Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: Progress and Future Perspectives
Robert S. Langer
Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.
Robert S. Langer is one of 13 Institute Professors—the highest honor awarded to a faculty member—at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work is at the interface of biotechnology and materials science. A major focus is the study and development of polymers to deliver drugs, particularly genetically engineered proteins, DNA and RNAi, continuously at controlled rates for prolonged periods of time.
Dr. Langer has published more than 900 articles and has 550 issued or pending patents. One of his patents was cited as the outstanding patent in Massachusetts in 1988 and one of 20 outstanding patents in the U.S., and a number of his patents have helped launch companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.
Dr. Langer has received nearly 150 major awards during his distinguished career, including the National Academy of Engineering’s prestigious Charles Stark Draper Prize; the Dickson Prize for Science; Heinz Award for Technology, Economy and Employment; the Harvey Prize; the John Fritz Award; the General Motors Kettering Prize for Cancer Research; the Dan David Prize in Materials Science; and the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. He is also the only engineer to receive the Gairdner Foundation International Award and was the 1998 recipient of the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine.”
Dr. Langer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and he is the youngest person in history to be elected to all three United States National Academies, achieving this distinction at age 43. Forbes, Time, Bio World, Discover and CNN have all listed Dr. Langer among the world’s most important biotechnology innovators, while Parade magazine in 2004 selected him as one of six “heroes whose research may save your life.”
Research
Approaches involving the synthesis and application of bioerodible polymers to serve as implantable scaffolds for mammalian cells to create new tissues and organs are being studied. This talk will discuss the design of new materials in particular – synthetic polymers with specific ligands attached to them, shape memory degradable polymers, and materials with reversibly switching surfaces—that may have applications in these areas. We will also examine the use of materials coupled with human embryonic stem cells or other cells, and the application of these approaches to the creation of new tissues. This approach has been used to create a variety of tissues such as liver, skin, nerves, blood vessels, cartilage and other tissues in animals and humans.
In 2002, Dr. Langer received the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers and the world's most prestigious engineering prize, from the National Academy of Engineering. FORBES MAGAZINE (2002) selected him as one of the 15 innovators world wide who will reinvent our furture.