Rate My Professor Timothy Springer

Timothy A. Springer is the Latham Family Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he directs the Springer Lab in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and the Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine. He earned a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1971, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Harvard University in 1976, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship with Cesar Milstein at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. Springer joined the Harvard Medical School faculty as Assistant Professor in 1977 and has held the Latham Family Professorship since 1989. His pioneering research has elucidated the molecular mechanisms of cell adhesion and signaling critical to immunology, hemostasis, inflammation, and infectious diseases. Using monoclonal antibodies, he discovered adhesion receptors on lymphocytes and leukocytes, including lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1), intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs), and the β2 integrin subfamily. He defined the three-step paradigm for leukocyte extravasation: selectin-mediated rolling, chemokine-induced activation, and integrin-dependent firm adhesion and migration. Current investigations employ x-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, cryo-EM, and single-molecule force spectroscopy to reveal force-induced conformational changes that activate integrins, von Willebrand factor in thrombosis, latent transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) complexes, and adhesins on malaria sporozoites.

Springer's discoveries have profoundly impacted therapeutics and biotechnology. They enabled FDA approvals of efalizumab (anti-LFA-1) and alefacept (LFA-3 Fc fusion) for psoriasis, and vedolizumab (anti-α4β7 integrin, Entyvio) for inflammatory bowel disease. In 1993, he founded LeukoSite, which advanced these and other drugs including bortezomib (Velcade) for multiple myeloma before its $3 billion acquisition by Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 1999. With over 500 publications and a Hirsch index of 147, landmark papers include 'Adhesion receptors of the immune system' (Nature, 1990) and 'Ligand binding initiates single-molecule integrin conformational activation' (Cell, 2024). Honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the Crafoord Prize (2004), Canada Gairdner International Award (2019), Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (2022), Biophysical Society Founders Award (2022), American Society of Hematology Stratton Medal (2014), American Association of Immunologists Meritorious Career Award, Protein Society Stein & Moore Award (2025), and election as Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2025). As a philanthropist and serial entrepreneur, he has endowed chairs at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, serves on the Children's Hospital Board of Trustees, and founded the Institute for Protein Innovation to advance open-source protein therapeutics.