Angela Belcher

Angela M. Belcher is a polymath, having (so far) mastered materials science, biochemistry, molecular biology and electrical engineering. She is director of the Biomolecular Materials Group at M.I.T and a MacArthur Fellow, following the MacArthur Foundation awarding her their genius grant for 2004. Her coverage in the media is minimal, aside from a TIME article featuring her work on viral batteries and Scientific American naming her research leader of the year in 2006 for her current project. After studying abalone shells, she worked with several colleagues at M.I.T. and managed to engineer a virus, known as the M13 bacteriophage whose target is usually Escherichea Coli. M13 can be made to latch onto and coat itself with inorganic materials including gold and cobalt oxide. The long tubular virus (coated in cobalt oxide) now acts as a minuscule length of wire called a nanowire. Angela Belcher, and her colleagues, coaxed many of these nanowires together and found that they resemble the basic components of a potentially very powerful and compact battery. In 2002 she founded Cambrios with Evelyn Hu of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Their vision relied upon the use of nanostructured inorganic material, fabricated and shaped by biological molecules to create novel materials and processes for a variety of industries.