Dr. Stuart Schreiber is a world-renowned chemical biologist whose visionary leadership has fundamentally transformed the integration of chemistry and human biology to advance therapeutic discovery. He currently serves as the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and was one of the four founding core members of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he previously directed the Center for the Science of Therapeutics. Born in Virginia in 1956, he earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1977 and completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University under the mentorship of R. B. Woodward and Y. Kishi. After establishing his independent research program at Yale University from 1981 to 1988, he returned to Harvard where he has remained a central figure while catalyzing the development of interdisciplinary research approaches at the intersection of chemistry and biology.
Dr. Schreiber's seminal contributions include the co-discovery of mTOR and its role in nutrient-response signaling, the discovery of histone deacetylases and demonstration that chromatin marks regulate gene expression, and the development of small-molecule probes that function as molecular glues to promote protein-protein interactions. His groundbreaking work on signaling by the phosphatase calcineurin and kinase mTOR demonstrated for the first time that drugs can result from targeting protein kinases and phosphatases, establishing foundational principles for modern drug discovery. He pioneered diversity-oriented synthesis to create transformative small-molecule screening collections that have enabled systematic exploration of challenging biological targets including transcription factors, oncogenes, and protein-protein interactions. With over 500 publications and an H-index of 133, his research has directly contributed to the development of multiple FDA-approved drugs across various therapeutic areas including antivirals and cancer treatments.
Beyond his direct research contributions, Dr. Schreiber has been instrumental in building the field of chemical biology through his visionary leadership and mentorship of generations of scientists who have gone on to become leaders in academia and industry. He has founded or co-founded 14 biotechnology companies, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Ariad Pharmaceuticals, which have collectively developed 16 first-in-human approved drugs or advanced clinical candidates, demonstrating the profound translational impact of his work. As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and member of both the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, he continues to shape the direction of biomedical research through his commitment to open data sharing and collaborative science. His current work focuses on advancing the science of therapeutics by integrating human biology and chemistry to discover novel treatments for challenging diseases, maintaining his position at the forefront of interdisciplinary research that bridges fundamental science and clinical applications.
