25 December 2017
Professor Jackie Y. Ying, executive director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, has been named a Fellow of the United States National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
The status is given to academic inventors who have shown a spirit of innovation in creating outstanding inventions, and is the highest United States professional accolade that can be earned by academic inventors.
Prof Ying, 51, is one of 155 inventors from around the world who received the honour this year.
The NAI is based in Florida, US, and its goal is to encourage academic technology and innovation for the benefit of society.
Prof Ying, a chemical engineer by training, joined the chemical engineering faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992, and became its youngest full professor at age 35 in 2001. She has more than 180 primary patents and patent applications. Her inventions have led to the founding of numerous start-up companies. One of them was SmartCells In which developed a technology capable of autoregulating the release of insulin. The company was later acquired by pharmaceutical giant Merck.