BME-SIG Lecture: Navigating Academia to Biotech CEO

Dr. Laura Niklason is an Anesthesiologist, critical care physician, and a biomedical engineer. Supported by the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program from 1983 – 1988, she obtained her PhD in Biophysics in 1988 and then her MD in 1991. After completing clinical training, she became involved in the nascent field of tissue engineering/regenerative medicine in the mid-1990 ’ s. Niklason was fortunate to gain support for her research from the NIH, as well as several private foundations and the Defense Department, spanning from 1995 through 2022. Niklason ’ s work constantly sought to fuse concepts in physical sciences and engineering with basic biological principles, in order to generate functional replacement tissues in vitro. After working in vascular tissue engineering for a decade, Niklason also spun out a small biotechnology company, Humacyte, in 2005. Motivation for starting this company sprang from the insight that, in order to “ make the leap ” from the laboratory into the clinic, the resources and people required exceeded those resources available from governmental and foundation grants. Private investment was clearly needed. Since 2005, Humacyte has raised more than $700 million dollars, and has brought a first-in-class engineered artery into more than 500 patients across multiple clinical indications. After straddling academia (Duke, Yale Universities) and the corporate world for 16 years, Niklason transitioned to the CEO role at Humacyte, taking the company...
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