| David Berry | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 10, 1978 |
| Education | MIT, Harvard Medical School |
| Occupation | Venture capitalist, Flagship Ventures |
David Berry, M.D., PhD., is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He is a Partner at Flagship Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Cambridge, MA. Berry is founder and CEO of Essentient, a company founded in 2009 to transform global nutrition [1].
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Berry was born in New York City in 1978. He graduated Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY in 1996. Berry graduated with a S.B. Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. He was awarded his PhD from the Biological Engineering Division at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after completing his thesis in the labs of Robert Langer and Ram Sasisekharan. Berry earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 2006.[2]
Berry joined Flagship Ventures, a Cambridge, Massachusetts based venture capital firm that invests in and founds companies in healthcare and clean technology, in 2005 where he is a Partner. Berry has been described "a rising star of the Boston-area venture capital scene," [3] and "one of the most brilliant thinkers." [4] Berry serves on the Board of Directors of Joule Unlimited, Theracrine, Eleven Biotherapeutics.[5] Berry has been an author of 14 scientific papers and over 40 patent applications.
In 2005, Berry co-founded LS9, with Chris Somerville, Jay Keasling, and George Church, which uses synthetic biology to engineer microorganisms to covert sustainable, plant-based materials into low-carbon fuels and chemicals, where he helped invent the early technologies and build the intellectual property estate.[6] The technology behind LS9 led to its being named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2008[7] and its being awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s highest environmental honor.[8]
In 2007, Berry co-founded Joule Unlimited, which is developing Solar Fuels—drop-in fuels produced directly from the sun. Berry served as President and CEO of the company through April 2009, and currently serves on the Board of Directors.[9] In March 2010 [10] and in April 2010, Joule’s technology was named by Technology Review, and again in March 2011, Joule was named by Technology Review as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies, as one of the 10 most important emerging technologies.[11] Berry has been recognized as one of the top people in bioenergy by Biofuels Digest.[12]
In 2009, Berry co-founded Theracrine with Joan Massague, Robert Weinberg, Doug Hanahan, and Michael Rosenblatt where he served as founding CEO, and current serves on the Board of Directors. Theracrine is developing cancer therapeutics based on a new understanding of the disease.[13]
In 2009, Berry also co-founded Essentient, a company focused on transforming global nutrition, where he serves as President and CEO. [14]
Berry currently serves as a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[18] He is additionally a trustee at the Hackley School[19], a member of the Global Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum.[20], and a Board Member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.