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At a time when it was easy for a newly graduated chemical engineer to get stable, well-paid jobs in the oil industry, Robert Langer chose a more uncertain and risky path, always with the same mindset: “I wanted to do something that could help people”. From the development of the first nanoparticles used for drug delivery to the mRNA vaccine against Covid-19, he has succeeded in this desire: the North American engineer is internationally considered one of the greatest figures of our time.

Decades after graduating, he became one of only three living people to receive the US National Medal of Science, as well as the Medal of Technology and Innovation. At 76, Robert Langer is the most cited engineer in history, with more than 400,000 citations and more than 1,600 articles published in the last 50 years. He is also one of nine professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to receive the highest honor given to faculty. He also became one of the four founders of Moderna, the company that for more than a decade has specialized in techniques based on “protein enhancement” through the manipulation of messenger RNA (mRNA).

A pioneer in the nanotechnology industry with the development of the first controlled release systems for macromolecules, Robert Langer opened the doors to other techniques — also initiated in his laboratories — that today may become crucial not only for the treatment of different types of cancer and other diseases, but also for the administration of vaccines in general, as was the case with those against Covid-19. Robert Langer was also responsible for isolating the first inhibitors of angiogenesis, the process of forming new blood vessels from existing ones.

These inhibitors have proven to be very important, since in people with cancer, this process fuels the growth and spread of the tumor. The technique has also contributed to the development of new treatments for blindness. In another respect, it helped establish the field of tissue engineering, which later led to the development of organ-on-a-chip technology — a simulation of the activity of an organ or system inserted into a chip, widely used in research today.

Now, on June 27, this unavoidable figure in the world of science will come to Portugal for the first time, to NOVA Medical School, for the award ceremony of the “Ana Lázaro” cancer research grant, where she will give a lecture on new strategies in the fight against cancer and advances in mRNA vaccines and will also receive the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from NOVA University of Lisbon. It will be the 45th institution to confer this honorary degree on her, after Harvard, Yale and Oxford.

Not being from a family of scientists, do you remember what was the catalyst that led you to pursue the world of science? There were several factors. Even though my family was not “into science”, my father and grandfather used to play math games with me — my father was very intelligent, he was very good at math, and so he played with me a lot. The other factor that contributed to my choice was the fact that, when I was a little boy, I was given a Gilbert chemistry “ kit ” that was available at the time, with a microscope and everything. I think I was really young when they gave me these kits, and I really liked them, I think they encouraged me at the time, and that is the earliest memory I have of science in my life.

However, you grew up with science subjects at school, but how did you discover that what you wanted was chemical engineering? I would just like to add that it wasn’t a very linear path. What happened was this—I’m almost embarrassed to say this, but it’s true—when I was in high school, I was very good at math and very good at science. I wasn’t very good at everything else, like English, French, and things like that. So my father and my high school guidance counselor said to me, “If you’re good at math and science, then you should be an engineer.” Honestly, I didn’t really know what an engineer was or what they did. But I applied and got into Cornell University anyway. My first year at Cornell, I struggled a lot with a few courses, but I really liked chemistry and I was good at it. So I had to make a choice, and I chose chemical engineering. I thought engineers drove train cars, I had no idea. Anyway, I think it turned out okay.

Not knowing exactly what an engineer did, he went into engineering. When he chose chemical engineering, did he have any idea of ​​what was done in that field? It’s probably also really embarrassing, but no. I remember at the time thinking it was just some application of chemistry, but I really had no idea. My sophomore year at Cornell, there was this class that was all about distillation columns. So they asked me at the end of the year, what does a chemical engineer do? And I said, “I’m not sure, but I think it has a lot to do with distillation columns.” I really had no idea. Of course, in chemical engineering in the 1960s, when I was getting my undergraduate degree, [distillation columns] were an important part of what chemical engineers do, but it certainly wasn’t what I expected it to be.