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Materials scientist discusses medical advances
3:46 p.m., Oct. 10, 2006--Robert Langer, a pioneer in drug delivery and tissue engineering and one of 13 Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), addressed the link between perseverance, innovation and ultimate discovery in his lecture on drug delivery and tissue engineering advances Monday afternoon, Oct. 9, in Smith Hall. Accenting his talk with anecdotes and humor, Langer also focused on the importance of curiosity in devising new technologies, and spoke of the genesis behind several of his own inventions. “I was always very curious about how materials got brought into medicine,” Langer said, speaking to his audience of approximately 75 UD students and faculty. “But what typically happens [in medicine] is that Ph.D.s want instant results and so end up using what's on hand. This is how ladies' girdles initially got used for artificial hearts, which was a very big medical breakthrough at the time--but it's also how certain problems arise over a span of years, because four decades later, polyethylene may no longer be the optimal material to use, and this is the sort of problem that pervades all of medical technology.” Langer said this “engineering gap” is where his background in materials science gives him an innovative and design edge. “One of the things I can do when thinking about solutions,” he said, “is to look at ideas from an engineering background and think about the optimal properties and structures, as well as the degradation rates, of polymers.” In so doing, Langer has filed more than 550 patents for his innovations in drug delivery systems and tissue engineering, and, on a very practical level, has helped to improve and extend the lives of many patients with cancer, burns and birth defects. Langer, who illustrated his lecture with slides, showed how his polymer-based neurochemotherapy has dramatically prolonged life expectancies for brain cancer patients and how his work on cartilage tissue engineering and polymer scaffolding has led to the creation of ears, skin and chest walls for burn victims and children with birth defects. “A lot more work needs to be done, and some of the technologies have probably raised far more questions than they've answered,” Langer said, “but over the years new principles that have been created have helped a lot of people lead better, healthier lives.” The lecture was sponsored by UD's Department of Materials Science and Engineering and was hosted by Xinqiao Jia, assistant professor of materials science and engineering. Article by Becca Hutchinson |
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