Edward Wilson Merrill
Edward Wilson Merrill | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 29, 1923 |
| Nationality |  USA |
| Known for | Biomaterials, Artificial Kidney, Blood Rheology |
| Awards | American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1985), Founders Award (AIMBE, 2010)], 100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era (AIChE, 2008), Founders Award (AIChE, 2000), Founders Award (SFB, 2002), Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Research Contributions (AIChE, 1982), C.A. Stine Materials and Engineering Award (AIChE, 1993), Clemson Award for Contributions to the Biomaterials Literature, (SFB, 1990) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Biomaterials, Biocompatibility, Blood Rheology, Artificial Kidney, Hydrogels |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Doctoral advisor | Hermann P. Meissner (1907-1990) |
Edward Wilson Merrill (born in New Bedford, MA on August 29, 1923) is the leading biomaterials scientist of the 20th century and one of the founder of the bioengineering and specifically the biomedical engineering field within chemical engineering. Merrill was born to Edward Clifton Merrill (1881-1949), a chief chemist of the United Drug Co (Rexall) and Gertrude Wilson (1895-1978).
Education and work
Merrill grew up in Boston and attended Boston Latin High school. He received a B.A. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1944 and pursued doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the direction of Hermann P. Meissner, a leading thermodynamicist of the 20th century and who had been educated in Germany. Merrill received his PhD in 1947 working on theories of adhesion of two polymers. His work anticipated much later work of Pierre Gilles DeGennes and others on polymer interdigitation to improve adhesion. Upon graduation he was employed by Dewey and Alby (part of W.R. Grace) and joined MIT as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1950. He went through the ranks and was appointed Carbon P Dubbs Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1973, a position he held until 1998. Since then, he has been Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering. He served also as Chief Scientist and Consultant in Biochemical Engineering to Harvard University Health Services, 1984-98. He was Visiting Lecturer in Chemistry at Harvard University from 1952 to 1958, Consultant at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital of Boston from 1960 to 1972, consultant of the Children's Hospital in Boston from 1969 to 1972, and consultant of the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from 1969 to 1985.
Research
Over a 61-year career Professor Edward Merrill has been a pioneer in several fields of bioengineering. In the 1950s and 60s he was the leading scientist in blood rheology. In the 1960s and 1970s Merrill was a pioneer in the development of the artificial kidney, analysis of its transport characteristics and optimization of hemodialyzer membranes. In the 1960s-80s he pioneered protein/polymer interaction under stagnant and flow conditions and made exceptional contributions in the development of hydrogels as biomaterials, and in ionic or covalent heparinization techniques on polymer surfaces for antithrombogenic materials. Ed Merrill and Ed Saltzman of Harvard were the pioneers who proposed poly(ethylene oxide) as a highly biocompatible biomaterial is a seminal 1979 paper and did significant studies to analyze its stricture and blood response. In the 1990s Ed Merrill and W Harris developed irradiation crosslinked HDPE that has become the main material for total joint replacement.[1]
Merrill's ideas on poly(ethylene oxide) as a non-thrombogenic biomaterial (1979 with Saltzman) led to an explosion in the use of PEG- and PEO- decorated biomedical systems. Merrill's work on highly crosslinked polyethylene (1990s with W Harris) led to the new high density polyethylene (HDPE) materials used in artificial joints now (a $4 billion industry). Merrill's pioneering work on artificial kidneys (with Colton and Britton in the 1960s) led to the development of the first NIH guidelines for artificial kidneys in the 1960s.
Major Research and Educational Contributions
1. Merrill developed the patented GDM [Gilinson-Dauwalter-Merrill] viscometer and investigated the effect of the hematocrit various plasma proteins, and white blood cells on blood viscosity and flow behavior. 2. He developed new heparinized biomedical surfaces based on poly(vinyl alcohol) and hydroxylated SBS-block copolymer systems (with P. Wong) 3. With R. Britton and CK Colton he developed novel hemodialysis membranes based on Cuprophane. 4. He is the inventor (1973) of pioneering silicone-based contact lenses that became the basis of the oxygen-permeable technology of modern contact lenses. 5. With W. Harris of MGH, he developed advanced methods of irradiation-crosslinked high density polyethylenes that have become the standard materials in joint replacement. The impact of this work is described in http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/08.23/99-hip.html.
Ed Merrill is also a pioneer in developing courses for biomedical engineering. His course 10.56 “Chemical Engineering in Medicine and Biology” was first taught at MIT’s Chemical Engineering Department in January 1963. He has educated several generations of current leaders of biomedical engineering. In 2008, on the occasion of a special MIT event celebrating 60 years of research, he was awarded his academic family tree with all his PhD-related students and decendants. His first MS student was Bayard Storey (MS ’55) who went on to study medicine and is now Professor Emeritus of Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. His first PhD student was the legendary Allan S. Hoffman (PhD ’87) who is now Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. His "academic tree" includes now about 3,600 scientists and engineers with PhD degrees or postdocs associated with him directly or through his academic decedents. This list includes approximately 675 professors around the world!
Merrill himself supervised 57 PhD students, 62 MS students and 12 postdoctoral fellows. Of the 57 PhDs, 17 became faculty members and 21 became CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, or VPs of companies.
At the Centennial AIChE meeting (2008) four of his academic decedents joined him in the list of "100 Eminent Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era". One from the first generation (Nicholas Peppas), one from the second (Bob Langer), and two from the third generation (Cato Laurencin and Kristi Anseth). Also five of the nine recipients of the Pierre Galetti Award of AIMBE, the highest bioengineering recognition in the country, are in his academic tree. And his academic decedents have received 34 AIChE awards!
An impressive number of decedents of this academic tree are members of the major Academies. They include • Two NAS members (Robert Langer, David Tirrell) • Eight IOM members (Nicholas Peppas, David Tirrell, Robert Langer, Elazer Edelman, Cato Laurencin, Tony Mikos, Kristi Anseth, Marsha Moses) • Nineteen NAE members (Allan Hoffman, Nicholas Peppas, David Tirrell, Robert Langer, Tony Mikos, Elazer Edelman, David Edwards, Cato Laurencin, Linda Griffith, Yosi Kost, Howard Rosen, Tony Mikos, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Kristi Anseth, Richard Korsmeyer, David Mooney, Kam Leong, Buddy Ratner, Peter Farrell) • One member of the Royal Society (Mike Sefton)
Awards and Honors
Edward Merrill has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers has bestowed upon him the Founders Award (2000), the Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Research Contributions (1982) and the C.A. Stine Materials Science and Engineering Award (1993). In 2008 and on the occasion of the Centennial of AIChE, Merrill was named one of the "100 Eminent Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era".
The Society for Biomaterials (SFB) bestowed upon him the Founders Award (2002) and the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Biomaterials Literature (1990).
The American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) awarded him the 2010 Pierre Galetti Award, the highest recognition in the bioengineering field.
Ed Merrill has been the recipient of numerous awards. He received the M.I.T. Department of Chemical Engineering Outstanding Faculty Award (teaching and research) in 1972, 1989 and 1992.
Merrill serves in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as Consultant to the Conservator, Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1988-. He has also served as Vice President of the Boston-Strasbourg Sister City Association, Director of the Alliance Francaise of Boston-Cambridge, and , Honorary Trustee of the Buckingham Browne and Nicholas School.