Doug Melton, PhD

Doug Melton, PhD, is Co-Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Xander University Professor at Harvard. In 2014 his laboratory was the first to generate large quantities of functional insulin-producing beta cells from human stem cells, curing diabetes in mice. He founded Semma Therapeutics to translate that work, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals later acquired the company. The stem-cell-derived islet program that grew from it advanced into a Phase 1/2 clinical trial that reported the first patient robustly making his own insulin. In 2022 Melton left Harvard to join Vertex directly and continue the islet-replacement effort. His pursuit of a type 1 diabetes cure is deeply personal, because both of his adult children live with the disease; that fact redirected his career from developmental biology decades ago.

Affiliation

Stem-Cell Biologist, Harvard University

Location

Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.