Dr. Anita Goel, MD, PhD founded Nanobiosym®, Inc as an R&D engine that focuses on emerging technologies at the convergence of Physics, Medicine, and Nanotechnology. Dr. Goel’s pioneering contributions to this interface over the past 15 years have been recognized globally by several prestigious honors and awards. Her work on establishing the feasibility of the Gene-RADAR® technology platform at Nanobiosym® has been recognized by multiple rounds of funding from the United States Department of Defense agencies including Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and US Dept of Energy (DOE) and US Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

After successfully demonstrating proof-of-concept, Dr. Goel established Nanobiosym® Diagnostics to commercialize nano-enabled portable diagnostic capabilities. Dr. Goel has built a world-class team of advisors, sponsors, and strategic collaborators to realize the full potential for Gene-RADAR® in both developed and emerging world markets. 

A Harvard-MIT trained physicist and physician, Dr. Goel was named in 2005 as one of the world’s “Top 35 science and technology innovators under the age of 35” by MIT’s Technology Review Magazine and in 2006 received the Global Indus Technovator Award from MIT, an honor recognizing the contributions of top leaders working at the forefront of science, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Goel holds a PhD in Physics from Harvard University, an MD from the Harvard-MIT Joint Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and a BS in Physics with Honors & Distinction from Stanford University. She is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Boston Museum of Science and a Charter Member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs, a global organization of successful entrepreneurs engaged in the cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the larger community). Dr. Goel is also a Fellow of the World Technology Network, a Fellow-at-Large of the Santa Fe Institute, an Associate of the Harvard University Physics Department and an Adjunct Professor of the BEYOND Institute for Fundamental Concepts in Science.

Dr. Goel has been an invited speaker and panelist at numerous conferences and colloquia in the U.S. and abroad. Her recent publications include “Molecular Evolution: a role for quantum mechanics in the dynamics of molecular machines that read DNA,” in the book Quantum Aspects of Life and “Harnessing Biological Motors to Engineer Systems for Nanoscale Transport and Assembly” in the August 2008 Nature Nanotechnology.  She continues to focus on fundamental science, elucidating the physics of living systems, especially at the nanoscale. In applied science, she works through her companies to develop next-generation nano-enabled platforms for pathogen detection and nanoscale diagnostic kits for molecular biology and clinical medicine and explores nanobio computing architectures, including quantum information processing by nanomachines. In April, 2008 she gave expert testimony before John Kerry’s Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Innovation in support of the reauthorization of the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Dr. Goel's Harvard Profile