Draft:Vineet Gupta

Vineet Gupta
Born	September 23, 1969 (1969-09-23) (age 56) Dehradun, India
Alma mater	Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, University of Rochester
Awards	Distinguished Award (The Society of Asian American Scientists in Cancer Research – SAASCR, 2019)
Scientific career
Fields	Nephrology, Glomerular Diseases, Cancer Biology,
Institutions	University of Texas Medical Branch
Website	Gupta Lab @ UTMB Galveston

Vineet Gupta (born September 23, 1969, in Dehradun, India) is an American drug discovery scientist, educator, and entrepreneur. He is recognized for his pioneering research on integrin agonists as a novel mechanism to target these receptors and develop novel therapeutics. Gupta serves as the inaugural Vice President for Innovation & Technology Development and Transfer at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas, where he leads the institution’s Innovation mission area. He is also the Warmoth Endowed Professor of Hematology in the John Sealy School of Medicine, a Professor in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, a Full Member of the Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine (HPTM) Graduate Program, and an Associate Member in the Department of Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology. He is a Distinguished Fellow in the Moody Brain Health Institute. He also serves as the CEO of Medical Branch Innovations, Inc., a UTMB subsidiary for venture and startup creation.

Early life and education

Gupta grew up in Dehradun, India. He earned his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Delhi University. He received his M.S. in chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi) and his Ph.D. in chemistry in the laboratory of professor Eric Kool at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where his dissertation focused on self-cleaving DNA nucleosides. Gupta then completed postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University in New York City as a Leukemia Research Foundation postdoctoral fellow, before holding positions in the biotechnology industry and returning to academia as a Fellow in Medicine at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)..

Career

Gupta began his independent academic career in the Renal Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in mid-2000s, serving as an Instructor and later Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At MGH, he co-initiated the Chemical Biology program and the Glomerular Disease program and was a Full Member of the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Prostate Cancer Program .

In 2008, he joined the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he directed the Peggy and Harold Katz Family Drug Center . In December 2012, he was recruited to Rush University Medical Center, where he served as Vice Chair for Research and Innovation in Internal Medicine, Director of the Drug Discovery Center, and the Charles Arthur Weaver Endowed Chair of Cancer Research .

His exceptional contributions to science and education have earned him research and mentorship awards such as the Distinguished Award by The Society of Asian American Scientists in Cancer Research (SAASCR, 2019). He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN, 2025) . In 2025, Dr. Gupta was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in recognition of his groundbreaking discoveries and real-world impact.

Gupta has also co-founded several biotech startups to further develop his discoveries into innovations that can benefit patients. These include 149 Bio, LLC (operating as Allosite Therapeutics), where he is a co-founder and Scientific Officer, Adhaere Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Gossamer Bio, Inc.) and Aquatrove Biosciences, Inc. (acquired by Sasmar Pharmaceuticals). Earlier, he was a senior scientist at Motorola Life Sciences, staff scientist and project leader at PerkinElmer Life Sciences, and Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at GeneVention, LLC.

Scientific contributions

Gupta’s research centers on integrin biology and the translation of these findings into therapeutic development. His laboratory was among the first to characterize integrin structural dynamics as well as the allosteric changes that govern their functions and to propose pharmacological activation of integrins as a therapeutic strategy. His team first focused on the leukocyte integrin CD11b/CD18, to modulate inflammation and cancer .

Gupta holds over 50 patents and patent applications, including key innovations in integrin modulation and multiplex tissue analysis. He has translated laboratory discoveries into clinical applications, including the development of small molecules for lupus nephritis, systemic lupus, and cancer, several of which are in clinical trials. He co-founded Adhaere Pharmaceuticals to advance integrin-targeting therapies, leading to the development of GB1275, now in Phase I/II trials in partnership with Gossamer Bio and Merck.

Selected patents

• "Reagents and assays using modified integrin domains", US12291562B2, 2025 .
• "Sequential staining for multiplex analyses of tissues and cells", US12091706B2, 2024 .
• "Compounds and methods for regulating integrins", CA2882853C, 2021

External links

• Gupta Lab guptalab.com