Dr Robert Langer, winner of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering 2015
Dr Robert Langer has been announced as the winner of the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QE Prize), for controlled release large molecule drug delivery – an engineering solution to a medical issue.
In the ceremony in London today, the David H Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was honoured for improving the lives of others, including cancer sufferers.
The winner collected a cheque for a million pounds and this years gong, designed by Euan Fairholm, himself winning the QE Prize for the Create the Trophy competition.
The 2015 award, designed by Edinburgh’s Euan Fairholm
In accepting his award, Langer stated that he is excited about the future role engineering has to play in medicine, including the potential of nanotechnology in medicine, and of regenerative medicine.
The annual award is a single prize awarded to one individual, or a team of up to three people, responsible for a ground-breaking innovation in engineering that has been of global benefit to humanity.
“Engineering is hardwired into us,” said 2015 judge Professor Brian Cox. “From the earliest times, people have worked to shape the world around them and improve their lives through engineering.
“The benefits are obvious and the impact incalculable. Everything we take for granted, from medicine to telecommunications, from computing to aviation, owes its very existence to engineers. It is obvious to me that the symbiotic relationship between science and engineering will define the future of the global economy, and on a wider scale, the future of our civilisation, just as it defined our past.”
