Tom Maniatis (born May 8, 1943), is an American professor of molecular and cellular biology. He is a professor at Columbia University, and served as the Scientific Director and CEO of the New York Genome Center.

Education

Maniatis received B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and a PhD in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University. He carried out postdoctoral studies at Harvard University and at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

Research and career

Maniatis developed and disseminated gene cloning technologies and their applications in the study of gene regulatory mechanisms.

cDNA Cloning

While an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard, and a member of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) faculty, Maniatis collaborated with Drs. Fotis Kafatos and Argiris Efstratiadis to develop a method for synthesizing and cloning full length double stranded DNA copies of messenger RNA (termed “copy” or cDNA). This method provided a key step in the isolation of human genes, and in the production of “recombinant” proteins in mammalian cells in culture, a central process in the biotechnology industry.

Genomic DNA libraries

Maniatis joined the Department of Biology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena California, where his laboratory developed methods to isolate and study individual human genes. This lab generated the first human genomic DNA library containing all of the genes in the human genome.

Using genomic DNA library, the Maniatis lab isolated and characterized the entire “cluster” of human b-globin genes, which were the first human genes to be cloned and their DNA sequences determined. His laboratory contributed fundamental insights into the mechanisms of RNA transcription, RNA splicing and the regulation of gene expression.

Maniatis returned to Harvard in 1980 where he taught and continued his research. In 2010 he moved to Columbia University. While there he cofounded the New York Genome Center in 2010. He became the Scientific Director and CEO of the center in 2016. In 1979, the Maniatis lab had developed and deployed gene cloning methods. Maniatis and Ed Fritsch taught a summer course in gene cloning at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The company produced several FDA approved drugs “protein biologics” including blood clotting factors for the treatment of hemophilia, and erythropoietin for the treatment of anemia. The company was acquired by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

In 1994, Maniatis, Alfred Goldberg, and others from the Harvard Medical School founded ProScript. The company invented the proteasome inhibitor Velcade (Bortezomid) approved by the FDA for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. ProScript was acquired by Millennium/Takeda Pharma.

In 2004 Maniatis cofounded Acceleron Pharma, a TGF-b company that produced “ligand trap” drugs, including REBLOZYL<sup>®</sup> for the treatment of Myodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and b-thalassaemia.

Maniatis, David Goeddel, and William J. Rutter won the Brandeis University Jacob and Louise Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine in 1999.

Service

Maniatis has served on the board of trustees of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Jackson Laboratory, and the Rockefeller University. He also served on the scientific advisory board of “Prize for Life” founded by Avichai Kremer. Maniatis’ won the Jacob F. Javits Lifetime Achievement Award in ALS research from the ALS Association.

  • The American Medical Association Scientific Achievement Award, 2000.
  • The Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science, 2012.

Maniatis has received Honorary PhD degrees from the University of Athens, the Cold Spring Harbor Graduate School of Biological Sciences, and the Rockefeller University.

References

  • Tom Maniatis: Gene Expression, Cloning and Beyond
  • Harvard Molecular and Cell Biology
  • Lab Website (Columbia)