Sometimes it feels like engineers get no respect. Rock stars, actors and athletes get all the ink and the covers of the glossy mags, and the people who really get things done get ignored. Then a news story like this one pops up.
Athens, Ohio, Feb. 18, 2009 – Ohio University and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recognized Elmer L. Gaden, Jr., of Charlottesville, Va., with the 2009 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, the top bioengineering prize in the world. He received the prize last night during a gala event in his honor.
Long considered the "father of biochemical engineering," Gaden is being recognized for his pioneering research that enabled the large scale manufacture of antibiotics, such as penicillin.
The engineering equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Russ Prize is awarded biennially to honor a bioengineering achievement that is of critical importance, advances science and engineering, and improves the human condition.
Administered by the NAE, the prize was established in 1999 with a multimillion dollar endowment to Ohio University from the Russes. The Russ Prize honors recipients with a $500,000 cash award and a gold medallion.
Gaden's research began more than 50 years ago while he was a student at Columbia University, working toward his doctorate. During this postwar period, antibiotics were becoming increasingly in demand, particularly penicillin, which had been successfully used to treat battlefield injuries.
Drug companies were looking for methods of quickly growing mass quantities of the mold-derived drug. Chemical engineers began experimenting with a mechanical process of microbial fermentation – used primarily to produce yeast for food.
Gaden, building on a lifelong interest in biology and medicine, instead decided to focus on accelerating the yeast's growth. Through the engineering concept of mass transfer – in this case, the movement of molecules and atoms through the yeast cells while in a fluid - he then introduced oxygen to the yeast, providing more fermentation energy that enables yeast to grow and multiply more rapidly, thereby providing the method of large-scale antibiotics manufacturing.
"The greatest single contribution of modern biotechnology to the advancement of human health has been the global availability of antibiotics," said Jerome Schultz, professor and chair of bioengineering at the University of California Riverside.
The accomplishment, in fact, launched a new field.
"Gaden successfully melded engineering with biology, thereby forming the new scientific specialty, bioengineering" said Boyd Woodruff, former executive director of biological science for the Merck Research Laboratories. "He has been the creative leader of the field throughout his career."
Next time the idealistic young folks in your life are talking about getting a job where they can "help people," you might mention Dr. Gaden and point them in the direction of engineering. They could do worse.
