her.[22]
Awards and honors
Niklason is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including:
2021: Named one of FiercePharma's 2021 Fiercest Women in Biotech.[23]
2021: Winner of Triangle Business Journal 2021 Life Sciences Award. Award went to Humacyte, Inc., of which Niklason is the founder.[24]
2011: Winner of Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Innovators Award for 2011, for development of "off-the-self" tissue engineered vascular graft to treat patients with vascular disease. Award went to Humacyte, Inc., of which Niklason is the founder.[29]
2011: Winner of Frost & Sullivan Growth, Innovation & Leadership Award 2011, for development of engineered vascular graft. Award went to Humacyte, Inc., of which Niklason is founder.
2010: 50 best inventions of 2010 (engineered lung) Time[4]
2008: College of Fellows, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)[30]
2002: Beeson Physician Scholars Award, American Federation for Aging Research
2001: One of 21 U.S. News & World Report Innovators for 2001
Poh, M., Boyer, M., Dahl, S., Pedrotty, D., Banik, S., McKee, J., Klinger, R., Counter, C., Niklason, L. "Blood Vessels Engineered From Human Cells," The Lancet, (2005), 366, 9489; 891–892.
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