Angela Belcher

About

Angela Belcher is a James Mason Crafts Professor and a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering at MIT. She is a materials chemist with expertise in biomaterials, biomolecular materials, organic-inorganic interfaces, and solid-state chemistry. Her work focuses on evolving organisms to build new materials and devices for applications in clean energy, electronics, the environment, and medicine. Professor Belcher received a BS in creative studies in 1991 and a PhD in inorganic chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 24th annual MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the 2004 Four Star General Recognition Award, and was named Scientific American’s Research Leader of the Year in 2006. Her research has been published in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, and her work has been reported in various publications including Fortune, Forbes, Discover, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2022, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and she has also been honored as a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineers and the National Academy of Inventors, as well as receiving the Lemelson-MIT Prize.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Environmental chemistry
• Immunology
• Biology
• Medicine
• Environmental engineering
• Ecology
• Optics

Selected publications

• A particulate saponin/TLR agonist vaccine adjuvant alters lymph flow and modulates adaptive immunity

  Science Immunology · 2021 · 167 citations

  , and HIV tier 2 neutralizing antibodies in nonhuman primates. Together, these findings shed new light on mechanisms by which saponin adjuvants act to promote the immune response and suggest that SMNP may be a promising adjuvant in the setting of HIV, SARS-CoV-2, and other pathogens.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Using yeast to sustainably remediate and extract heavy metals from waste waters

  Nature Sustainability · 2020 · 142 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Near-infrared emitting graphene quantum dots synthesized from reduced graphene oxide for <i>in vitro</i> / <i>in vivo</i> / <i>ex vivo</i> bioimaging applications

  2D Materials · 2021 · 61 citations

  Abstract Near-infrared (NIR) emissive nanomaterials are desired for bioimaging and drug delivery applications due to the high tissue penetration depth of NIR light, enabling in vitro / ex vivo / in vivo fluorescence tracking. Considering the scarcity of NIR-fluorescing biocompatible nanostructures, we have for the first-time synthesized nanometer-sized reduced graphene oxide-derived graphene quantum dots (RGQDs) with NIR (950 nm) emission highly biocompatible in vitro with no preliminary toxic r…

  DOI

• Phage Particles of Controlled Length and Genome for <i>In Vivo</i> Targeted Glioblastoma Imaging and Therapeutic Delivery

  ACS Nano · 2022-07-13 · 54 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  M13 bacteriophage (phage) are versatile, genetically tunable nanocarriers that have been recently adapted for use as diagnostic and therapeutic platforms. Applying p3 capsid chlorotoxin fusion with the “inho” circular single-stranded DNA (cssDNA) gene packaging system, we produced miniature chlorotoxin inho (CTX-inho) phage particles with a minimum length of 50 nm that can target intracranial orthotopic patient-derived GBM22 glioblastoma tumors in the brains of mice. Systemically administered in…

  PublisherDOI

• Peptide‐Based Cancer Vaccine Delivery via the STINGΔTM‐cGAMP Complex

  Advanced Healthcare Materials · 2022-06-07 · 31 citations

  articleOpen access

  With the advent of bioinformatic tools in efficiently predicting neo-antigens, peptide vaccines have gained tremendous attention in cancer immunotherapy. However, the delivery of peptide vaccines remains a major challenge, primarily due to ineffective transport to lymph nodes and low immunogenicity. Here, a strategy for peptide vaccine delivery is reported by first fusing the peptide to the cytosolic domain of the stimulator of interferon genes protein (STINGΔTM), then complexing the peptide-STI…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant U54CA151884

  NIH · $8.9M · 2016

Frequent coauthors

• Paula T. Hammond

  67 shared

• Jifa Qi

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  51 shared

• Ki Tae Nam

  Seoul National University

  28 shared

• Po‐Yen Chen

  26 shared

• Noémie‐Manuelle Dorval Courchesne

  McGill University

  26 shared

• Galen D. Stucky

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  24 shared

• Daniel E. Morse

  23 shared

• Xiangnan Dang

  Eli Lilly (United States)

  22 shared

Labs

• The Biomolecular Materials GroupPI

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1996

• B.S., Chemistry

  California Institute of Technology

  1991

Awards & honors

• 24th annual MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• 2004 Four Star General Recognition Award
• Scientific American ’s Research Leader of the Year (2006)
• 2018 Xconomy Award, Innovation at the Intersection
• 2018 Fellow, National Academy of Engineers

Similar researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Yang Shao-Hornh-143
• Ju Lih-141
• Yet-Ming Chiangh-102