Chemical engineer wins Queen's prize

Langer received the award, alongside the £1 million prize fund, for his revolutionary work on engineering polymers to control the delivery of large molecular weight drugs for the treatment of diseases such as cancer and mental illness.

The announcement was made by John Browne, a former group chief executive at oil and gas firm BP and current chairman of the QE Prize for Engineering Foundation.

Langer will be presented with his prize by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace later this year.

“I hope Langer’s inspiring story and success today will inspire the pioneering engineers of tomorrow

IMechE director Colin Brown

Langer’s work, which was first established during the 1970s, challenged the view that controlled-release drug delivery would not work for large molecules like proteins.

Alongside Harvard professor Judah Folkman, who hypothesized that the growth of cancerous tumours could be restricted by stopping angiogenesis, Langer discovered a way to inhibit these processes.

Nearly 50 years on, Langer’s work has affected the lives of more than 2 billion people, with many being treated for diseases such as prostate cancer and endometriosis, a QE Prize statement said.

Through the adaptation of Langer’s drug delivery technology, new treatments for schizophrenia, alcoholism, and drug addiction have also been developed.

“I wanted to use my chemical engineering background to help people,” Langer said at the award ceremony in London.

Unsurprisingly, today’s announcement has been met by praise from both the engineering and science communities.

Chairman of the judges for the QE Prize Alec Broers said: “Robert Langer has made an immense contribution to healthcare and to numerous other fields by applying engineering systems thinking to biochemical problems.

“Not only has he revolutionised drug delivery, but his open - minded approach to innovation and his ability to think ’outside the box’ have led to great advances in the field of tissue engineering.”

Langer’s work should be used as a benchmark to inspire more people to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), industry experts have suggested.

“The UK currently is facing a critical engineering skills shortage and we need to double the number of places for graduates and apprentices in our universities, colleges and training centres, to keep our vital industries working and to enable the UK’s economy to grow,” said Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) director of engineering Colin Brown.

“I hope Langer’s inspiring story and success today will inspire the pioneering engineers of tomorrow.”