Arup K. Chakraborty

Research Interests

Statistical Mechanics, Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Immune response to HIV, Vaccine development, Gene regulation in mammals.

Biographic Sketch

Arup K. Chakraborty is one of the 12 Institute Professors at MIT, the highest rank awarded to a MIT faculty member, and holds the John M. Deutch Institute Professorship. He is also a Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry at MIT. He served as the founding Director of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and he is a founding member of the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH, and Harvard. For over two decades now, Chakraborty’s work has largely focused on bringing together approaches from statistical physics, immunology, and virology. His interests span T cell signaling, development of the T cell repertoire, and a mechanistic understanding of virus evolution, antibody responses, and vaccine design. Since 2016, Chakraborty has also been interested in the role of phase separation in gene regulation. Chakraborty is one of only 26 individuals who are members of all three branches of the US National Academies – National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and National Academy of Engineering. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and has received many other honors including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the E. O. Lawrence Medal (DOE), a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics from the American Physical Society, the Colburn, Professional Progress, and Prausnitz Institute Lectureship from the AIChE, and three honorary doctorates. Chakraborty has received 7 awards for his classroom teaching and he is a co-author of the book “Viruses, Pandemics, & Immunity”. Chakraborty is a member of the Board of Governors of the Wellcome Trust, and serves as a consultant for biotechnology companies.