Phillip Sharp

Phillip Allen Sharp
Birthplace	Falmouth, Kentucky, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Molecular biologist, geneticist, academic
Title	Institute Professor and Professor of Biology Emeritus, MIT
Employer	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Known for	Co-discovery of RNA splicing (split genes)
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1993)

Phillip Allen Sharp is an American molecular biologist and geneticist who, as co-discoverer of RNA splicing, fundamentally altered the scientific understanding of gene structure and expression in higher organisms. For this landmark discovery — demonstrating that genes in eukaryotic organisms are not continuous sequences but are instead interrupted by non-coding segments called introns — Sharp was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993, shared with Richard J. Roberts. Born on a small tobacco farm in rural Falmouth, Kentucky, Sharp rose from humble origins to become one of the most influential figures in modern molecular biology and biotechnology. He has spent the majority of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he holds the title of Institute Professor and Professor of Biology Emeritus, the highest academic distinction conferred by the university. Beyond his Nobel Prize–winning research, Sharp's curiosity-driven basic science work in the 1970s laid essential groundwork for technologies that would prove transformative decades later, including the mRNA vaccines developed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. His career has also encompassed significant contributions to the biotechnology industry, science policy, and academic publishing, making him a central figure in the convergence of fundamental research and translational medicine.

Early Life

Phillip Allen Sharp grew up on a small tobacco farm in Falmouth, Kentucky, a rural community in Pendleton County. His upbringing in this agricultural setting has been noted as an unlikely starting point for a career in science. The farming background, however, instilled in Sharp a strong work ethic and an observational mindset that would later serve him in the laboratory. Details of his family and childhood remain modestly documented in public sources, though Sharp's trajectory from rural Kentucky to the forefront of molecular biology has been a subject of biographical interest, including in the 2025 documentary Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution, which chronicles his life and scientific journey.

Sharp's path from Falmouth to the highest levels of academic science exemplifies a broader pattern in American research history, in which individuals from modest rural backgrounds have made foundational contributions to scientific knowledge. His early experiences in Kentucky remained a touchstone throughout his career; biographical profiles have frequently highlighted the contrast between his origins on the tobacco farm and his subsequent achievements in molecular biology and biotechnology.

Career

Discovery of RNA Splicing

Sharp's most significant scientific contribution came in 1977, when he and his research group at MIT's Center for Cancer Research discovered that genes in adenovirus — and, by extension, in eukaryotic organisms more broadly — are not arranged in continuous, uninterrupted sequences of DNA. Instead, the coding regions of genes (exons) are separated by non-coding sequences (introns). This phenomenon, known as RNA splicing or the existence of "split genes," overturned a central assumption in molecular biology that had prevailed since the elucidation of the genetic code.

The discovery demonstrated that when a gene is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA), the non-coding intron sequences are removed and the coding exon sequences are joined together in a process called splicing, before the mRNA can be translated into protein. This finding had profound implications for understanding gene regulation, protein diversity, and the evolution of genomes. It explained how a single gene could give rise to multiple protein products through alternative splicing, a mechanism now understood to be central to the complexity of higher organisms.

For this discovery, Sharp was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993, sharing the prize with Richard J. Roberts of New England Biolabs, who had independently made similar observations. The Nobel committee recognized their work for fundamentally changing the understanding of how genetic information is organized and expressed in eukaryotic cells.

Career at MIT

Sharp has spent the majority of his professional career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served in various leadership and research capacities within the institution, including roles within MIT's biology department and the MIT Center for Cancer Research (later reorganized as the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research). He holds the title of Institute Professor, the highest honor MIT bestows upon its faculty members, recognizing individuals whose work is of such distinction that it transcends normal departmental boundaries. As of the mid-2020s, Sharp holds the title of Institute Professor and Professor of Biology Emeritus at MIT.

Sharp has been a prominent voice within MIT on matters of science policy, research funding, and the relationship between academic research and commercial biotechnology. His presence at MIT coincided with and contributed to the growth of the Kendall Square area in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a global hub for biotechnology and pharmaceutical research. In September 2025, Sharp was among those present at the ceremonial groundbreaking for Biogen's new facility in Kendall Square, an event attended by nearly 300 people and seen as emblematic of the continued growth and optimism in the Cambridge biotech ecosystem.

Contributions to Biotechnology

Beyond his academic research, Sharp has been a central figure in the development of the biotechnology industry. His scientific insights and entrepreneurial engagement helped bridge the gap between fundamental laboratory research and the development of commercial therapeutics. Sharp is notably associated with the founding and development of several biotechnology enterprises, contributing to a model of academic-industry collaboration that became characteristic of the Cambridge and Boston biotech corridor.

Sharp's foundational work on RNA processing proved to be a critical precursor to the development of RNA-based therapeutics. The understanding of how RNA is spliced, modified, and regulated — knowledge that stemmed in part from Sharp's research — enabled subsequent generations of scientists and companies to develop novel approaches to treating disease, including RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics and, most prominently, mRNA vaccines.

Role in mRNA Vaccine Development

The curiosity-driven basic science research conducted by Sharp and others in the 1970s proved to be essential groundwork for the development of mRNA vaccines, which came to global prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a December 2020 interview with MIT News, Sharp reflected on how fundamental discoveries about RNA biology, including the mechanisms of RNA splicing and processing, had laid the scientific foundations that made mRNA vaccines possible. He emphasized the importance of supporting basic research even when its practical applications are not immediately apparent, noting that the path from laboratory discovery to therapeutic application can span decades.

The mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to combat COVID-19 relied on a deep understanding of mRNA structure and function — a body of knowledge to which Sharp's early work significantly contributed. The vaccines work by delivering synthetic mRNA into cells, instructing them to produce a viral protein that stimulates an immune response. This approach would not have been feasible without the decades of research into RNA biology that Sharp and his contemporaries pioneered.

Science Policy and Publishing

Sharp has been engaged in broader discussions about the structure and future of scientific research and publishing. In November 2023, he and MIT Press Director Amy Brand co-authored a white paper addressing the future of open-access publishing in the sciences. In a subsequent Q&A with MIT News, Sharp and Brand discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to open-access models, including questions about funding, quality control, and equitable access to scientific knowledge.

This engagement with science policy and publishing reflects Sharp's broader interest in the institutional frameworks that support scientific research. His advocacy for open access and sustainable publishing models has been consistent with his long-standing emphasis on the importance of disseminating scientific knowledge broadly and efficiently.

Innovation and Translational Science

Sharp has continued to be active in promoting the translation of scientific discoveries into practical applications. In May 2025, he participated in an event hosted by research@BSPH at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which launched its Innovation Translation Council. The event featured Sharp alongside other leaders in the field and was aimed at strengthening the pipeline between fundamental public health research and real-world implementation. His presence as a keynote participant underscored his ongoing role as a leading voice in discussions about how academic research can be more effectively translated into innovations that improve human health.

Phil Sharp-Alnylam Fund for Emerging Scientists

In November 2025, MIT announced the establishment of the Phil Sharp-Alnylam Fund for Emerging Scientists, created to support MIT biology graduate students and faculty pursuing fundamental research. The fund was established in recognition of Sharp's contributions to science and his connection to Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on RNA interference therapeutics. The announcement noted that graduate school in fundamental research faces significant challenges related to nationwide funding, and the new fund was designed to help sustain the pipeline of emerging scientists in biology at MIT. The creation of this fund reflected both Sharp's personal legacy and the broader relationship between his RNA research and the commercial therapeutics industry that grew from it.

The establishment of the fund was described as a response to the growing pressures on academic research funding in the United States. By providing support specifically for graduate students and early-career faculty, the fund aimed to address one of the most vulnerable points in the academic research pipeline — the stage at which young scientists are establishing their independent research programs.

Recognition

Sharp's most prominent honor is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded in 1993 for his co-discovery of RNA splicing in eukaryotic organisms. This award placed him among the most recognized scientists of the twentieth century and cemented his status as a foundational figure in molecular biology.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Sharp has received numerous other honors and awards throughout his career, reflecting the breadth and significance of his contributions to science and biotechnology. His title of Institute Professor at MIT — the institution's highest faculty distinction — is itself a significant recognition, reserved for individuals whose scholarly achievements are judged to be of exceptional quality and impact.

Sharp's life and career have also been the subject of the documentary film Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution, released in 2025. The documentary chronicles his journey from rural Kentucky to the forefront of molecular biology and the biotechnology revolution, highlighting the discovery of RNA splicing and its far-reaching consequences for science and medicine. The film was reviewed by multiple media outlets and served to bring Sharp's story to a broader public audience beyond the scientific community.

His ongoing engagement with institutions such as Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he participated in the launch of the Innovation Translation Council in 2025, further attests to his continued influence and recognition in the fields of biomedical research and science policy.

Legacy

Phillip Sharp's discovery of RNA splicing stands as one of the most consequential findings in the history of molecular biology. By demonstrating that eukaryotic genes are discontinuous — composed of exons interrupted by introns — Sharp and his contemporaries fundamentally reshaped the understanding of gene structure, gene expression, and the mechanisms by which organisms generate protein diversity. The concept of alternative splicing, which followed from this discovery, is now recognized as a central mechanism underlying the complexity of multicellular organisms and is implicated in numerous human diseases.

The practical implications of Sharp's basic research extended far beyond the laboratory. His work contributed to the scientific foundations upon which the modern biotechnology industry was built, particularly in the area of RNA-based therapeutics. The development of RNA interference (RNAi) drugs by companies such as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and the rapid creation of mRNA vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech during the COVID-19 pandemic, can be traced in part to the fundamental understanding of RNA biology that Sharp and others established in the 1970s.

Sharp's career also exemplifies a model of the scientist-entrepreneur — an academic researcher who bridges the worlds of fundamental science and commercial application. His involvement with the biotechnology industry, his advocacy for science funding, and his engagement with questions of open-access publishing and innovation translation have positioned him as a figure of influence not only within the laboratory but also in the broader ecosystem of scientific research and its societal applications.

The establishment of the Phil Sharp-Alnylam Fund for Emerging Scientists at MIT in 2025 represents one tangible measure of his legacy — an investment in the next generation of researchers pursuing the kind of curiosity-driven science that defined Sharp's own career. His story, from a Kentucky tobacco farm to the Nobel Prize and the biotech revolution, continues to be cited as an example of the transformative potential of fundamental scientific inquiry.