Biomedical Engineering Applications: How Engineers Transform Medicine — Lessons from Robert Langer
- Jason Lu
- Nov 7, 2021
- 6 min read
What engineers can do in biomedical field?
Lessons from MIT and Robert Langer
Engineers are trained to solve problems using science, mathematics, and systematic thinking. In our daily lives, civil, chemical, electrical, and software engineers continuously improve infrastructure, technology, and productivity. But what can engineers do in medicine?
The answer lies in biomedical engineering applications—a field that translates engineering principles into real-world medical solutions. A pioneer who perfectly illustrates this impact is Professor Robert Langer, one of the most influential biomedical engineers and inventors in modern history.
Dr. Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Senior Lecturer on Surgery at Harvard Medical School. The title of Institute Professor is the highest honor MIT can bestow upon a faculty member. Over his career, Dr. Langer has published more than 1,500 scientific papers and holds over 1,400 issued and pending patents worldwide, making him one of the most cited researchers globally.
His work focuses on solving medical problems through an engineering lens, spanning drug delivery, biomaterials, cell engineering, tissue engineering, and mRNA therapeutics. The following case studies highlight how biomedical engineering applications move beyond theory to transform patient care.
What Are Biomedical Engineering Applications?
Biomedical engineering applications refer to the use of engineering principles—such as materials science, chemical engineering, mechanical design, and systems modeling—to address medical and biological challenges. These applications include drug delivery systems, medical devices, tissue engineering, diagnostics, and emerging mRNA-based therapies.
Unlike traditional biomedical research that emphasizes biological discovery alone, biomedical engineering prioritizes translation: designing solutions that are scalable, manufacturable, and clinically viable. This translational mindset is what enables engineering-driven innovations to reach patients at global scale.
Why Robert Langer Defines Modern Biomedical Engineering
When discussing biomedical engineering applications, it is difficult to identify a more influential figure than Professor Robert Langer. His career exemplifies how engineering approaches can reshape medicine across multiple therapeutic areas.
Dr. Langer’s research has led to foundational advances in controlled drug delivery, biomaterials, and nucleic acid therapeutics. Importantly, his work has also translated into real-world impact through the creation of dozens of biotechnology companies—including Moderna, which played a central role in the global response to COVID-19.
What sets Dr. Langer apart is his ability to bridge academia, industry, and entrepreneurship, establishing a model for how biomedical engineers can maximize both scientific and societal impact.
Case Study 1: Single-Injection Vaccines Using Pulsatile-Release PLGA Microspheres
One powerful biomedical engineering application developed by Dr. Langer and his collaborators—supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—is the creation of pulsatile-release PLGA microspheres for single-injection vaccination.
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer widely used in clinical applications. Using a novel microfabrication method known as StampEd Assembly of polymer Layers (SEAL), researchers fabricated core–shell microspheres capable of releasing vaccine doses at predetermined time points.
Despite decades of progress in global vaccination, vaccine-preventable diseases still claim approximately 1.5 million children’s lives each year, largely due to challenges in distribution and multi-dose administration in developing countries. Nearly 19.4 million infants do not receive full immunization against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.
By enabling multiple booster doses from a single injection, this biomedical engineering solution addresses logistical barriers and could dramatically improve vaccine coverage in low-resource settings.
Case Study 2: Anti-Fibrotic Biomaterials for Cell Therapy and Diabetes
Another landmark biomedical engineering application from Dr. Langer’s group involves the discovery of anti-fibrotic chemical materials that suppress foreign body responses in rodents and non-human primates for over six months.
These materials were conjugated to alginate hydrogel microspheres and evaluated in both mice and monkeys. Their ability to minimize fibrosis has major implications for cell therapy, particularly for type I diabetes.
In type I diabetes, insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells are destroyed by the immune system. While daily insulin injections help manage blood glucose, they do not cure the disease or prevent long-term complications such as kidney failure, blindness, or cardiovascular disease.
Islet cell transplantation offers a promising alternative, but its success has been limited by foreign body responses that isolate implanted cells from the host. By mitigating fibrosis, these engineered biomaterials enable long-term survival and function of transplanted cells—demonstrating how biomedical engineering integrates materials science and immunology to tackle chronic disease.
Case Study 3: mRNA Delivery and Lipid Nanoparticles
One of the most widely recognized biomedical engineering applications today is mRNA delivery using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)—a technology pioneered in part by Dr. Langer’s laboratory.
His group developed combinatorial libraries of ionizable lipid-like materials capable of efficiently encapsulating and delivering mRNA in vivo. These lipid nanoparticles protect mRNA from degradation and enhance intracellular delivery through electrostatic interactions.
Compared to DNA-based therapies, mRNA enables transient protein expression, reducing risks such as insertional mutagenesis. This platform has become foundational for modern vaccines and therapeutics.
Notably, Moderna—co-founded by Dr. Langer—and Pfizer both use lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna has also advanced multiple mRNA cancer vaccines into clinical trials targeting solid tumors and melanoma.
These breakthroughs exemplify how biomedical engineering applications accelerate the translation of molecular biology into scalable, life-saving therapies.
Why MIT Is Central to Biomedical Engineering Innovation
MIT plays a unique role in advancing biomedical engineering applications by fostering an ecosystem where engineering, medicine, and entrepreneurship are deeply integrated.
Through institutions such as the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and cross-appointments with Harvard Medical School, MIT encourages engineers to work directly on clinically relevant problems. The culture emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, rapid iteration, and translational thinking—key ingredients for converting scientific ideas into deployable medical technologies.
This environment helps explain why many transformative biomedical engineering innovations, including lipid nanoparticle platforms and advanced biomaterials, have emerged from MIT-affiliated laboratories.
Author’s Perspective: Why I Chose Biomedical Engineering, MIT, and Robert Langer
My decision to pursue biomedical engineering was driven by a desire to work at the intersection of engineering rigor and real-world medical impact. I was drawn to a field where quantitative thinking, materials design, and system-level problem solving could directly translate into therapies that improve—and save—human lives.
MIT represented the ideal environment for this mindset. Within that ecosystem, Professor Robert Langer’s lab stood out as a place where engineering ideas are not confined to academic publications, but are actively translated into technologies that reach patients worldwide.
Working within this intellectual lineage profoundly shaped how I think about science, innovation, and careers. Dr. Langer’s work demonstrated that impactful biomedical engineering is not about choosing between academia, industry, or entrepreneurship—but about building solutions that move fluidly across all three.
Career Lessons for Aspiring Biomedical Engineers
Biomedical engineering applications also offer valuable career lessons. Successful biomedical engineers often combine deep technical expertise with the ability to communicate across disciplines—biology, medicine, manufacturing, and business.
Careers shaped in environments like MIT show that impact does not come from technical excellence alone. It requires strategic thinking, adaptability, and the ability to position one’s skills within rapidly evolving scientific and industrial landscapes.
For early- and mid-career scientists, learning how to translate research experience into industry-ready narratives is just as critical as mastering experimental techniques.
Conclusion
Biomedical engineering is inherently interdisciplinary, integrating engineering, biology, chemistry, and medical science. Through innovations in materials, fabrication methods, and delivery systems, biomedical engineers continue to reshape how diseases are treated and prevented.
From single-injection vaccines to cell therapy and mRNA platforms, biomedical engineering applications demonstrate how engineering can drive meaningful medical progress—proving that engineering is not just about building systems, but about improving human health at scale.
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References
Guarecuco, R. et al. Immunogenicity of pulsatile-release PLGA microspheres for single-injection vaccination.Vaccine 36, 3161–3168 (2018).
McHugh, K. J. et al. Fabrication of fillable microparticles and other complex 3D microstructures. Science 357, 1138–1142 (2017).
Vegas, A. J. et al. Combinatorial hydrogel library enables identification of materials that mitigate the foreign body response in primates. Nat. Biotechnol. 34, 345 (2016).
Miao, L. et al. Delivery of mRNA vaccines with heterocyclic lipids increases anti-tumor efficacy by STING-mediated immune cell activation. Nat. Biotechnol. 37, 1174–1185 (2019).
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