Michael Heartlein is currently Vice President of Research at Shire Human Genetic Therapies, Inc., a unit of Shire, plc and has been with the Company since TKT, Inc began operating in 1989 (Shire acquired TKT in 2005). Mike's career in Research and Development has focused on the discovery of platform technologies and on products developed with those technologies. He began with the development of nonviral ex-vivo gene therapy and is an inventor on 16 issued US patents covering this technology. Mike also co-invented and developed gene activation technology and Shire's human cell protein production platform. He discovered and developed gene-activated erythropoietin (Dynepo®), the first human cell-produced erythropoietin, approved in Europe in 2002. Mike discovered and developed Shire's enzyme replacement therapies for Fabry disease (Replagal®) and Gaucher disease (Vpriv®) and developed Elaprase® for Hunter syndrome. He also led the teams responsible for the discovery and nonclinical development of Shire's intrathecal CNS enzyme replacement therapies currently in clinical development. Prior to joining Shire, Mike held a hospital appointment in Genetics at Children's Hospital Boston and a faculty appointment in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Mike received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Oak Ridge National Laboratory – University of Tennessee.