Dr. James Comolli named CIMIT Site Miner for Charles Stark Draper Laboratory

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James Comolli, PhD, has been named CIMIT Site Miner for The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. In this role he will help identify potential engineering collaborators and facilitate research collaborations between Draper-based engineers and Boston-area academic medical center physician-scientists.

As the Capability Leader for Biomedical Engineering at Draper Laboratory, Dr Comolli is responsible for assembling and developing the skills, technologies, and infrastructure that are critical for generating innovative solutions to fill the needs of Draper biomedical customers. Jim also works with a Draper team of engineers and researchers that develop and test microscale sensor systems for diagnostic applications.

“The CIMIT Site Miner thrives on helping others succeed,” said Dr. John A. Parrish, executive director of CIMIT. “Site miners are an invaluable network linking the eleven CIMIT institutions. Through their collaborative efforts, scores of engineers have been introduced to physicians who seek novel approaches to improve patient care. This multidisciplinary pairing, enabled by site miners, frequently catalyzes a unique solution enabled by technology. Dr. Comolli offers depth and breadth in biomedical engineering and a passion for improving patient care.”

Site miners are unique to the CIMIT network. They seek out, encourage and engage emerging innovators who show a passion for transforming patient care through technology. Boston’s teaching hospitals are a mecca for creative, passionate doctors, technologists and clinical researchers. The universities and science laboratories of Boston and Cambridge attract world-class engineers with innovative approaches to problem solving. A key role of the Draper Laboratory Site miner is to identify engineers who have the technology expertise to help clinicians transform promising ideas into reality.

Dr. Comolli has seven years of industry experience in medical device and diagnostic research and product development, including director of Research at ECI Biotech, an early-stage biotechnology company and as a research scientist at the Johnson & Johnson medical device franchise Ethicon working on infection diagnostics and antimicrobial treatments for medical devices.

His academic training includes two post-doctoral fellowships investigating the physiology and molecular biology of bacterial pathogens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-San Francisco. Jim received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard University and a B.A. in Biology from Johns Hopkins University. He has 16 peer-reviewed publications and several patents pending.