Octavian Bucur, MD, PhD
Scientific Researcher I / Group Leader, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology; Associate Investigator, Leader of Pathology Innovations and Biobank, Viron Molecular Medicine Institute, Boston, MA, USA. MD, PhD trained in Molecular Pathology, Molecular Oncology, Biomedical Technology Development. Expertise in Biobank initiation and development. MD from Carol Davila University, Bucharest; PhD in Biochemistry/Biology from Romanian Academy with work and training performed at Harvard Medical School/BIDMC.
Over a decade of training and research at Harvard Medical School: Postdoctoral Fellow at BIDMC & Harvard Medical School (with Prof. Andrew Beck), Instructor in Pathology, Harvard Medical School (2017-2018); Associate Member, Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard (2014-2015), Associate Member of the Ludwig Cancer Center at Harvard University, Boston, MA (2016-2018), Affiliate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard on Genomics, Boston, MA (2016-2018).
Dr. Octavian Bucur has made impactful contributions in several research areas, being one of the main developers of Expansion Pathology (Nature Biotechnology 2017, shared first author (in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric), Nature Protocols 2020; 3 patents). This method extends the current resolution limit (250 nm) of the optical microscopes to 70 nm, enabling visualization of smaller nanoscopic structures with inexpensive optical microscopy in preserved tissue specimens, after physical tissue expansion. Expansion-related technologies have tremendous implications in several biomedical fields, including diagnostic pathology, spatial genomics, neuroscience and molecular medicine.
Dr. Octavian Bucur was a collaborator in Richard Terry's group within Prof. George Church's laboratory at the Wyss Institute at Harvard, working on the development of the Fluorescence in Situ Sequencing (FISSEQ) technology, which has impactful applications in genomics, genetics and other medical fields.
Among the honors and awards received over the years are: Recognition of Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Basic Science Research from the Harvard Medical School Pathology Department; ranked 1st out of >100 - Best Scientific Presentation Award (2017, Harvard Medical School Pathology Retreat of MGH, BIDMC, BWH, DFCI, Children’s Hospital Boston); The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-Millennium Pharmaceuticals Award (2015, Philadelphia, PA; received by < 10% of applicants), IUBMB Travel Fellowship (2010, Melbourne, Australia), The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-Aflac Award (2008, San Diego, CA; received by < 10% of applicants); Lady Tata Memorial Trust International Award for Leukemia Research (2007, London, UK); European Union - Leonardo da Vinci Research Award (2004, Magdeburg, Germany); Invited Keynote Speaker/Special Lectures (conferences in San Francisco, Chicago, London (UK), Bucharest (Romania), BIDMC, Harvard Medical School - Boston, Wayne State University - Detroit, Carol Davila University, Romania); Chair of the Scientific Selection Committee for the RALI's Grand Rounds competition, Research Assistant Learning Initiative, Boston (2017-2018); Invited Judge for many undergraduate/graduate research competitions; International grant evaluator.
Dr. Octavian Bucur is the Romanian Representative at the European +1 Million Genomes Initiative (nominated by the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization) and the Honorary Scientific Advisor of the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy's Rector.
Dr. Octavian Bucur is the Editor in Chief of the journal Discoveries (PubMed and PMC indexed in 2019/09): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3713/
Dr. Octavian Bucur is a also a Co-Founder, was the first CEO (successfully leading the company to its first investments) of a company in Boston, MA. He gained significant expertise in bringing an idea from bench to market (idea --> articles and patents --> startup --> first investments).
LATEST NEWS
September 2023: Plenary Speaker - PMC 2023, Lisbon, Portugal
September 2023: Invited presentation: International Congress of Medical Genetics, Timisoara, Romania
September 2023: Invited presentation within the Special Event "Multimodal High Resolution Imaging" - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Harvard Medical School affiliated hospital), Boston, MA, USA
September 2023: Invited presentation - Bridging the Gap: Research and Innovation in Internal Medicine, Bucharest, Romania
July 2023: Keynote Speaker - Global Tech Summit, Paris, France
June 21, 2023: Octavian received Carol Davila Award for Medicine from MLNR, Romania. Many thanks to MLNR and Romanian Academy or organizing this event.
June 2023: Plenary Speaker - Applications of Chemistry in Nanosciences and Biomaterials Engineering (NanoBioMat), Bucharest, Romania
May 2023: Keynote Speaker - Borderless Biomedicine Research Conference, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
May 2023: Invited Talk - SCOPE-SCORE Research Week, Bucharest, Romania
May 2023: Keynote Speaker - 12th Drug Discovery Strategic Summit, Boston, MA, USA
April 2023: Plenary Speaker - Global Pharma & Drug Delivery Summit 2023, Frankfurt, Germany
April 2023: Invited Speaker - Smart Diaspora 2023, Timisoara, Romania
April 2023: Invited Speaker - STOP Cancer, Bucharest, Romania
February 2023: "Genomics and international collaboration" talk at the Genomic Development and Impact on Rare Diseases Symposium, Palatul Parlamentului, Bucharest, Romania
February 2023: Octavian was invited at the Romanian National Television: TVR1 and TVRi
January 2023: Young Romanian Scientist Award, Romanian Research Gala, Jan, 31, 2023
January 2023: Invited Guest Speaker, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Harvard Medical School affiliated hospital), BIDMC Postdoctoral Association, Boston, MA, USA
October 2022: Invited at the Romanian National Television - TVRi (Viron News) - October 31, 2022
October 2022: Mentored 2 teams that competed in the Hackathon4Health, both winning 2 of the 3 main prizes - October 29th, 2022, Bucharest, Romania
October 2022: Keynote Lecture at the 10th Drug Discovery Strategic Summit - October 28, 2022, San Francisco, USA