Much of the work carried out in Bob Langer's lab is done by graduate students, including Karen Fu and John Santini. That means patients get sudden boosts in exposure, followed by a drop-off to what may be trace levels in the blood. Karen Fu says there's a better way. The approach is a variation on Langer's wafer system for brain cancer. The idea, originated by Langer, is that the spheres will slowly degrade, releasing their cargo of drugs as they do.
Diabetics are potential beneficiaries, but there are many others.
Still, challenges remain. In a sense, Fu's been preparing for such challenges for years. The Ohio native first explored bioengineering as an MIT undergraduate. She joined Langer's lab in the mid-90s. Fu has already made strides toward creating microspheres that can ferry a protein-based drug payload safely into the bloodstream.