These are complicated times, but I've said it in other posts: if there's one positive thing about this period it's that for decades there hasn't been such a spotlight for people who dream of changing the world. It applies to medical professionals in their fight against the pandemic, and to citizens fighting for social justice. Technology plays its part, and in laboratories all over the world there is a lot of research preparing the future.
On the shields, among the researchers under observation by MIT, three visionaries and researchers under 35 who are about to revolutionize everything in their respective fields. They don't remember Chernobyl, they didn't experience the fall of the Berlin Wall, but they will change the world. Future Nobel women, and a site like this can only "bet" on them in particular, especially in a planet that sees women at 50% of total students, but only 25% of teachers.
Three noble women: here they are.
Christina Boville, 32 years old
What it does: Modifies enzymes to enable the production of new compounds for industry.
Among the "Nobel women" she is the one who exalted me the most. Christina Boville helped design a process that improves the way biology controls chemical reactions. It starts with natural enzymes and engineers them to produce useful chemicals that don't exist in nature. The approach can reduce the production time of compounds used in the pharmaceutical industry from months to days, reduce waste by up to 99% and cut energy consumption in half.
In 2019, Christina co-founded Aralez Bio with David Romney and Frances Arnold, Nobel Prize winner in 2018 for a new way of creating enzymes called directed evolution. Boville's process creates chemicals known as non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs), which are used to make 12% of the 200 top-selling medicines and also used in agriculture. “Nature was built using 20 amino acids. Now our enzymes can make hundreds of new ones,” she says. “Pharmaceutical ingredients usually require 5 to 10 steps. Now we can do it in one step."
Aralez Bio was recently contacted by a pharmaceutical company to produce normally developed amino acids in 9 months. The enzymes engineered by Christina Boville produced the same compound in one night.
Rose Faghih, 34 years old
What he does: His sensor-laden wristwatch could monitor your brain states.
If Rose Faghih's project spreads, a seemingly simple smart watch could determine what's going on deep in your brain.
Faghih developed an algorithm to analyze otherwise subtle changes in sweat activity, a key indicator of stress and stimulation. Using two small electrodes on a smartwatch can monitor changes in skin conductance caused by sweat. Signal processing algorithms then allow Faghih to correlate such changes with specific events, such as a flashback due to post-traumatic stress disorder or even just an attention deficit, in order to pinpoint the person's brain state.
Typically, this type of real-time data is only available through expensive scalp-based electrode systems such as EEG or functional MRI. Faghih's "Mindwatch" would be cheap and portable enough to allow people to monitor their brain states anywhere.
Faghih hopes that a Mindwatch could help people manage their moods and mental states: a wearable device with his technology could suggest that a driver, if agitated, tries to relax, or generally lower the tension a little when the warning level is exceeded. For people with mental illnesses or chronic conditions like diabetes, it might even trigger an automated deep brain stimulation device or insulin pump.
Adriana Schulz, 34 years old
What it does: Its tools allow anyone to design products without having to understand materials science or engineering.
Adriana Schulz's design tools allow users and engineers to use drag-and-drop graphical interfaces to create different functional and complex objects (including robots) without having to understand the mechanics, geometries or underlying materials.
“What excites me is that we are about to enter the next phase of manufacturing: a new revolution”, says Schulz.
One of his creations is Interactive Robogami, a tool he created to allow anyone to design rudimentary robots. A user designs the shape and trajectory of a grounded robot on the screen. Schulz's system automatically translates the raw design into a schematic that can be built from standard parts or 3D printed.
Another of the tools that you and your collaborators have created allows users to design drones to meet the requirements chosen for payload, battery life and costs. The algorithms in its system incorporate materials science and control systems and automatically generate a manufacturing plan and control software. Schulz is now helping start the University of Washington's Center for Digital Fabrication. He will work with local technology and manufacturing companies to move his instruments out of the lab.
