Deshpande Center - Research Portfolio



			INFO BIO NANO MACRO ENVIRO			Any technological innovation that addresses a market opportunity is a potential candidate for assistance from the Deshpande Center. The MIT School of Engineering groups research in emerging technologies into the categories below.

LIST OF GRANT RECIPIENTS BY:

Current (active) grant projects

Inactive projects or spin-outs

Grant Round

Category

Not all innovations fall neatly into these categories, and some of the most exciting technologies are being developed at the interfaces between them.

INFO: Today, IT touches virtually every facet of our lives, even in ways we aren't aware.

BIO: This burgeoning field will continue to improve our longevity and quality of life.

NANO: Much smaller than a breadbox -- or breadcrumb -- these "tiny technologies" (nanotech, materials, micro-optics, etc.) promise to have a huge impact.

MACRO: Large-scale systems require big ideas. These innovations address networking and communications, complex software systems, supply chains, sociopolitical systems, and the like.

ENVIRO: Literally making the world a better place, these technologies address environmental and energy concerns and improve conditions in developing and emerging regions around the globe.

TISSUE ENGINEERING

Robert Langer
Chemical Engineering

When you consider that the United States loses more than $400 billion dollars annually due to tissue loss or organ failure, it's easy to see why tissue engineering holds such great promise. However, engineering tissues and organs remains extremely difficult, primarily because of the inability to improve or create vascular structures.

Based on earlier work, Robert Langer and his team have developed new approaches to repairing existing yet damaged blood vessels. With Deshpande Center funding, this research has been conducting critical in vivo experiments and is nearly ready for human clinical trials.