Prolific inventor.
Patent powerhouse.
And a tenacious force of purpose-driven work.
Robert Langer is a chemical engineer whose inventions power modern medicine. From drug capsules and mRNA vaccines to tissue generation and artificial organs.
A material miracle worker – Harvard Business Review called him “Edison of Medicine” – he has more than 1,400 patents to his name, which have been licensed more than 400 times.
Take his creation of biodegradable plastics that can deliver molecules of any size to any part of the body. What began as a way to treat tumours jumpstarted an entirely new class of therapeutics – targeted treatment with biologically tolerable polymers. That can be implanted directly where needed. Thus, avoiding damage to healthy tissue. And controlling the rate of release of the medication inside, from slow to all at once. Thus, maximum effect. Effectively enabling efficient drug delivery.
A labour of true dedication, Langer continues to perfect his concept of delivery systems four decades later. Today, some of these bioplastic implants can deliver multiple drugs. Others can respond to external signals, like ultrasound, or internal reactions, like chemical stimuli. One of Langer’s and his colleagues’ invention is a miniscule device – with a needle as thin as human hair that consists of several tubes – to deliver small quantities of medicine to brain regions as small as 1 cubic millimetre.
Imagine, therefore, the precision with which oncologists can today target cancer in various parts of the body. Or how easily doctors can reach deep into muscles to treat degeneration. Or different parts of the brain, to treat schizophrenia and opioid addiction. Even one day directly deliver insulin (a particularly large molecule) through the common capsule, or even gene therapies.
Then there is tissue engineering, another pinnacle of Langer’s career. His work on polymers led him and his collaborators to invent synthetic scaffolds on which to grow new skin, cartilage, muscle, bone, blood vessels, heart valves – and even entire organs. Like the pancreas. And one day, livers and kidneys.
These artificial tissues and organs are being used to treat patients with burns, organ failures, cancer. And could be used soon to restore hearing. Repair spinal cords. Even replace entire organs, built from scratch.
Today, Langer runs the largest biomedical engineering lab in the world at MIT as an Institute Professor (the highest teaching honour conferred by the university). But it wasn’t an easy ride. When he first published his work on polymer slow-release systems, nobody believed in it. Nine grants rejected him.
But he persisted. Even as a PhD graduate fresh out of MIT, he knew he wanted to use his engineering background to “help people”. As he recalls, when his application for post-doctoral research at Boston’s Children Hospital was accepted – the only hospital to get back to him – he was the only engineer in the entire hospital. “It was almost like being a kid in a candy shop. I could see that engineering might offer possible solutions to many things I saw in medicine.” And offer solutions it did – to the tune of affecting, by one estimate, 2 billion people – a heady one-fourth of humanity.
His choice of projects reveal a purpose-driven mindset to alleviate the burden of disease. Consider the work he and his teams are doing to develop super long-lasting pills for malaria and birth control. New ways of taking essential vitamins and minerals. Single-step immunisations to fully eradicate polio in places around the world where it still persists. Which could one day translate into single-injection vaccines for Ebola and HIV.
In fact, in 2019, he and his team patented a technology that allows health information to be stored below the skin’s surface. Think of it as a tattoo of medical history – a potential boon to countries that lack adequate infrastructure to keep such records.
There’s also a living legacy that Langer is creating. Through entrepreneurial ventures – he has co-founded over 40 biotechnology companies, including Moderna – but also, his students whom he has mentored and worked with. Many of whom have become established leaders in their own right. Scientists and CEOs. Academics and clinicians. Entrepreneurs and government officials.
At SYNAPSE, hear the most-cited engineer on his journey – the successes and the struggles. Venture capitalist’s favourite innovator on the next research in the lab that he’s looking to convert into products on the shelf. The Tom Cruise of drug delivery on the Mission Impossibles of the body.
