Regular biography
Stephen J. Lippard is the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research spans biological and inorganic chemistry, focusing on biological interactions involving metal ions, particularly reactions and physical and structural properties of metal complexes. These complexes are studied as models for the active sites of metalloproteins and as anti-cancer drugs. Lippard is an extramural faculty member of MIT’s David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and is well known for his work on the mechanism of the anti-cancer drug cisplatin. His lab is currently working on designing more effective platinum anti-tumor agents and studying metal complexes that can destroy cancer stem cells. Lippard also investigates the structure and function of enzymes like methane monooxygenase and explores metalloneurochemistry, including the role of zinc in synaptic transmission and the development of fluorescent probes for detecting zinc and nitric oxide.