Henry Wade Rogers Professor 

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Professor of Chemistry

Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology

 

Milan Mrksich

Milan Mrksich was named Northwestern’s Vice President for Research on May 14, 2020 and served the university as VPR until September of 2023.  In addition to his administrative role at Northwestern leading the Office for Research, Milan is an active scientist and entrepreneur. He advises a group of about 13 PhD students and 5 postdoctoral associates. His breakthrough discovery of the SAMDI technology has become the leading label-free method in drug discovery. Milan founded the SAMDI Tech company in Illinois based on this breakthrough. Milan was also founding Director of Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology and an Associate Director of Technology and Infrastructure in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Sarah Anderson

Vice President For Research

Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Professor of Chemistry

Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology

 

 

Milan Mrksich

Milan Mrksich was named Northwestern’s Interim Vice President for Research on October 1, 2019 and assumed the permanent position on May 14, 2020. In addition to his administrative role at Northwestern leading the Office for Research, Milan is an active scientist and entrepreneur. He advises a group of about 13 PhD students and 5 postdoctoral associates. His breakthrough discovery of the SAMDI technology has become the leading label-free method in drug discovery. Milan founded the SAMDI Tech company in Illinois based on this breakthrough. Milan was also founding Director of Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology and an Associate Director of Technology and Infrastructure in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Publications

Patents

Graduated PhD Students

Previous Postdocs

Academic Employment History

Vice President for Research, Northwestern University

2020-2023

Milan was appointed Vice President for Research at Northwestern in May 2020. He previously served as Interim Vice President for Research from October 2019 to April 2020.

Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry and Cell & Developmental Biology
Northwestern University

2011-Present

After departing the University of Chicago, Milan was named the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern. He also has appointments in Chemistry and Cell & Developmental Biology.

Professor of Chemistry, The University of Chicago

1996-2011

Milan’s first professorial position was at the University of Chicago. He was named Associate Professor of Chemistry in 2000 and Full Professor of Chemistry in 2003.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

1994-1996

After getting his PhD at Caltech, Milan was employed as a postdoc at Harvard University in George Whitesides’ laboratory. 

Education 

American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow

1994-1996

Milan received an ACS Fellowship for his work in the George Whitesides Group at Harvard.

PhD in Organic Chemistry, California Institute of Technology

1989-1994

Milan completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry at Caltech. His advisor was Peter B. Dervan, an internationally-renowned organic chemist.

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1985-1989

Milan completed his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Illinois. His advisor was organic chemist Steven C. Zimmerman.

Other Major Academic Positions

Interim Vice President FOR Research, Northwestern University

2019-2020

Director, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University

2016-2019

Associate Director for Technology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University

2015-2019

Associate Director, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Northwestern University

2001-2015

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

2005-2013

Service and Advisory Positions

DARPA Defense Sciences Research Council

1996-2015; 2006-2008, Chair

Editorial Board of Langmuir

1997-2012

Scientific Advisory Board of Cellomics

1998-2000

Scientific Advisory Board of ChemoCentryx

1999-2007

Scientific Advisory Board of Surface Logix

1999-2005

Editorial Board of E-Biomed: The Journal of Regenerative Medicine

2000-2003

WTEC Panel for International Evaluation of Tissue Engineering Programs

2000

Chair for NIH/BECON Symposium on Biosensors

2001

National Institutes of Health BECM Study Section

2002-2007; 2005-07, Chair

International Panel for Review of Materials Research in United Kingdom

2002

WTEC Panel for International Evaluation of Biosensor Programs

2002

Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, Inc.

2002-2005

Science and Technology Advisory Committee for Argonne National Laboratory

2002-2003

Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory

2003-2008

Scientific Advisory Board of Helicos

2003-2008

Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience

2004-2010

Editorial Board of Chemistry & Biology

2004

Editorial Board of Chemical Society Reviews

2004-2007

Advisory Board of the Searle Scholars Program

2004-2009; 2007-Present, Chair

Founder and Scientific Advisory Board of WMR Biomedical, Inc (NASDAQ:LYRA)

2005-2010

Scientific Advisory Board of NanoInk, Inc.

2007-2011

Editorial Advisory Board of Small

2008-Present

Editorial Board of Disruptive Science and Technology

2011-2013

Editorial Board of Disruptive Science and Technology

2011-2013

Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of SAMDI Tech, Inc

2011-2023

National Institutes of Health Tr01 Study Section

2010-2014; 2013-14, Chair

Advisory Professor, Institute of Chemical Biology and Nanomedicine, Hunan University (China)

2014-2018

Visiting Professor, Institute for Nanomedicine at NTU, Singapore

2015-2019

Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Chemical Biology

2016-Present

External Advisory Board for the Center for Nano-Biotechnology at CWRU

2017-2019

External Advisory Board for the Cancer Center at the University of Illinois

2017-2020

Advisory Board for the NewCores Accelerator Program

2017-Present

Scientific Advisor for SLAS Technology

2018-Present

External Advisory Board for the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the City of Hope

2018-2020

Scientific Director of the Searle Scholars Program

2019-Present

Founder and Director, ModuMab Therapeutics, Inc.

2019-Present

Board of Directors, Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation

2022-Present

Consultant, Charles River Laboratories, Inc.

2023-Present

Scientific Advisory Board, Tasca Therapeutics, Inc.

2024-Present