The
Materials Research Society's highest honor, the Von Hippel
Award, is conferred annually to an individual in recognition
of the recipient's outstanding contribution to interdisciplinary
research on materials. ( Find
out more about
the Von Hippel Award. We also invite you to view an MRS Web
site dedicated to the life and times of Arthur
Robert von Hippel.)
The
Von Hippel Award will be presented at the Award Ceremony
on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom
of the Sheraton Boston Hotel.
| 2005
Von Hippel Award Recipient |
Robert
Langer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(View Bio) |
“For
pioneering accomplishments in the science and application
of biomaterials in drug delivery and tissue engineering,
particularly in inventing the use of materials for
protein and DNA delivery. His achievements
in interdisciplinary research have generated new
medical products, created new fields of biomaterials
science, and inspired research programs throughout
the world.”
Talk Presentation:
Wednesday, 6:00 p.m.
Grand Ballroom, Sheraton Hotel
Topic:
Biomaterials for Drug Delivery and Tissue
Engineering
(view abstract)
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Presentation
Abstract
We have
attempted to understand how materials can contribute to addressing
medical and biological problems. One area has involved the
development of systems to deliver drugs for long time periods
at controlled rates. In particular, we discuss our early
research of developing systems for the controlled release
of large molecules (M.W. > 1000) such
as polypeptide hormones. Against conventional wisdom, we
discovered that microspheres made of hydrophobic polymers
could release many different macromolecules in bioactive
form for over 100 days in vitro and in vivo .
By using these techniques, a variety of systems for releasing
polypeptides, such as insulin, have been designed. More recently,
in order to provide increased release rates on demand, controlled
release microchips have been designed.
We also address the fact that most materials used in medicine
have no medical origins; e.g., the material used to make
ladies' girdles is also used in artificial hearts because
of its flexibility. In contrast, we have attempted to rationally
design new materials for specific medical applications. Bioerodable
polymers, in particular, polyanhydrides, have been synthesized
as vehicles to release both large and small molecules. These
polymers are unique because they show surface erosion and
lead to near-constant release rates of incorporated drugs.
By altering the hydrophobicity of the polymer backbone, release
times from one week to six years can be achieved. These polymers
have been approved by the FDA in a novel drug-delivery system
for treating brain cancer. The local chemotherapy principle
developed here is now being applied to a number of medical
problems.
Approaches
involving the synthesis and application of bioerodable
polymers to serve as implantable scaffolds for mammalian
cells to create new tissues and organs are being studied.
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, heart muscle,
and other tissues in animals and humans.
Robert
S. Langer Bio
Robert S. Langer is
one of 14 Institute Professors (the highest honor awarded to
a faculty member) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). Dr. Langer has written over 840 articles. He also has
over 500 issued or pending patents worldwide, one of which
was cited as the outstanding patent in Massachusetts in 1988
and one of 20 outstanding patents in the United States. Dr.
Langer’s
patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 100 pharmaceutical,
chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies; a number
of these companies were launched on the basis of these patent
licenses. He served as a member of the United States Food and
Drug Administration’s SCIENCE Board, the FDA’s
highest advisory board, from 1995 -- 2002 and as its Chairman
from 1999-2002.
Dr.
Langer has received over 130 major awards. In 2002, he
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. He is the also the only engineer to receive
the Gairdner Foundation International Award; 64 recipients
of this award have subsequently received a Nobel Prize. Among
numerous other awards Langer has received are the Dickson
Prize for Science (2002), Heinz Award for Technology, Economy
and Employment (2003), the Harvey Prize (2003), the John
Fritz Award (2003) (given previously to inventors such as
Thomas Edison and Orville Wright), the General Motors Kettering
Prize for Cancer Research (2004), the Dan David Prize in
Materials Science (2005) and the Albany Medical Center Prize
in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2005), the largest prize
in the U.S. for medical research. In 1998, he received the
Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention
for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors
in medicine.” In 1989 Dr. Langer was elected to the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences,
and in 1992 he was elected to both the National Academy of
Engineering and to the National Academy of Sciences. He is
one of very few people ever elected to all three United States
National Academies and the youngest in history (at age 43)
to ever receive this distinction.
Forbes
Magazine (1999) and Bio World (1990) have named Langer
as one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology
in the world. Discover Magazine (2002) named him as one
of the 20 most important people in this area. Forbes Magazine
(2002) selected Langer as one of the 15 innovators world
wide who will reinvent our future. Time Magazine and CNN
(2001) named Langer as one of the 100 most important people
in America and one of the 18 top people in science or medicine
in America. Parade Magazine (2004) selected Langer as one
of 6 “Heroes whose research may save your life.” He
has served, at various times, on 15 boards of directors and
30 Scientific Advisory Boards of such companies as Wyeth,
Alkermes, Mitsubishi Pharmaceuticals, Warner-Lambert, and
Momenta Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Langer has received honorary
doctorates from the ETH ( Switzerland), the Technion ( Israel),
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( Israel), the Universite
Catholique de Louvain ( Belgium), the University of Liverpool
( England), the University of Nottingham ( England), Albany
Medical College, the Pennsylvania State University, and Uppsala
University ( Sweden). He received his Bachelor’s Degree
from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
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