Tim Harris (biochemist)

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Tim Harris
Born (1950-05-11) May 11, 1950 (age 74)
NationalityUK/US dual citizen
Alma mater University of Birmingham, UK
Known forTranslational Medicine
Scientific career
Fields Biotechnology
InstitutionsRepertoire Immune Medicines

Tim Harris (born 11 May 1950) is a molecular biologist/biochemist who is a science and business leader who has led laboratory work, scientists and companies in a range of research activities in the Biotechnology Industry since 1978. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Harris was brought up in the Chiltern Hills west of London and is the son of Dr. RJC Harris who was a chemist and cancer research scientist and who was at ICRF and later ran the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down in the 1970s. Harris was educated at Uppingham school and obtained a BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in Molecular Virology with Prof Peter Wildy at the University of Birmingham. He was awarded an honorary doctorate for his work in Biotechnology from his alma mater in 2010. [3] [4]

Work

Harris was EVP of Research & Development at Bioverativ until it was acquired by Sanofi in 2018. From 2011 to 2016, He worked as SVP Translational Medicine at Biogen. [5] [6] He was CEO of SGX Pharmaceuticals from 1999 to 2006, VP R&D at Sequana Therapeutics (1993-1999), and Director of the Advanced Technology Program and CTO at SAIC-Frederick, Inc. (2007-2011). He began his scientific career working in the UK on animal viruses at the Animal Virus Research Institute at Pirbright and spent one year (1976-1977) at SUNY Stony Brook working with Dr. E Wimmer on polio virus. [7] [8] Dr. Harris was one of the first molecular biologists to be employed at the UK Biotech company Celltech (now UCB Pharma) (1981-1989). Dr Harris was Director of Biotechnology at Glaxo Group Research (Now GSK) (1989-1993). He is presently a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors. [9] [10] [11] Dr. Harris has founded several biotechnology companies including Caraway Therapeutics, a lysophagy company (2016) bought by Merck in 2023 and Catamaran Bio (2019), a company developing NK cell therapeutics. [12] [13] He is currently on the board of directors of Phenome TX in Edinburgh and Chairman of the SAB of Catamaran Bio. He was also a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York. Dr Harris has published over 100 scientific papers and several reviews. Some of the most important include identifying genes involved in ALS using exome sequencing and finding risk factors associated with NMO. Most recently he has published on the importance of T cells in SARS CoV-2 infection. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] He has written a book on the history of the biotech industry called ' In pursuit of unicorns: A journey through 50 years of biotechnology' which will be published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in early 2024.

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References

  1. ↑ Peters, Rob; Harris, Tim (2018). "Advances and innovations in haemophilia treatment". Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery. 17 (7): 493–508. doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.70. ISSN   1474-1784. PMID   29880919. S2CID   46953806.
  2. ↑ "Biogen, ALS Association, Columbia to Study ALS Genomics in 1,500 Patients (GenomeWeb) | Technology Ventures". techventures.columbia.edu. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "Tim Harris, Ph.D., D.Sc". GoldLab Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "Honorary graduands for July 2010". Birmingham.ac.uk. 19 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Biogen partners with Columbia to find genetic 'signposts' of ALS". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "Industry veteran brings expertise to Bioverativ". www.thepharmaletter.com. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  7. ↑ Harris, Tim; Papadopoulos, Stelios; Goldstein, David B. (1 June 2015). "Academic–industrial partnerships in drug discovery in the age of genomics". Trends in Biotechnology. 33 (6): 320–322. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2015.02.009. ISSN   0167-7799. PMID   25987446.
  8. ↑ "New faces at the Bionomics". labonline.com.au. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "Tim Harris - EVP, Corporate Development at Repertoire Immune Medicines". THE ORG. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  10. ↑ "Tim Harris, DSc, PhD • Repertoire Immune Medicines". Repertoire Immune Medicines. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  11. ↑ "Bioverativ Appoints Tim Harris Executive Vice President, Research and Development". www.businesswire.com. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  12. ↑ "The Protein Hunters". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Harris, Tim; Buckler, Alan (1997). "In defense of genomics". Nature Biotechnology. 15 (9): 820–1. doi: 10.1038/nbt0997-820 . ISSN   1546-1696. PMID   9306388. S2CID   40600192.
  14. ↑ "Tim Harris". SV Health Investors. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  15. ↑ "Bioverativ : Appoints Tim Harris Executive Vice President, Research and Development | MarketScreener". m.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  16. ↑ "Dr. Tim Harris". HSTalks. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  17. ↑ Cirulli,E., et al., (2015) (2015). "Exome sequencing in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis identifies risk genes and pathways". Science. 347 (6229): 1436–41. Bibcode:2015Sci...347.1436C. doi:10.1126/science.aaa3650. PMC   4437632 . PMID   25700176.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Estrada, Karol; et al. 2018 (2018). "A whole-genome sequence study identifies genetic risk factors for neuromyelitis optica". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 1929. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.1929E. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04332-3. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5955905 . PMID   29769526.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ Sauer, Karsten; Harris, Tim (2020). "An Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Needs to Engage T Cells". Frontiers in Immunology. 11: 581807. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.581807 . ISSN   1664-3224. PMC   7549399 . PMID   33117391.
  20. ↑ Harris, Tim; Sauer, Karsten (17 February 2021). "Are T cell repertoires useful as diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2 infection?". Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics. 21 (2): 137–139. doi:10.1080/14737159.2021.1882852. ISSN   1473-7159. PMC   7898294 . PMID   33595410.
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