Robert Langer Awarded 2008 Millennium Technology Prize for Intelligent Drug Delivery

Prof. Robert langer [photo courtesy: Stu Rosner Photograhy & Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT]

Today at Helsinki, the 2008 Millennium Technology Prize was presented to Professor Robert Langer of Massachusettes Institute of Technology and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology for developing innovative biomaterials for controlled drug release.

The world’s largest technology prize is awarded by Technology Academy Finland for a technological innovation that significantly improves quality of human life and promotes sustainable development. President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen handed Professor Langer the prize of EUR 800,000 and ”Peak”, the prize trophy, at the Grand Award Ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.

Professor Robert Langer's innovations have had a significant impact on fighting cancer, heart disease, and numerous other diseases. His work has also brought about significant advances in tissue engineering, including synthetic replacement for biological tissues such as artificial skin. Over 100 million people a year are already using advanced drug delivery systems and this number is rising rapidly. In the future, tissue engineering may revolutionize medical treatment that could affect millions of other individuals.

"Tissue engineering holds the promise of creating virtually any new tissue or organ," said Professor Langer.Known as the father of controlled drug delivery and tissue engineering, Professor Langer has been cited as "one of history's most prolific inventors in medicine". Professor Langer's research laboratory at MIT is the largest biomedical engineering laboratory in the world.

The Millennium Technology Prize is awarded every second year. The 2004 award was given to Tim Berners-Lee who revolutionized electronic communications with the invention of the World Wide Web. The 2006 award was given to Shuji Nakamura, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara and inventor of the high-brightness gallium nitride light-emitting diode (LED) and a blue laser.

Please read our past posting dated April 8, 2008 to know about other contender's of this year's award.