founders

Robert S. Langer is the Kenneth J. Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The only active member of all three U.S. National Academies (the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Academy of Engineering), Dr. Langer is one of 14 Institute Professors at M.I.T. His career has focused on pioneering work at the interface of biotechnology, drug delivery, and materials science, resulting in over 1000 articles and over 600 issued or pending patents worldwide. His patents have further been licensed or sublicensed to over 200 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology, and medical device companies. Dr. Langer is a founder of over 20 successful companies, including Momenta, Alnylam, Transform Pharmaceuticals, Pervasis, and Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR). Professor Langer has additionally served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration's SCIENCE Board, the FDA's highest advisory board, from 1995 to 2002, and as its Chairman from 1999 to 2002. Dr. Langer has received over 160 major awards including the 2006 United States National Medal of Science, the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers, and the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize. Dr. Langer received his B.S. from Cornell University, and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in Chemical Engineering.