Three Tufts Researchers Named Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors

Three Tufts researchers have been named as senior members of the National Academy of Inventors, an honor for academic inventors who are rising leaders in their respective fields and who have produced technologies that seek to make a positive impact on society.

The organization recognizes and supports academic inventors and enhances the visibility of academic technology and innovation.

"This year's senior member class is a truly impressive cohort. These innovators come from a variety of fields and disciplines, translating their technologies into tangible impact," said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors.

This year's senior members from Tufts are Bruce Kristal, Simin Nikbin Meydani, and Athena Papas. They will be inducted at the NAI annual meeting in June in Los Angeles. They are among the 230 emerging inventors honored, who collectively hold more than 2,000 U.S. patents.

"Innovation at Tufts is rooted in translating discovery into societal impact," said Bernard Arulanandam, vice provost for research. "Professors Kristal, Meydani, and Papas exemplify academic inventorship-advancing breakthroughs in metabolomics, immune resilience, and oral health that move from lab to real-world solutions. Their work strengthens Tufts' culture of innovation and improves lives worldwide, and we are proud to see them recognized by the National Academy of Inventors."

Bruce Kristal, senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts (HNRCA), works on personalized risk analysis for potential future chronic and age-related diseases based on a combination of blood-based biomarkers, body fat types and distribution, diet quantity and quality, and other lifestyle factors, seeking to help maximize healthy aging, or healthspan.

He and his colleagues are developing an approach that enables assessing the utility of directly combining multiple mathematical models. He has worked across disciplines, from analytical chemistry and informatics to biological and clinical realms.

Kristal's intellectual property portfolio has been pivotal in transforming metabolomics from an emerging research concept into a commercially viable industry. His 13 issued U.S. patents cover methods for drug discovery, disease diagnosis, and treatment using metabolomics, enabling comprehensive biochemical profiling to identify disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The patents relate to metabolic disorders, cancer, psychiatric conditions, and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS.

Ten of his patents are licensed to Metabolon, Inc., forming the company's foundational intellectual property. The company delivers high-resolution metabolomic data for clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical development, and population health studies.

Simin Nikbin Meydani, professor emeritus and research professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, is an internationally recognized leader in nutritional immunology and healthy aging, advancing research at the intersection of nutrition, immunity, inflammation, and chronic diseases.

A holder of five U.S. and international patents, her work has helped shape global understanding of how targeted dietary patterns can strengthen immune resilience and reduce risk factors associated with age-related disease.

She is co-founder of VF24, Inc., which has translated research by Meydani and her colleagues into FulLife Nutrition, a nutrient-dense smoothieformulated with 24 fruits, vegetables, and legumes that delivers half of recommended daily fruit and vegetable requirements in a ready-to-drink format. The formulation reflects published research demonstrating significant improvements in biomarkers associated with immune function, cardiometabolic health, gut integrity, cognitive resilience, weight management, and healthy aging.

FulLife represents a rare bridge between peer-reviewed nutrition science and commercial food innovation, bringing scientifically studied dietary patterns into an accessible daily format. It reflects Meydani's lifelong mission to make rigorous nutrition science scalable and impactful for population health. Following a successful pilot at Tufts dining halls, FulLife is expanding its commercial launch and engaging mission-aligned investors and partners to accelerate access to evidence-based nutrition nationwide.

In addition to her scientific contributions, Meydani has served as director of the HNRCA and Tufts vice provost for research and contributed to efforts to strengthen innovation and commercialization at the university. Her work has supported initiatives such as the Tufts LaunchPad | BioLabs, Tufts Launch Pad Accelerator, and the advancement of multidisciplinary translational research.

Athena Papas, Dr. Erling Johansen, D49, Endowed Professor in Dental Research and Distinguished Professor at the School of Dental Medicine, has expertise in the oral health care of the elderly and the medically compromised, including patients with Sjögrens syndrome and cancer. She has been the principal investigator of more than 100 clinical trials.

Papas is best known for her work on Sjögren's syndrome and xerostomia, or dry mouth, and her investigations into how the salivary glands work, can be restored when they're damaged, and affect a patient's overall health. She runs one of the country's top clinics aimed at treating xerostomia, as well as one of the only practices dedicated to treating Sjögren's syndrome's effects on the teeth and mouth.

Many of her discoveries have resulted in treatments that have improved people's lives, such as a rinse that heals mouth sores in patients who have received a bone marrow transplant or undergone radiation therapy and a drug that stimulates saliva production in Sjögren's patients.

Among her U.S. patents are those for mouthwash compositions such as Caphosol, which is used to treat xerostomia and mucositis; a rapid test for COVID and other pathogens, with Charlie Mace, an associate professor of chemistry; and a salivary exosomal marker for Sjogren's with Exosome Diagnostics.