Dr. Michael W. Deem Bio.

Michael W Deem

Early Life

Dr. Michael W Deem is an award winning and world-renowned scientist. He is currently a venture capitalist and CEO. He was formerly an Entrepreneur in Residence with Khosla Ventures. From 2002 to 2020 he was a professor at Rice University. He received his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering in 1991 from Caltech. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994. He held a postdoctoral position at Harvard University in the field of Physics. He joined the faculty at UCLA in 1996 as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering. In 2002, Dr. Deem joined Rice University as the John W Cox professor of Bioengineering and Physics & Astronomy.

Michael Deem has been the recipient of several notable honors, including the Fannie and John Hertz Fellow at UC Berkeley (1991-1994); NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemistry (1995-1996); Assistant and tenured Associate Professor, UCLA (1996-2002); NSF CAREER Award (1997-2001); Northrop Grumman Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award (1997); Visiting Professor, University of Amsterdam (1999); A Top 100 Young Innovator, MIT’s Technology Review (November 1999) (Profile and Original Profile); Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2000); Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2002); John W. Cox Professor, Bioengineering and Physics & Astronomy, Rice University (2002-2020); Allan P. Colburn Award (2004); Editorial Board Member, Protein Engineering, Design and Selection (2005-present); Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2005); Member, Board of Directors, Biomedical Engineering Society (2005-2008); Fellow, American Physical Society (2006); Member, Rice University Faculty Senate (2006-2009); Vaughan Lectureship, California Institute of Technology (2007); Member, Nominating Committee, Division of Biological Physics, American Physical Society (2007); Member, Board of Governors, Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (2007-present); Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society (2009); BMES Representative on the FASEB Publications & Communications Committee (2009-2012); Professional Progress Award (2010) (Profile); Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2010); External Scientific Advisor, Princeton Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (2010-present); Associate Editor, Physical Biology (2011-2018); Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award, The Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas (2012); Founding Director, Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology (2012-2014, raised $0.5M seed funding); Phi Beta Kappa, Visiting Scholar (2012-2013); Chair, Department of Bioengineering (2014-2017, raised $12M in external startup funding for new faculty); Editorial Advisory Board, Bioengineering and Translational Medicine, (2016-2019); Donald W. Breck Award for zeolite science (2019); and NACD Board Leadership Fellow and Directorship Certification (2020). He was an entrepreneur in Residence with Khosla Ventures (2021-2022) and is a General Partner with Smart Health Catalyzer (2023 to present). His name has been synonymous with innovation and thought-provoking research for three decades. He enjoys mentorship, vaccine design, and helping others invent the future.

In addition to studying the world through a microscope, Deem enjoys getting out into nature to discover more about science in its natural state. Each year, his family would go hiking along the Appalachian Trail in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Education

After a move across the country, from the East Coast to California, Deem received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1991. He did undergraduate research with NAE member Henry Weinberg. He also worked on zeolites and crystallography at Exxon during summers.

From there, Deem headed north to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering in 1994 from NAS member Chandler. During his Ph.D study, Deem wrote his thesis on statistical mechanics and disordered materials.

With his Ph.D in hand, Deem took another cross-country move to do his postdoctoral work at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From 1995-1996, Deem did his fellowship with NAS member David R. Nelson in the Harvard physics department.

Academic Career

With his extensive background in a range of scientific studies, Deem was hired onto the academic faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1996. In 2000, Deem became a tenured Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering for the university. In his role, Deem found his deep passion and conviction of investing in his students and providing an academic environment that promoted growth and learning, both as scientists and developing members of society.

After a successful academic career in California, Deem made the move to Texas in 2002. At Rice University in Houston, Texas, Deem became a John W. Cox Professor of Biochemical and Genetic Engineering in the departments of Bioengineering and Physics & Astronomy. While at the school, Deem founded the university’s Graduate Programs in Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology, the first PhD program in the US with “Synthetic Biology” in the title.

In 2014, Deem became the Chair of the Bioengineering Department for Rice University. During his time as chair, Deem grew the scientific facility by over 50%, doubled the department’s research funding budget, and created a new graduate study program that spanned 9 departments and 2 universities, and had 40 faculty members involved in its management. Deem remained Chair of the Bioengineering department until 2017. At UCLA and later Rice, Deem taught thousands of undergraduate students and advised over 50 graduate students and postdocs.

Michael W Deem

Scientific Career

While investing his efforts into developing students at universities, and a range of organizations over the years.

From 2002-2003, Deem served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Sengent, where he helped develop financial modeling software. This software was later sold to Clarifi for $40 million.

Deem also served as a Board of Directors member for the Biomedical Engineering Society from 2005-2008. While on the board, Deem helped promote student member employment, further educational curriculum, and develop strategies for growth of the society.

From 2008-2010, Deem served as a Scientific Advisory Board Member for Ion Torrent Systems. While on the board, Deem performed all the original feasibility calculations for the development of Ion Torrent sequencing. Ion Torrent was eventually sold to Thermo Fisher for $2.3 billion in 2014. Still today, Deem finds his involvement in this project to be one of the defining moments in his scientific career.

Finally, Deem became the Founder and CEO of Certus LLC in 2009, a post which he still holds today. Certus LLC is a consulting company with deep biotech and energy domain expertise in Texas.

Today Deem is a venture capitalist and CEO. He is a Geneal Partner with SmartHealth Catalyzer. He is also CEO of a startup. Previously, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence with Khosla Ventures.

Research

FunBio

Deem spent over a decade involved in research aiming to find ways mathematics, chemistry, and biology interact with one another in the formation of molecular structure. This project was referred to as FunBio. In its finality, this research proved that variations in environmental pressure can initiate the spontaneous formation of modular structure, with a proportionality constant that depends on the ruggedness of the fitness landscape.

Predictive Physiology

In this research project, Deem studies the relationship between natural variations in biological patterns within the body and overall health. By mirroring the data-collection and high-level computing used to assess weather patterns and variation from those patterns in predictive meteorology, Deem aims to develop methods to predict when the human body will deviate from its biological patterns in the near future.

This knowledge could help intensive care providers predict when care will be needed and provide personalized critical care.

Michael W Deem

Thermodynamics of Pathogen Evolution

By studying the Eigen model extended by Luca Peliti, Michael Deem worked to further understand the link between Bosonic quantum field theory and pathogen evolution. By a thorough examination of the ‘thermodynamic’ analogy between energy and replication rate, mutation rate and temperature, and population size and temperature, Deem was able to exactly solve a wide range of models. Deem developed a method to identify a pathogen before it became dominant by immune pressure at the sequence level and molecular level. This particular research can help public health authorities select an annual vaccine for a pathogen.

Vaccine Development

To further his research on pathogen evolution, Deem went on to help develop the generalized NK (GNK) model of protein evolution. The GNK model the Deem team developed is aimed to measure the formation of and interaction between secondary structures of a protein and for the presence of an active or binding site in the protein.

This research can be used to determine the expected effectiveness of B cell vaccines by determining the difference between the vaccine and infecting virus. Functionally, this model has been used when selecting vaccines for influenza H3N2, some autoimmune diseases, and some cancers.

Michael Deem, Rice University | NSF-Rice Cancer Workshop | October 7-8, 2016 from Stridingedge on Vimeo.

Materials Engineering

Beyond the medical field, Deem has also made contributions to the manufacturing and work arena. Zeolites are minerals commonly used as adsorbents and catalysts in commercial settings. Deem’s group developed the DIFFAX and ZEFSA methods of solving zeolite crystal structures from powder diffusion data.

In addition, Deem’s group has compiled a database of over 4 million zeolite structures and their properties. This database can be used in further research and by commercial users.

Home Life

When the research is done and the academic gown is hung back on its hook, Michael Deem goes home to his two beloved children. On weekends in his small hometown in Texas, both his children play on their local sports teams and spend their free time lost in a good book.

When he isn’t going over genetic code or mentoring students and colleagues, Deem often finds himself at one of the many racetracks in Houston, Dallas, or COTA the only F1 track in the U.S. in Austin. His passion for driving has lent him the privilege of going out with and learning driving techniques with the Porsche Club of America.

To keep fit and take advantage of the beautiful nature Austin has to offer, Deem enjoys rock climbing at the nearby Enchanted Rock. With some commitment to the sport, he has developed to a 12a level in traditional climbing.

Throughout his life, Michael Deem has sought to maintain a deep passion for science, a connection to family, and an admiration for the world’s natural beauty. Overall, Deem aspires to be known for his contributions to the fields of science he has dedicated his life to and to leave a legacy of personal investment in each student, colleague, or fellow scientist he has the privilege of working with.

Michael W. Deem

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