Chemistry of Life Processes Institute faculty member Thomas J. Meade has been named 2017 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Thomas J. Meade is the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Cancer Research in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the McCormick School of Engineering. He has appointments in five Northwestern departments: chemistry, molecular biosciences, neurobiology, biomedical engineering and radiology. Meade also is director of the Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging (CAMI).

Meade’s research has led to the development of electronic biosensors for the detection of DNA and proteins and the development of bioactivated magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agents for in vivo imaging of cancer. His research focuses on bioinorganic coordination chemistry and its application, including biological molecular imaging, electron transfer processes and the development of electronic biosensors for the detection of DNA and proteins. He has founded four biotech companies — Clinical Micro Sensors, Metaprobe, PreDx and Ohmx — that are developing handheld devices for protein and DNA detection and bioactivated magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agents for in vivo imaging of cancer.

Meade will be inducted April 6 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston as part of the 2017 annual conference of the National Academy of Inventors. U.S. Commissioner for Patents Andrew Hirshfeld will provide the keynote address for the ceremony.

The naming of Meade and 174 others brings the total number of NAI Fellows to 757, representing more than 220 research universities and governmental and nonprofit research institutions.

The academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI Fellow are named inventors on U.S. patents and were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society and support and enhancement of innovation.

Original article published on the Northwestern Now website.  Written by Megan Fellman.