Hailing from Columbia University, Prof Michael Sheetz has more than 40 years’ experience in the biomedical field. Introduced to Singapore by Prof Hew Choy Leong of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Biological Sciences, Prof Sheetz was sought to lead an RCE project. This resulted in a two-year effort to organise and submit a proposal on Mechanobiology where Prof Sheetz set the theme and direction of the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI). As Founding Director of the MBI, he led the institute for 10 years and built it into a world-leading research centre in the field of mechanobiology.

Prof Michael Sheetz has a long history in mechanobiological research and was most recently the Director of the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore.  Prior to that he was a Professor at Columbia University where he headed a program in nanomedicine.  At Duke University Medical School, he was Chair of Cell Biology from 1990 to 2000.  He has received many awards including the Lasker Prize, Wiley and Massry Prizes.