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Cleanup request 1: Removal of Awards

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Hi, I'm Lindy and I'm on the communications team for Flagship Pioneering, where Geoffrey von Maltzahn is a partner. As my User page explains, I have a financial conflict of interest with this Wikipedia article as an employee of the firm. It's been on my mind for a while that this Wikipedia article has a banner at the top stating that cleanup is needed to bring it in line with Wikipedia's standards. I'm afraid I'm not aware of the page's history, and it may well have been created or edited by someone with a link to Flagship or Geoffrey, and I am sorry if that is the case. I've been sharing what I've learned about Wikipedia's guidelines and Terms of Use with my team to help make sure that no-one edits Flagship-related pages in future.

In the meantime, I'd like to do what I can to bring this page back into proper Wikipedia standards, addressing anything promotional.

Request: After a close read, I'd like to propose the Awards and recognition section be removed. To me, this feels like the most potentially promotional part of the page and a good place to start.

Thanks for reviewing this and I'll try to reply as soon as I can to any questions or comments from editors. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 19:08, 14 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Lindy D at Flagship: Thanks for making the request. I've removed that section and also some other parts that were promotional, poorly sourced or unsourced. SmartSE (talk) 15:42, 10 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the review, User:Smartse and the other edits you made. I'll be posting a second request in a moment to continue to clean up the page. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 21:40, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cleanup request 2: Add citations to Early life and education section

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Hi, this is Lindy from Flagship Pioneering again. I'm back with a second request, this time about adding citations to the Early life and education section and lightly updating the content. Right now this paragraph has a "citation needed" tag at the end. In the draft I put together, I've added supporting citations after every factual claim.

Revised Early life and education section

Early life and education

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Geoffrey von Maltzahn was born in Arlington, Texas, and subsequently moved to Alexandria, Virginia where he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.[1] He was awarded his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003,[2] his Master of Science degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego in 2005, and his PhD from the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010.[3] At MIT, von Maltzahn was mentored by Sangeeta Bhatia,[4] and won the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2009 for developing nanotechnology-based cancer treatments.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Geoffrey von Maltzahn". Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  2. ^ Norman, Katrina (May 14, 2002). "MIT senior lands story in journal, trip to D.C." MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  3. ^ "MEMP Alumni Profile: Geoffrey A. von Maltzahn, PhD, '10". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. September 16, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  4. ^ Sloan, Louise (November 9, 2017). "Building a Better Way". Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Dragoon, Alice (April 21, 2009). "Inveterate Inventor". MIT News Magazine. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved June 3, 2024.

I tried to cite academic news sources whenever possible, e.g. MIT News. As you can see, I also added a line noting that Dr. von Maltzahn was mentored by Sangeeta Bhatia and won the Lemelson-MIT Prize. Dr. Bhatia and the Lemelson-MIT Prize are both notable enough to have Wikipedia entries, so this information seems noteworthy enough to include. (My previous request was to entirely cut the Awards and recognitions section, so I'm certainly aware of the necessity of trimming claims that could be perceived as promotional. But, again, this information seems particularly noteworthy.)

Please let me know what you think. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 21:45, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Partly done: I've edited the line about being mentored by Bhatia. The source just quotes him as calling her a good role model, and it's an alumni magazine writing a fluff piece about her - this doesn't seem like due weight. The fact that she's his thesis advisor (from the second source) seems both more relevant and concrete.

Meanwhile, the prize is the Lemelson-MIT Student prize, which is much less notable than the main prize. The text did not make this distinction and was clearly misleading, and I'm not sure the student prize merits inclusion. Rusalkii (talk) 22:53, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the review and update, User:‎Rusalkii. Your explanation about the Lemelson-MIT "student" prize makes sense—though he is listed on the Wikipedia article as a recipient. Regardless, I apologize for not clarifying that it was the student award. I'm about to post another request, this time about the Career section. If you have time it would be great if you could look at that one as well. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 21:50, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cleanup request 3: Reworking the Career section

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Hi, Lindy from Flagship Pioneering here again. Genuinely appreciate editors help so far with cleaning up this article. I think it already looks a lot better! I now have a third request, this time about cleaning up and revising the Career section. The draft I've put together is a substantial reworking that chronologically covers his career, focusing only on the most notable developments and citing reliable sources (Business Insider, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, etc) throughout:

Revised Career section

In 2009, von Maltzahn joined Flagship Pioneering,[1] a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based venture capital firm investing in life sciences biotechnology, and sustainability startups.[2] In his first few years at Flagship, von Maltzahn helped launch several such companies, including Seres Therapeutics[3] and Indigo Agriculture.[4] He served as chief technology officer at Seres when the company developed SER-109, one of the first microbiome therapeutics.[5] In 2017, he was included on Business Insider's list of power players in the biotechnology space.[6]

In 2018, von Maltzahn cofounded two biotechnology startups, Generate Biomedicines[7] and Tessera Therapeutics.[8] Two years later he became a general partner at Flagship.[9]

In 2023, von Maltzahn and another Flagship partner, Jacob Rubens, co-founded Quotient Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup with offices in both Massachusetts and the UK.[10] Quotient uses genome sequencing technology to develop medication for diseases caused by somatic mutations.[11]

References

  1. ^ DeAngelis, Allison (October 6, 2021). "Power players: These 12 young serial founders are building the next generation of biotech startups". Business Insider. Retrieved June 3, 2024. Geoffrey von Maltzahn cofounded two companies while getting his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2009, he joined biotech investment giant Flagship Pioneering. He is now a partner at the firm and has created microbiome, cell and gene therapy companies.
  2. ^ National Research Council, Division on Earth and Life Studies, Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, Committee on Challenges in Chemistry Graduate Education (2012). Challenges in Chemistry Graduate Education: A Workshop Summary. National Academies Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-309-25708-4. Retrieved June 3, 2024. Graduate education is not preparing students sufficiently for the entrepreneurial workplace, said David Berry, a venture capitalist from Flagship Ventures, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Flagship Ventures, which invests mainly in life sciences and sustainability companies and currently has about 70 companies in its portfolio, runs its own laboratories in which it can develop technologies to address big problems, such as energy security, food security, and a cure for cancer.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Walrath, Rowan (April 19, 2023). "Microbiome Comes of Age". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  4. ^ McGowan, Kat (July 7, 2017). "Agriculture's extremely tiny saviors". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Walrath, Rowan (April 23, 2023). "Here's a timeline of Seres' 12-year trek to one of the first microbiome drugs". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  6. ^ Ramsey Pflanzer, Lydia (October 9, 2017). "Meet the 30 biotech leaders under 40 who are searching for breakthrough treatments and shaping the future of medicine". Business Insider. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  7. ^ Brian, Gormley (September 10, 2020). "Flagship Pioneering Hatches a New Biotech Startup, Generate Biomedicines". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  8. ^ Orelli, Brian (July 13, 2020). "From gene editing to gene writing". BioWorld. Clarivate. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  9. ^ Sagonowsky, Eric; Kansteiner, Fraiser; Park, Andrea; Armstrong, Annalee; Dunleavy, Kevin (May 16, 2022). "Most influential people in biopharma—the entrepreneurs". Fierce Pharma. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  10. ^ Bayer, Max (November 21, 2023). "Flagship launches first UK biotech Quotient with genome sequencing platform". Fierce Biotech. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  11. ^ Saltzman, Jonathan (November 21, 2023). "Flagship Pioneering launches new biotech with Mass., UK offices". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 3, 2024.

As you can see, the draft is about forty words shorter than the current Career section. I hope you'll agree it's an improvement, but I will leave that verdict to you. Please let me know what you think. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 22:08, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tagging User:Smartse and User:‎Rusalkii since you've reviewed previous requests about cleaning up this page. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 20:24, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Done

I can't access the Generate Biomedicines and Tessera Therapeutics source. Taking it on faith because everything else looks good and "he was involved in this company" is noncontroversial. I've removed the Business Insider power players list, per my general rule of thumb of only including awards with independent coverage or the award itself having a wikipedia page. Rusalkii (talk) 05:18, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cleanup request 4: Updating the article introduction

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Lindy from Flagship Pioneering here with another request. I'm still trying to help clean this article up in order to address any editorial concerns. To that end, I've put together an updated introduction that briefly summarizes the article's content while reducing the number of number of listed companies from seven to five:

Revised introduction

Geoffrey von Maltzahn (born July 22, 1980) is an American biological engineer and businessman in the biotechnology and life sciences industry. Von Maltzahn has cofounded companies, including Indigo Agriculture,[1] Generate Biomedicines,[2] Seres Therapeutics,[3] Tessera Therapeutics,[4] and Quotient Therapeutics.[5]

References

  1. ^ Mabe, Annalise (November 8, 2022). "The Tiny, Unexpected Key to Reversing a Future Food Shortage". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  2. ^ Brian, Gormley (September 10, 2020). "Flagship Pioneering Hatches a New Biotech Startup, Generate Biomedicines". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  3. ^ Walrath, Rowan (April 19, 2023). "Microbiome Comes of Age". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  4. ^ Orelli, Brian (July 13, 2020). "From gene editing to gene writing". BioWorld. Clarivate. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Bayer, Max (November 21, 2023). "Flagship launches first UK biotech Quotient with genome sequencing platform". Fierce Biotech. Retrieved June 3, 2024.

Again, this version is shorter than the existing introduction and only lists the most notable companies that he has founded or cofounded. I provided citations to prominent media coverage (The Wall Street Journal, Daily Beast, Boston Business Journal, etc) in which Dr. von Maltzahn's relationship with these companies is clearly stated. These same companies are also identified in the updated Career section draft that I previously posted on this Talk page, which editors have not yet had a chance to review.

Please let me know what you think. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 21:28, 19 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Done I don't really see why this is better (note that citations are not required in the lead, since it is supposed to be summarizing the body text) but it also doesn't seem any worse Rusalkii (talk) 05:11, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you so much, Rusalkii‎, for making these updates. I think the entire article has been greatly improved. Back in June 2023 Smartse added a tag to the article stating that it may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. All of the requests I've posted here—including the request to remove the entire Awards section—were intended to bring the article's content in line with Wikipedia guidelines. Now that you and Smartse have closely reviewed all of the updated passages and excised any promotional language, could we remove the tag? Thank you for your help and consideration. Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 21:26, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Rusalkii (talk) 21:29, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you again for your help here, Rusalkii‎. It was very instructive for me to learn about Wikipedia throughout this engagement and hope you'll agree that the article is now substantially better! Lindy D at Flagship (talk) 15:04, 9 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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