Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, is Institute Professor at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the MIT faculty in 1974, and, in 1999, was named Institute Professor, the highest honor that MIT bestows on a faculty member. He directed the MIT Center for Cancer Research from 1985–1991.
A geneticist and molecular biologist, Dr. Sharp discovered gene splicing, a fundamental process by which disconnected DNA fragments produce a single contiguous RNA molecule. This discovery is a pillar of modern cellular biology and essential to our understanding of how genes work and how their deregulation can lead to cancer. Dr. Sharp shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sir Richard J. Roberts, PhD, and, in 2006, received the National Medal of Science.
A trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Sharp co-founded Biogen (now part of Biogen Idec), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Magen Biosciences. Dr. Sharp holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana.
