Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Ford Professor of Bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will present the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science’s second annual David Chu Lecture at 10 a.m. April 30.

Lauffenburger will speak about “Bioengineering Approaches in Drug Development.”

The lecture honors David C.K. Chu, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia. Chu received a PhD in medicinal chemistry in 1975 from the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, mentored by the late Thomas J. Bardos.

Chu and his wife, Jane, who received her MS in medicinal chemistry from UB’s pharmacy school, established the David Chu Lectureship in 2011 to give back to their alma mater. It is one of several initiatives the couple and their daughters, Susan and Jackie, hope to fund through their recently created Chu Family Foundation.

Lauffenburger received a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1975 and a PhD in the same subject in 1979 from the University of Minnesota. As head of the biological engineering department at MIT, he also holds appointments in the biology and the chemical engineering departments. His major research interests are in cell engineering—the fusion of engineering with molecular cell biology.

Co-author of the book “Receptors: Models for Binding, Trafficking and Signaling,” published by Oxford University Press in 1993, Lauffenburger also is co-editor of “Systems Biomedicine,” published by Elsevier Press in 2010. More than 90 doctoral students and postdoctoral associates have completed their training under his supervision or co-supervision.