Photo Credit: The Business Journals; Adam Jakus (right) co-founded Dimension Inx with Ramille Shah, head of R&D and chief science officer.

The time students spend with us at the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) can shape their future for the better. That is one of the goals of Georgia Tech and of MSE: to be a positive force in the lives of alumni. For Adam Jakus (BS MSE 2009, MS MSE 2010), MSE was where he found his direction and his passion, and he cites his time with MSE as one of the biggest impacts on his career to date.

Jakus came into Georgia Tech majoring in MSE because, as he said, “I was very indecisive.” MSE represented an opportunity for him to dip his toes into a bit of everything: physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. After joining Naresh Thadhani’s lab as an undergraduate and doing an undergraduate thesis there, Jakus decided to stay on for the extra year in the same lab and complete his master’s.

He loved the researching, the student groups he’d become involved with, and the connections he’d made at MSE, and the year to complete his master’s gave Jakus the time to decide what it was that he wanted to do next.

After completing a Ph.D. in MSE at Northwestern University, Jakus founded Dimension Inx Corp., now called Dimension Bio, a company focused on commercializing advanced biomaterials and 3D printing for tissue and organ repair research that he conducted during his Ph.D. and subsequent postdoc. Jakus ended up stepping away from Dimension Bio to create another startup, BioThera3 Advising & Consulting, a consulting firm created specifically to support tissue regeneration and repair startups. 

As if that weren’t impressive enough, Jakus is also now the CEO of PRO Therapeutics, a company focused on manufacturing tendons and ligaments for joint repair using biomaterials. “I’m extremely passionate about creating and developing tissue manufacturing and the tissue therapeutics industry as a whole,” Jakus said.  

Working with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute in New Hampshire as well as with PRO Therapeutics, and building up the industry through his startup consultation, it’s clear that Jakus has done what so many hope to do and found his niche.

He credits the Institute and MSE as having the biggest impacts on his career thus far. “Georgia Tech and MSE have been very good to me,” Jakus said.

Between the opportunities the school provides, the connections he’s maintained with Tech’s entrepreneurial programs, and the school naming him one of Tech’s 40 Under 40 last year, it’s evident that the Institute’s programs have had an impact.

The impact that MSE has had is also a cornerstone for Jakus. “The Materials Science School continues to be very good to me,” Jakus said, noting that his mentor, Thadhani, is someone he still considers a mentor to this day. “Thank you,” was his repeated sentiment to Thadhani, MSE, and Tech itself.

When asked if there was any advice he had for current or prospective students, Jakus urged students with entrepreneurial goals to take advantage of the opportunities the Scheller College of Business offers. “Something I wish I had done when I was at Georgia Tech was take advantage of the Business School’s various business programs because that's something I ended up learning much later,” he said.

No matter when he learned it, Jakus clearly has learned a lot about business as well as the field of tissue manufacturing and therapeutics. Both MSE and Tech are proud to have him continue to serve and uplift not only our community here at Tech, but the entirety of his field through his consulting work.