Arup K. Chakraborty receives Founders Award after giving inaugural Founders Lecture on Oct. 30 at IMES
November 1, 2019
IMES DIRECTOR ELAZER EDELMAN, LEFT, GIVES FOUNDERS AWARD TO ARUP K. CHAKRABORTY, RIGHT.
It was standing room only for the first annual MIT Institute of Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) Founders Lecture, delivered by Arup K. Chakraborty, on Oct. 30. Chakraborty, the founding director of IMES and the Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry at MIT, spoke about “Gems, T Cells, Dewdrops and Genes.” He covered two topics illustrating how research at the interface of science, engineering and medicine can be fruitful. The first concerned infectious disease-causing germs, and how vaccinations, while protecting against many threats, have failed against some pathogens. The second topic he discussed revolved around the regulation of genes that play a critical role in maintaining cell identity (such as skin, heart and cancer cells). After the lecture, Elazer Edelman, the director of IMES and the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science, MIT, gave Chakraborty the Founders Award and thanked him for his many academic and research-related accomplishments, and for his service and dedication to MIT and IMES.