Lessons from ChemE for a career in biotech
Jordi Mata-Fink, PhD ’12
Co-Founder & CEO
Gate Bioscience
Friday, September 13, 2024
3:00 p.m. (reception 2:30 p.m.)
Room: 66-110
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[Photos]
Abstract:
Jordi Mata-Fink founded and now leads a high-flying biotech company that has raised millions of dollars from top venture capitalists. Before that, he was a path-setter at Flagship Pioneering, ushering four first-of-their-kind companies into existence. And before that, he was a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at MIT, working on a project completely unrelated to any of his eventual companies and despairing of ever graduating.
In this 2024 Charles L Cooney Lecture, Jordi will share stories from his journey from PhD student to founder/CEO, and lessons for others interested in a career in biotech and entrepreneurship.
Bio:
Jordi Mata-Fink is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Gate Bioscience. Gate is developing a new class of medicines called Molecular Gates, small molecules that selectively eliminate harmful extracellular proteins at their source, inside the cell. Since its founding in 2021, Gate has raised nearly $70M from leading life science venture capital firms. Gate is based in the SF Bay Area and employs 30 scientists, engineers, and drug discoverers.
Jordi began his career at Flagship Pioneering, a premier life science venture creation firm, beginning as a Summer Fellow while still a PhD student. At Flagship, Jordi helped originate and launch multiple biotechnology companies, including Editas Medicine, Rubius Therapeutics, Cygnal Therapeutics, and Generate Biomedicines.
Jordi earned a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2012, where he worked with Dane Wittrup to apply the tools of protein engineering and directed evolution to the design of HIV vaccines. He was an inaugural Fellow of the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH, and Harvard, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.