In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of PNAS, this Special Feature summarizes the enormous progress that has been made in the engineering of biology and medicine

Davis, Mark E.

Langer, Robert

PubMed

Mark E. Davis

Robert Langer

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

The Engineering of Biology and Medicine

Caltech Authors - Main

SPECIAL FEATURE: INTRODUCTION
The Engineering of Biology and Medicine
Mark E. Davisa,1 and Robert Langerb,1
aChemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125; and
bDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
MA 02139
In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of
PNAS, this Special Feature summarizes the
enormous progress that has been made in the
engineering of biology and medicine. In 1915,
PNAS published articles, such as “A compar-
ison of methods for determining the respira-
tory exchange of man,” by T. M. Carpenter
(1), “The lymphocyte as a factor in natural
and induced resistance to transplanted can-
cer,” by J. B. Murphy and J. J. Morton (2),
and “Mechanism of protection against bacte-
rial infection,” by C. G. Bull (3). It is fascinat-
ing to look back at these early studies and see
how much progress has been made in the
engineering of biology and medicine. Biology
and medicine have been transformed from
descriptive science and art to quantitative,
mechanistic understandings of function, pri-
marily because of the elucidation of biology at
the molecular level. These advancements have
led to the creation of new drugs, vaccines,
devices, diagnostics, and imaging agents that
significantly contribute to life saving and life
extension. In this Special Feature, a variety of
topics are presented to highlight the current
state of the art and possible future scenarios
for the engineering of biology and medicine.
We thank PNAS for publishing together
these state-of-the art reviews, as we feel that
this Special Feature will provide a useful ref-
erence for those in field—as well as those out
of field—who are seeking to understand
where the engineering of biology and med-
icine is likely to be in the future.
Author contributions: M.E.D. and R.L. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is part of the special series of PNAS 100th Anniversary
articles to commemorate exceptional research published in PNAS
over the last century.
1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: mdavis@
cheme.caltech.edu or rlanger@mit.edu.
1 Carpenter TM (1915) A comparison of methods for determining the
respiratory exchange of man. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1(12):602–605.
2 Murphy JB, Morton JJ (1915) The lymphocyte as a factor in natural and
induced resistance to transplanted cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1(4):
435–437.
3 Bull CG (1915) Mechanism of protection against bacterial
infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1(11):545–546.
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517450112 PNAS | November 24, 2015 | vol. 112 | no. 47 | 14423
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English

In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of PNAS, this Special Feature summarizes the enormous progress that has been made in the engineering of biology and medicine. In 1915, PNAS published articles, such as “A comparison of methods for determining the respiratory exchange of man,” by T. M. Carpenter (1), “The lymphocyte as a factor in natural and induced resistance to transplanted cancer,” by J. B. Murphy and J. J. Morton (2), and “Mechanism of protection against bacterial infection,” by C. G. Bull (3). It is fascinating to look back at these early studies and see how much progress has been made in the engineering of biology and medicine. Biology and medicine have been transformed from descriptive science and art to quantitative, mechanistic understandings of function, primarily because of the elucidation of biology at the molecular level. These advancements have led to the creation of new drugs, vaccines, devices, diagnostics, and imaging agents that significantly contribute to life saving and life extension. In this Special Feature, a variety of topics are presented to highlight the current state of the art and possible future scenarios for the engineering of biology and medicine. We thank PNAS for publishing together these state-of-the art reviews, as we feel that this Special Feature will provide a useful reference for those in field—as well as those out of field—who are seeking to understand where the engineering of biology and medicine is likely to be in the future

Langer, Robert S

DSpace@MIT

SPECIAL FEATURE: INTRODUCTIONThe Engineering of Biology and MedicineMark E. Davisa,1 and Robert Langerb,1aChemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125; andbDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,MA 02139In celebration of the 100th Anniversary ofPNAS, this Special Feature summarizes theenormous progress that has been made in theengineering of biology and medicine. In 1915,PNAS published articles, such as “A compar-ison of methods for determining the respira-tory exchange of man,” by T. M. Carpenter(1), “The lymphocyte as a factor in naturaland induced resistance to transplanted can-cer,” by J. B. Murphy and J. J. Morton (2),and “Mechanism of protection against bacte-rial infection,” by C. G. Bull (3). It is fascinat-ing to look back at these early studies and seehow much progress has been made in theengineering of biology and medicine. Biologyand medicine have been transformed fromdescriptive science and art to quantitative,mechanistic understandings of function, pri-marily because of the elucidation of biology atthe molecular level. These advancements haveled to the creation of new drugs, vaccines,devices, diagnostics, and imaging agents thatsignificantly contribute to life saving and lifeextension. In this Special Feature, a variety oftopics are presented to highlight the currentstate of the art and possible future scenariosfor the engineering of biology and medicine.We thank PNAS for publishing togetherthese state-of-the art reviews, as we feel thatthis Special Feature will provide a useful ref-erence for those in field—as well as those outof field—who are seeking to understandwhere the engineering of biology and med-icine is likely to be in the future.Author contributions: M.E.D. and R.L. wrote the paper.The authors declare no conflict of interest.This article is part of the special series of PNAS 100th Anniversaryarticles to commemorate exceptional research published in PNASover the last century.1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: mdavis@cheme.caltech.edu or rlanger@mit.edu.1 Carpenter TM (1915) A comparison of methods for determining therespiratory exchange of man. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1(12):602–605.2 Murphy JB, Morton JJ (1915) The lymphocyte as a factor in natural andinduced resistance to transplanted cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1(4):435–437.3 Bull CG (1915) Mechanism of protection against bacterialinfection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1(11):545–546.www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517450112 PNAS | November 24, 2015 | vol. 112 | no. 47 | 14423SPECIALFEATURE:INTRODUCTION

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