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Robert S. Langer

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For the Australian cricketer, see Rob Langer.
Robert Samuel Langer, Jr.
Born (1948-08-29) August 29, 1948 (age 76)
Albany, New York, U.S.
Other namesBob Langer[2]
Alma materCornell University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Known forControlled drug delivery and tissue engineering
AwardsGairdner Foundation International Award (1996)
Charles Stark Draper Prize (2002)
John Fritz Medal (2003)
Harvey Prize (2003)
Heinz Award (2004)
Albany Medical Center Prize (2005)
National Medal of Science (2006)
Millennium Technology Prize (2008)
Prince of Asturias Award (2008)
National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2011)
Perkin Medal (2012)
Wilhelm Exner Medal (2012)
Priestley Medal (2012)
Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2013)
IRI Medal (2013)
Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2014)
Kyoto Prize (2014)
Biotechnology Heritage Award (2014)
FREng[1] (2010)
Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2015)
Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine (2017)
Medal of Science (Portugal) (2020)
Scientific career
FieldsChemical Engineering
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisorClark K. Colton
Other academic advisorsJudah Folkman
Notable studentsKristi Anseth, Elazer R. Edelman, David Edwards (engineer), Jennifer Elisseeff, Omid Cameron Farokhzad, Linda Griffith, Jeffrey Karp, Ali Khademhosseini, Cato Laurencin, Robert J. Linhardt, Antonios Mikos, David J. Mooney, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, David Berry, Isaac Berzin, Samir Mitragotri, Kathryn Uhrich, W. Mark Saltzman, Joseph Kost, Erin Lavik, Akhilesh K. Gaharwar, Molly Stevens, Princess Imoukhuede Steven R. Little, Guillermo Ameer, Canan Dağdeviren,Laura Niklason,María José Alonso
External videos
video icon Scientists You Must Know: Robert Langer, You want to put yourself in the position where you'll make the discoveries for tomorrow, Science History Institute
video icon Hundreds of millions of people a year across the world benefit from the technologies that rest on the work of Robert Langer., Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering 2015

Robert Samuel Langer, Jr. FREng[1] (born August 29, 1948) is an American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and one of the eleven Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[3]

He was formerly the Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and maintains activity in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT. He is also a faculty member of the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

Langer holds over 1,400 granted or pending patents.[4] He is one of the world's most highly cited researchers and his h-index is now 280 with currently over 325,000 citations.[5] He is a widely recognized and cited researcher in biotechnology, especially in the fields of drug delivery systems and tissue engineering.[4][6][7]

He is the most cited engineer in history[8] and tied for 4th most cited individual in any field,[9] having authored over 1,500 scientific papers, and is also a prolific entrepreneur, having participated in the founding of over 40 biotechnology companies including Moderna.

Langer's research laboratory at MIT is the largest biomedical engineering lab in the world; maintaining over $10 million in annual grants and over 100 researchers.[10] In 2015, Langer was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.[8][11][12]

Background and personal life

Langer was born August 29, 1948 in Albany, New York, USA. He is an alumnus of The Milne School and received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in chemical engineering. He earned his Sc.D. in chemical engineering from MIT in 1974. His dissertation was entitled "Enzymatic regeneration of ATP" and completed under the direction of Clark K. Colton. From 1974–1977 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow for cancer researcher Judah Folkman at the Children's Hospital Boston and at Harvard Medical School. Langer credits Folkman as a fantastic role model.[13] Langer and his wife, Laura, a fellow MIT graduate, have three children.

Contributions to medicine and biotechnology

Langer is widely regarded for his contributions to medicine and biotechnology.[14] He is considered a pioneer of many new technologies, including controlled release systems and transdermal delivery systems, which allow the administration of drugs or extraction of analytes from the body through the skin without needles or other invasive methods.[15][16][17]

Langer worked with Judah Folkman at Boston Children's Hospital to isolate the first angiogenesis inhibitor, a macromolecule to block the spread of blood vessels in tumors.[14][18] Macromolecules tend to be broken down by digestion and blocked by body tissues if they are injected or inhaled, so finding a delivery system for them is difficult. Langer's idea was to encapsulate the angiogenesis inhibitor in a noninflammatory synthetic polymer system that could be implanted in the tumor and control the release of the inhibitor. He eventually invented polymer systems that would work. This discovery is considered to lay the foundation for much of today's drug delivery technology.[14][19]

He also worked with Henry Brem of the Johns Hopkins University Medical School on a drug-delivery system for the treatment of brain cancer, to deliver chemotherapy directly to a tumor site. The wafers or chips that he and his teams have designed have become increasingly more sophisticated, and can now deliver multiple drugs, and respond to stimuli.[20]

Langer is regarded as the founder of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine.[21] He and the researchers in his lab have made advances in tissue engineering, such as the creation of engineered blood vessels and vascularized engineered muscle tissue.[22][23] Bioengineered synthetic polymers provide a scaffolding on which new skin, muscle, bone, and entire organs can be grown. With such a substrate in place, victims of serious accidents or birth defects could more easily grow missing tissue.[20][24] Such polymers can be biocompatible and biodegradable.[25]

Langer is involved in several projects related to diabetes.[26] Alongside Daniel G. Anderson, he has contributed bioengineering work to a project involving teams from MIT, Harvard University and other institutions, to produce an implantable device to treat type 1 diabetes by shielding insulin-producing beta cells from immune system attacks.[27][28] He is also part of a team at MIT that have developed a drug capsule that could be used to deliver oral doses of insulin to people with type 1 diabetes.[29][30]

Awards and honors

Langer is the youngest person in history (at 43) to be elected to all three American science academies: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine. He was also elected as a charter member of National Academy of Inventors.[31] He was elected as an International Fellow[1] of the Royal Academy of Engineering[1] in 2010.

Langer has received more than 220 major awards. He is one of three living individuals to have received both the U.S. National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.[32]

He has received numerous other awards, including the Gairdner Foundation International Award (1996),[64] the Lemelson-MIT Prize for invention and innovation (1998),[65] the Othmer Gold Medal (2002),[66] the 10th Annual Heinz Award in the category of Technology, the Economy and Employment (2003),[67][68] the Harvey Prize in Science & Technology and Human Health (2003),[67] the Dan David Prize (2005)[69] and the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2005).[70] In 2013 he was awarded the IRI Medal alongside long-time friend George M. Whitesides for outstanding accomplishments in technological innovation that have contributed broadly to the development of industry and the benefit of society.[71][72] He also received the Rusnano prize that year.[73] He has also given 137 named lectures and commencement speeches.

Langer has honorary degrees from 34 universities from around the world including Harvard, Yale, and Columbia University.[74]

Founder of various biotech companies

Robert Langer has been involved in the founding of many companies,[75] more than twenty in partnership with the venture capital firm Polaris Partners.[2] Success of these companies and Langer's contribution has been detailed by Harvard Business Review:[76]

  • Acusphere
  • AIR[2] (acquired by Alkermes and subsequently acquired by Acorda)
  • Arsenal Medical
  • Arsia (acquired by Eagle Pharmaceuticals)
  • BIND Therapeutics (acquired by Pfizer)
  • Tarveda Therapeutics (formerly Blend Therapeutics)
  • Sontra Medical (acquired by Echo Therapeutics)
  • Enzytech (acquired by Alkermes)
  • Tissium (formerly Gecko Biomedical)[77]
  • InVivo Therapeutics
  • Kala
  • Landsdowne Labs
  • Living Proof[78] (acquired by Unilever)
  • Lyra Therapeutics[2]
  • Lyndra Therapeutics
  • Microchips Biotech (acquired by Dare)
  • Moderna
  • Momenta (acquired by Johnson and Johnson)
  • Olivo Labs (acquired by Shisheido)
  • Pervasis (acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals)[79]
  • Pulmatrix
  • Selecta Biosciences
  • Semprus Biosciences (acquired by Teleflex)[80]
  • Seventh Sense
  • SQZ Biotech[81]
  • Taris (acquired by Johnson and Johnson)
  • Transform (acquired by Johnson and Johnson)[82]
  • T2
  • Frequency Therapeutics
  • Sigilon Therapeutics
  • Seer Bio

Langer is a member of the Advisory Board of Patient Innovation, a nonprofit, international, multilingual, free venue for patients and caregivers of any disease to share their innovations.[83] He is also a member of the Xconomists, an ad hoc team of editorial advisors for the tech news and media company, Xconomy.[84]

Exhibits at Boston's Logan Airport

Langer is featured in two different exhibits at Boston's Logan Airport. At terminal C (near Gate 8) in the exhibit '4 centuries of Massachusetts Innovation', Langer and Judah Folkman are listed for 'Cancer breakthrough-1st cancer blood vessel inhibitor'. In terminal E, Massachusetts innovators-Transforming the world, Langer is featured as "Revolutionary Biomedical Technology through Development of Controlled Drug Delivery Systems" (near Gate 12).

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "List of Fellows".
  2. ^ a b c d Mcguire, Terry (1 July 2019). "The Many Shades Of VC/Repeat Entrepreneur Relationships". Life Science Leader. Pennsylvania, United States: VertMarkets.
  3. ^ Seligson, Hannah (November 24, 2012). "Hatching Ideas, and Companies, by the Dozens at M.I.T." New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-26. A chemical engineer by training, Dr. Langer has helped start 25 companies and has 811 patents, issued or pending, to his name. ...
  4. ^ a b "Google Scholar: Robert Langer". Google Scholar.
  5. ^ "Highly Cited Researchers". publons.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  6. ^ "1040 Highly Cited Researchers (h>100) according to their Google Scholar Citations public profiles". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  7. ^ Gura, T. (2014). "The art of entrepreneurship". Science. 346 (6213): 1146. doi:10.1126/science.346.6213.1146. PMID 25430772.
  8. ^ a b c Shukman, David (3 February 2015). "Drug-delivery pioneer wins £1m engineering prize". BBC News Science & Environment. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Highly Cited Researchers (h>100) according to their Google Scholar Citations public profiles | Ranking Web of Universities: Webometrics ranks 30000 institutions". www.webometrics.info. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  10. ^ O'Neill, Kathryn M. (20 July 2006). "Colleagues honor Langer for 30 years of innovation". MIT News. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  11. ^ a b "QEPrize Winner 2015 - Robert Langer". Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Engineering Polymath wins Major Award". Ingenia (63): 14–19. June 2015.
  13. ^ "Robert Langer BioTech Awards Video". Chemical Heritage Foundation. 2014-06-12. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  14. ^ a b c Pearson, Helen (4 March 2009). "Profile: Being Bob Langer". Nature. 458 (7234): 22–24. doi:10.1038/458022a. PMID 19262647.
  15. ^ Mitragotri, S; Blankschtein, D; Langer, R (1995). "Ultrasound-mediated transdermal protein delivery". Science. 269 (5225): 850–3. doi:10.1126/science.7638603. PMID 7638603. S2CID 26069484.
  16. ^ Kost, J; Mitragotri, S; Gabbay, RA; Pishko, M; Langer, R (2000). "Transdermal monitoring of glucose and other analytes using ultrasound". Nature Medicine. 6 (3): 347–50. doi:10.1038/73213. PMID 10700240. S2CID 31949252.
  17. ^ Langer, Robert; Folkman, Judah (October 1976). "Polymers for the sustained release of proteins and other macromolecules". Nature. 263 (5580): 797–800. doi:10.1038/263797a0. PMID 995197. S2CID 4210402.
  18. ^ Cooke, Robert; Koop, C Everett (2001). Dr. Folkman's War: Angiogenesis and the Struggle to Defeat Cancer. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50244-6.
  19. ^ National Academy of Science report Beyond Discovery: Polymer and People 1999
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  21. ^ Schilling, David Russell (15 February 2013). "Langer Profile. Engineering Synthetic Skin". Industry Tap into News. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  22. ^ Niklason, LE; Gao, J; Abbott, WM; Hirschi, KK; Houser, S; Marini, R; Langer, R (1999). "Functional arteries grown in vitro". Science. 284 (5413): 489–93. doi:10.1126/science.284.5413.489. PMID 10205057.
  23. ^ Levenberg, S; Rouwkema, J; MacDonald, M; Garfein, ES; Kohane, DS; Darland, DC; Marini, R; Van Blitterswijk, CA; et al. (2005). "Engineering vascularized skeletal muscle tissue". Nature Biotechnology. 23 (7): 879–84. doi:10.1038/nbt1109. PMID 15965465. S2CID 28136064.
  24. ^ Vacanti, Joseph P; Langer, Robert (July 1999). "Tissue engineering: the design and fabrication of living replacement devices for surgical reconstruction and transplantation". The Lancet. 354: S32–S34. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(99)90247-7. PMID 10437854. S2CID 33614316. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  25. ^ Freed, Lisa E.; Vunjak-Novakovic, Gordana; Biron, Robert J.; Eagles, Dana B.; Lesnoy, Daniel C.; Barlow, Sandra K.; Langer, Robert (July 1994). "Biodegradable Polymer Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering". Bio/Technology. 12 (7): 689–693. doi:10.1038/nbt0794-689. PMID 7764913. S2CID 22968473.
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  27. ^ "Potential diabetes treatment advances". Harvard Gazette. 2016-01-25. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  28. ^ Anderson, Daniel G.; Langer, Robert; Melton, Douglas A.; Weir, Gordon C.; Greiner, Dale L.; Oberholzer, Jose; Hollister-Lock, Jennifer; Bochenek, Matthew A.; McGarrigle, James J. (2016-01-25). "Long-term glycemic control using polymer-encapsulated human stem cell–derived beta cells in immune-competent mice". Nature Medicine. 22 (3): 306–311. doi:10.1038/nm.4030. ISSN 1546-170X. PMC 4825868. PMID 26808346.
  29. ^ "New pill can deliver insulin". MIT News. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  30. ^ "Researchers develop a drug capsule that could be used to deliver oral doses of insulin". TechGenYZ. 2019-02-09. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  31. ^ Lowry, Judy (8 January 2013). "National Academy of Inventors congratulates NAI Fellows Robert Langer and Leroy Hood, and NAI Member James Wynne on receiving U.S. National Medals". USF Research News. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
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  35. ^ "Robert S. Langer, Sc.D. Biography and Interview". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  36. ^ "Max Planck Research Award". Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  37. ^ "PRINCE OF ASTURIAS AWARD FOR TECHNICAL & SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2008". Retrieved 10 June 2014.
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  44. ^ Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.
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  46. ^ Landergan, Katherine (4 January 2013). "M.I.T. professor to be honored by President Obama". MIT. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  47. ^ "Two MIT professors win prestigious Wolf Prize Michael Artin and Robert Langer honored for groundbreaking work in mathematics and chemistry". MIT News. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
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  63. ^ "Maurice-Marie JANOT Award - APGI". www.apgi.org/. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
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  70. ^ McGarry, Greg (29 April 2005). "MIT Researcher and Albany Native Who Pioneered New Methods for Drug Delivery Named Recipient of America's Top Prize in Medicine". Albany Medical Center. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  71. ^ Wang, Linda (28 May 2013). "Industrial Research Institute Medal Awarded To Robert S. Langer And George M. Whitesides". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
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  75. ^ Huang, Gregory T. (19 April 2011). "The Bob Langer and Polaris Family Tree: From Acusphere to Momenta to Visterra". Xconomy. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  76. ^ Prokesch, Steven T. (March–April 2017). "The Edison of Medicine". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  77. ^ Farrell, Michael B. (10 December 2013). "MIT's Robert Langer has another startup". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  78. ^ Jones, Vanessa E. (2 April 2009). "Call him the frizz fighter". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  79. ^ "Shire picks up Pervasis in potential $200M deal". Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  80. ^ Gormley, Brian (2012-06-26). "Semprus BioSciences Acquired by Teleflex for Up To $80M in Cash, Milestones". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  81. ^ "SQZ Biotech - Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  82. ^ "Johnson & Johnson Completes Acquisition of TransForm Pharmaceuticals, Inc". Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  83. ^ "Who we are | Patient Innovation".
  84. ^ "About Our Mission, Team, and Editorial Ethics". Xconomy. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
Awards
Preceded by Millennium Technology Prize winner
2008 (for Innovative biomaterials) 		Succeeded by
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