A Touch of Drug Delivery Magic

How has drug delivery research held your interest for so long?

Over the years, the field has grown tremendously and there are now a lot of journals devoted entirely to this space. Ever since I started out in drug delivery, new questions have kept popping up. Can we synthesize biodegradable materials? Can we target different cells? Would non-invasive delivery, like aerosols work? Can transdermal patches deliver complex molecules? I kept going and my lab continues to keep going! We've recently published a paper in Science about a pill that could possibly deliver proteins orally, which has caused a lot of excitement. But beyond proteins there are even more challenges – what about delivering RNA-based drugs or gene editing therapies? Challenges keep arising and we will keep trying to solve them.

What have been the main turning points of your career?

Working with Judah Folkman at Boston Children’s Hospital was the first major turning point. By training I’m a chemical engineer. Almost all of my friends went into the oil industry, but I wanted to do something different that would really help people. I applied for post doc positions in medicine and I was turned down a lot. I ended up working with Judah in the 1970s. I didn’t know much about biology or medicine and I was the only chemical engineer at the hospital; the experience was eye opening. Juda was a visionary scientist and I was so lucky to have him as a mentor. He had the idea that if you could stop blood vessels then maybe you could stop cancer. And the work eventually led to the world’s first angiogenesis inhibitors (although they weren’t used in approved drugs for many years). One of my jobs was to develop a drug delivery system to deliver the molecules. I had the idea of using a slow release polymer in the body to release the molecule.

This work was another turning point. At the time, the literature suggested you couldn’t use polymers to deliver large molecules, but I didn’t read any of the articles that said that so I tried anyway! I found hundreds of ways of getting it not to work, and one way to make it work. I discovered a way to create microspheres, which could deliver molecules of any size. We published a paper in Nature in 1976 saying how we could do it and a paper in Science on the isolation of the first angiogenesis inhibitors, but there was a lot of scepticism; many said the papers were wrong and didn’t make sense.

After my post doc, I applied for a lot of different chemical engineering jobs, but no one wanted to hire me! Eventually I got a job at MIT, but then the guy who hired me left. And the rest of the faculty told me that I should leave too! It wasn’t a great start but I persevered!

Since then you’ve won dozens of awards and accolades. What moments stand out the most?

I’ve had a lot of honors (I sometimes think some of them were given to me by mistake!). I’ve been to the White House several times to receive national medals and I’ve also won international awards. One really nice moment was when I won a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2015 for my work on controlled release drug delivery for large molecules. This is a wonderful honor and I also got to spend time with the Queen of England.

What are you working on now?

There are a lot of different projects going on in the lab and we’re always publishing new papers. I never expected the lab to grow as it has done! A few years ago, the Gates Foundation approached us to ask about working together. We have a big effort in the lab now on creating drug delivery systems for the developing world, ranging from long-acting oral systems to new types of ways of delivering nutrition, to aerosols, to vaccines. Working with the Gates Foundation meets all the criteria I ever wanted for my career – I always wanted to see science do good and to help people.

How do you encourage industry to adopt your research?

We try to give companies as much data as we can, and we also file a lot of patents, which really helps on the business side. I enjoy working with industry. In academia, we publish papers and try to develop new principles and ways of doing things, but you can only go so far in academia. We need industry to develop our work into commercial products that really help people.

How do you work with young scientists?

I’m really proud of my students. We have over 300 that are professors now both inside the US and internationally. When I work with young scientists, I don’t tell them what to do. At school, students are judged by how good their answers are, but when you grow up it’s not just about the answers but also about the questions you ask. I want to help my students cross the bridge from people who can give good answers to people who can ask good questions. I try to do that by encouraging them to ask questions, and to strike out on their own to tackle problems. Of course, I am there to help as a guide. We have over 100 people in the lab so there are lots of different people to talk to, which helps generate more ideas that we all get excited about. Everyone works together and pulls together to help each other.

If you weren’t a scientist, what job would you have?

Maybe I’d be a businessman – I’ve enjoyed setting up companies over the years. But I really love magic. It’s fun to watch and I’ve done shows for kids at MIT which was great fun! So perhaps I’d be a magician!