Nathan Stebbins

Nathan Stebbins is a senior principal at Flagship Pioneering, where he works as part of a team of entrepreneurial scientists to conceive, create, resource and grow first-in-class, first-in-category scientific ventures. He joined after completing the Flagship Pioneering Fellowship.

Prior to joining Flagship, Nathan received his Ph.D. in biological engineering from MIT. He completed his graduate research in Professor Ram Sasisekharan’s lab where he studied the biological role of cell surface sugars in disease. Nathan’s thesis research spanned many diverse areas including: identifying and characterizing new therapeutic targets in breast cancer; discovering mutations in avian influenza that lead to human-to-human transmission; and development of therapeutics derived from complex, natural products. His work resulted in multiple patents and publications.

In addition to his academic research, Nathan is also a co-founder of a start-up creating a novel cell-based therapeutics delivery platform. Nathan created and taught several innovative education programs at MIT, including a new biopharma internship program for MIT Ph.D. students and an MITx online course on biotechnologies for infectious disease.

Nathan received a B.S. in biochemistry, cellular, and molecular biology from University of Tennessee in Knoxville. During his undergraduate work, Nathan was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship for his research on uncovering the mechanisms of DNA damage repair and cell-cycle regulation.