Mehmet Toner
{{short description|Turkish biomedical engineer (born 1958)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Mehmet Toner
| image =
| caption = Mehmet Toner
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}}
| birth_place = Istanbul, Turkey
| nationality = Turkish American
| field = Cryobiology, Biomedical Engineering
| work_institution = Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital
| alma_mater = Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Istanbul Technical University
| doctoral_advisor = Ernest G. Cravalho
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students = Albert Folch, Sangeeta Bhatia, Alexander Revzin
| awards = American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine.
| footnotes =
}}
Mehmet Toner (born 1958) is a Turkish biomedical engineer. He is currently the Helen Andrus Benedict Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School,{{cite web |title=Prof. Mehmet Toner |url=https://ilp.mit.edu/node/12489 |website=MIT Industrial Liaison Program |access-date=20 July 2021}} with a joint appointment as professor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST).{{cite web |title=Mehmet Toner, PhD |url=https://www.massgeneral.org/surgery/cem/faculty-and-staff/mehmet-toner |website=Center for Engineering in Medicine & Surgery |publisher=Massachusetts General Hospital |access-date=20 July 2021}}
Toner is a co-founder and Associate Director of the Center for Engineering in Medicine (CEM) at MGH and Director of the Biomedical Engineering Research and Education Program at MGH. He is one of the Senior Scientific Staff of the Shriners Hospital for Children. He is the founding director of the National Institute of Health's BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems or BioMEMS Resource Center at MGH.{{cite web |title=Mehmet Toner, Ph.D. |url=http://cem.sbi.org/web/people-toner.htm |website=The Center for Engineering in Medicine |access-date=20 July 2021}}
Toner has made contributions to the fields of cryobiology and biopreservation and to the wider field of biomedical engineering.{{Cite web | url=https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/profiles/profile/person/3525 |title = Mehmet Toner | Harvard Catalyst Profiles | Harvard Catalyst}} He has developed techniques in microtechnology and nanotechnology for use in clinical medicine, including the treatment of cancer.
He has been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the National Academy of Medicine.
Early life and education
Toner was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1958. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering at the Istanbul Technical University in 1983, and his master's degree in mechanical engineering at MIT in 1985. Next Toner studied medical engineering with Ernest G. Cravalho{{cite web |title=Ernest G. Cravalho |url=https://academictree.org/etree/peopleinfo.php?pid=798878 |website=Academic Family Tree |access-date=20 July 2021}} at the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), completing his Ph.D. in 1989.
He completed postdoctoral work under Maish Yarmush and Ronald G. Tompkins at MGH.{{cite journal |last1=Yarmush |first1=M. L. |last2=Tompkins |first2=R. G. |last3=Toner |first3=M. |title=Hepatic tissue engineering |journal=Annual Reports of the Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University |date=2001 |issue=4 |page=4062 |url=https://www.researchwithrutgers.com/en/publications/hepatic-tissue-engineering |access-date=20 July 2021}}
Career
In 1990 Toner joined the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and became an assistant professor in biomedical engineering at Harvard Medical School. He became an associate professor in 1996, and a professor in 2002. He is jointly appointed as a professor of health sciences and technology for the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
In 1995 Toner co-founded the Center for Engineering in Medicine (CEM) at MGH together with Maish Yarmush. becoming its associate director. That year, he also founded the Biomedical Engineering Research and Education Program at MGH, becoming its director. In 2004, he became founding director of the NIH BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center at MGH.{{cite web |title=Directorate for Engineering Advisory Committee Members |url=https://www.nsf.gov/attachments/121806/public/MemberBiographies.pdf |website=National Science Foundation avatar National Science Foundation |access-date=20 July 2021}}
In 1999, Toner helped to found the Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, serving as associate editor. As of 2021, Toner became co-editor of the Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, sharing the position with Martin L. Yarmush.{{cite journal |title=Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/journal/bioeng |website=Annual Reviews |access-date=19 July 2021}}
Research
Toner's early work focused on understanding cellular injuries during cryopreservation and finding optimum strategies for cell preservation.{{cite news |last1=Erturk |first1=Maureen |title=Harvard's Ice Man |url=https://turkofamerica.com/index.php/science/health/item/1306-harvard-s-ice-man |access-date=20 July 2021 |work=TurkOfAmerica |date=March 26, 2009}} Toner developed a theory of intra-cellular ice formation while completing his PhD in Medical Engineering at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As part of that work, he proposed acetylated trehalose as a novel cryoprotectant.{{cite news|date=6 February 2016|title=Wait not in vain|url=https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21690025-after-decades-piecemeal-progress-science-cryogenically-storing-human?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2016024n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/n/n|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=11 February 2016}}{{cite journal |last1=Abazari |first1=Alireza |last2=Meimetis |first2=Labros G. |last3=Budin |first3=Ghyslain |last4=Bale |first4=Shyam Sundhar |last5=Weissleder |first5=Ralph |last6=Toner |first6=Mehmet |title=Engineered Trehalose Permeable to Mammalian Cells |journal=PLOS ONE |date=26 June 2015 |volume=10 |issue=6 |pages=e0130323 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0130323 |pmid=26115179 |pmc=4482662 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1030323A |doi-access=free }}
Toner's later work includes bio-sensing, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering. He has helped to develop microelectromechanical and microfluidic devices for point-of-care detection of cancer, AIDS, genetic defects and infectious diseases. He has received awards for the development of the CTC-chip, a microchip which can isolate and detect circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood.{{cite news |last1=Schattner |first1=Elaine |title=A Chip against Cancer: Microfluidics Spots Circulating Tumor Cells |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-chip-against-cancer/ |access-date=20 July 2021 |work=Scientific American |date=April 1, 2009}} During the COVID-19 pandemic, Toner worked with scientists at several institutions to develop a fast, reliable test for SARS-CoV-2 virus.{{cite news |last1=McAlpine-Boston |first1=Kat |title=4 ways engineers aim to save lives during COVID-19 |url=https://www.futurity.org/covid-19-engineers-2341552/ |access-date=20 July 2021 |work=Futurity |date=April 20, 2020}}
Awards
- 2019, Member, US National Academy of Medicine (NAM){{cite web |title=National Academy of Medicine Elects 100 New Members |date=October 21, 2019 |url=https://nam.edu/national-academy-of-medicine-elects-100-new-members/ |website=National Academy of Medicine |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 2017, Member, US National Academy of Engineering (NAE){{cite news |title=Turkish professor elected to US National Academy of Engineering |url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-professor-elected-to-us-national-academy-of-engineering-110262 |access-date=20 July 2021 |work=Hürriyet Daily News |date=February 28, 2017}}{{cite web |title=Professor Mehmet Toner |url=https://www.nae.edu/165664/Professor-Mehmet-Toner |website=National Academy of Engineering |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 2016, Fellow, US National Academy of Inventors (NAI){{cite web |title=2016 NAI Fellows Commemorative Book |date=Mar 16, 2017 |url=https://issuu.com/academyofinventors/docs/nai_fellows_web_3-16-17 |website=|page=45 |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 2010, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Research Team Award, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR){{cite web |title=AACR Team Science Award: Past Recipients |url=https://www.aacr.org/professionals/research/scientific-achievement-awards-and-lectureships/scientific-award-recipients/aacr-team-science-award-recipients/ |website=American Association for Cancer Research |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 2010, Rock Stars of Science, GQ Magazine and Geoffrey Beene Foundation{{cite news |title=UA Professor Named GQ 'Rock Star of Science' |url=https://news.arizona.edu/node?page=471 |access-date=20 July 2021 |work=Arizona Health Sciences Center |date=November 19, 2010}}
- 2008, Breakthrough Award, ''Popular Mechanics”{{cite press release |title=Popular Mechanics Recognizes Life-Changing Innovations With the 2008 Breakthrough Awards |url=https://www.globenewswire.com/fr/news-release/2008/10/15/1009848/0/en/POPULAR-MECHANICS-Recognizes-Life-Changing-Innovations-With-the-2008-Breakthrough-Awards.html |website=Popular Mechanics | date= 15 October 2008 |access-date=20 July 2021}}{{cite news |title=2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards |url=https://www.popularmechanics.co.za/stuff/2008-popular-mechanics-breakthrough-awards/ |access-date=20 July 2021 |work=Popular Mechanics |date=20 November 2008}}
- 1999, Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE){{cite web |title=Mehmet Toner, Ph.D. AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 1999 |url=https://aimbe.org/college-of-fellows/cof-0996/ |website=American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 1997, John F and Virginia B Taplin Faculty Fellow Award Faculty Fellow Award, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology{{cite web |title=HARVARD-MIT DIVISION OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY |url=http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres97/06.07.html |website=MIT Reports to the President 1996-97 |publisher=MIT |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 1995, Whitaker Foundation Special Opportunity Award{{cite web |title=Mehmet Toner |url=https://geoffreybeenefoundation.com/rockstars/?page_id=1071 |website=Rock Stars of Science|date=2010 |access-date=20 July 2021}}
- 1994, Y. C. Fung Faculty Award in Bioengineering, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) (intra-cellular ice formation)
References
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Category:Turkish molecular biologists
Category:Turkish expatriate academics in the United States
Category:Engineers from Istanbul
Category:Istanbul Technical University alumni
Category:Harvard Medical School faculty
Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni
Category:Turkish emigrants to the United States
Category:Turkish mechanical engineers
Category:American academics of Turkish descent