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Materials

Robert Langer Gets Albany Medical Prize

May 16, 2005 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 83, Issue 20

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Credit: PHOTO BY STEVE RITTER
Langer
Credit: PHOTO BY STEVE RITTER
Langer

Robert S. Langer, a chemical engineer whose groundbreaking research with polymers has revolutionized the field of drug-delivery systems and also helped spawn the field of tissue engineering, has been named the recipient of the $500,000 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine & Biomedical Research. The award is considered the top U.S. prize in medicine. Langer is Kenneth J. Germeshausen Professor of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The world owes an infinite debt of gratitude to Dr. Langer for his pioneering work in the field of drug-delivery systems that has improved the lives of more than 60 million people each year," said James J. Barba, chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Albany Medical Center, who also chairs the national selection committee for the Albany Medical Center Prize.

Langer was selected for his entire body of scientific work, most notably his research on polymer-based drug-delivery systems, which has allowed clinicians to manage the release of large molecules in a controlled manner.

The practical application of Langer's work has led to the development of an array of plastic devices that are surgically implanted to deliver medicines and hormones in precisely regulated amounts over long periods of time. The polymer-coated, drug-eluting stent that was approved by the Food & Drug Administration in 2003 for use in the treatment of cardiovascular disease is one of the more celebrated examples of the translational benefits of this research.

Langer's work with polymers has also led to the development of artificial skin, which is used in the treatment of burn patients, and artificial bone and cartilage, which are in clinical trials.

Langer is also credited with helping to develop the concept of local chemotherapy, whereby neurosurgeons are able to use dime-size wafers to deliver potent drugs to the exact spot where a tumor was removed, dramatically limiting side effects and extending the lives of patients.

He is also widely recognized as one of the "fathers of tissue engineering," a multi-billion-dollar industry that mushroomed out of his collaborative research with Jay Vacanti, a transplant surgeon at Children's Hospital in Boston. Langer and Vacanti used polymers to create a scaffold on which living cells could proliferate. Their work has led to the development of artificial skin, now used to treat burn patients, and has laid the foundation for research into repairing heart vessels and regenerating damaged spinal and vocal chords. The long-term implications may allow scientists to replicate virtually any tissue or organ in the body, thereby eliminating the need for donor organs.

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