Sarah Betts
Major: Neuroscience and Behavior
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sarah had the opportunity to interview Dr. Robert Langer, MIT Koch Institute Professor and one of the most prolific researchers and innovators in history. She learned about his work in combining biology with engineering, including stopping cancer blood vessels from growing, drugs which release chemicals in response to body signals, and nanoparticle-based therapeutics. She also had the opportunity to learn about his lab and observe which projects they are currently pursuing.
Sarah says, "This experience gave me great inspiration for my scholarly pursuits. Having the opportunity to learn from a man who has impacted literally billions of people could not have been a more amazing experience. I learned more about controlled release drugs and how Dr. Langer is using them to reduce disease. I think that bypassing the blood brain barrier is going to be the key to curing cancer and neurological diseases, so learning about his work in this area helped me know more and helped to point me in the right direction of where to continue reading and looking to know even more."