Katherine Mirica, associate professor of chemistry, and Paul Guyre, emeritus professor of microbiology and immunology, received Dartmouth Technology Innovation Awards in a ceremony held on April 8 at Kellogg Hall.

Mirica received the Dartmouth Rising Star Innovator Award for groundbreaking research in materials chemistry that is redefining possibilities for accessible electronic sensing devices. Guyre, who has been at the forefront of research in cancer immunotherapy, was honored with the Dartmouth Technology Innovation and Commercialization Award.

Presented by the Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, the awards recognize and honor outstanding inventive and entrepreneurial researchers at Dartmouth who have made societal and economic impact.

“This event is an opportunity to celebrate the importance of innovation at Dartmouth writ large, and the opportunity for that innovation to really have an impact on the nation and the world,” Provost David Kotz ’86 said in his welcoming address. He recognized the importance of several organizations on campus that foster innovation and support the translation of research to real-world applications and stressed the need to effectively communicate the work done at Dartmouth to nurture basic and applied science that leads to innovation and impact.

The Dartmouth Rising Star Innovator Award is a new addition this year that recognizes faculty earlier in their career who are pursuing outstanding research innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, said Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Eric Fossum, the John H. Krehbiel Sr. Professor for Emerging Technologies at Thayer School of Engineering and director of Dartmouth’s PhD Innovation Program. Fossum introduced Mirica, the inaugural winner.

Mirica uses innovative experimental strategies to study and refine the interactions of small molecules with materials in functional devices that have a broad range of applications—from highly effective temporary glues that can unlock new manufacturing strategies to “smart” coatings that can be integrated into fabrics offering protection from toxic gases.

Materials and methods developed in her lab also have applications in information storage, and energy storage, conversion, and catalysis. With 11 Dartmouth invention disclosures, 12 U.S. patent filings, and five issued patents generating over 900 citations, Mirica’s innovations promise to create impact in fields from microelectronics to health care to environmental stewardship.

Mirica, who was born and raised in Ukraine before her family moved to Rhode Island when she was starting high school, brings her spirit of innovation to her classrooms as well. She collaborated with the Digital Applied Learning and Innovation Lab to use VR technology to bring chemistry lessons to life. 

She won the Cottrell Scholar Award from Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2019 and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 2020. Both awards recognize academic leaders who integrate pioneering research with a deep commitment to teaching. 

“I’m extremely honored and grateful for this recognition that really validates a lot of the effort that my research team has been putting into the scientific discovery and their potential impact,” said Mirica, who acknowledged the Dartmouth ecosystem that provided an important platform for supporting her entrepreneurial activities. 

“The investment into fundamental science and basic scientific research, I think, is what has enabled us to create patented technologies that we believe can make an impact down the road. And I don’t think those two activities can really be disconnected,” she said.

The Technology Innovation and Commercialization awardee, Guyre, joined the ceremony via Zoom as did many of his family members, friends, and colleagues.

An immunologist and entrepreneur with a remarkable 43-year tenure at Dartmouth, he is known for his pioneering work in bispecific monoclonal antibodies. First patented in 1986, this class of proteins can be used to target cancer cells and enhance the immune system’s response against cancer.

In his introduction of Guyre, Jake Reder, director of the New Ventures Office at Geisel, highlighted his impact not just as a scientist and innovator but also as a devoted conservationist. “Paul has consistently applied the scientific method to advance human knowledge for the benefit of us all. He is a role model for us all, for how to live a life in science, and clearly shows us that with a good measure of brilliance and determination, we too might change the world,” said Reder.

In 1987, Guyre co-founded Medarex, the company that developed the first successful immunotherapy drugs for cancer. Its intellectual property has led to over 40 FDA-approved therapies, saving more than a million lives.

Guyre continued to teach and pursue research, leading the field in harnessing antibodies to stimulate the immune system, which paved the way for a new type of immunotherapy called “checkpoint inhibition therapies.”

With 45 issued patents and 37 more in process, Guyre exemplifies the profound impact of innovation, saving lives and transforming medicine.