World's first Human Micro Liver

Sangeeta Bhatia, an award winning scientist, dancer and a loving mother has won the Heinz award for developing the world’s first human micro liver. For her work in tissue engineering and disease detection which includes work on cultivation of functional liver cells outside human body, she has received the Heinz award in Technology in the economy and employment category.

The award was announced on 23rd April. It has an unrestricted prize of $250,000. When she heard that the won the award, Dr Sangeetha Bhatia said that the exposure this award has can inspire many young girls by showing them how rewarding and prestigious STEM.

Bhatia will receive her award on May 13th in a ceremony in Pittsburgh. She is currently the directory of Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies (LMRT) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. She is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the John J. and Dororthy Wilson Professor at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).

She is a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, a senior member of the Broad Institute, and a Biomedical Engineer at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia