Growing up in Milan, Benedetto Marelli liked figuring out how things worked. Enrolling at the Polytechnic University of Milan, he selected to study engineering.
” This resonated with my training and concept of utilizing natures structure obstructs to develop a more sustainable society,” Marelli says. “It was a big leap forward for me to go from biomedical engineering to ecological and civil engineering. It meant completely changing my community, comprehending what I could teach and how to coach trainees in a brand-new engineering branch.
Benedetto Marelli, an MIT professor, combines engineering and products science to develop silk-based innovations for global obstacles such as food security. He champions the integration of academic research study and entrepreneurship, leading to the development of Mori, a company that markets silk-based food conservation products.
Professor Benedetto Marelli develops silk-based innovations with uses “from laboratory to fork,” including helping crops grow and maintaining perishable foods.
Growing up in Milan, Benedetto Marelli liked figuring out how things worked. Registering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, he chose to study engineering.
” Engineering appeared like the right fit to meet my passions at the crossway of finding how the world works, together with understanding the guidelines of nature and utilizing this knowledge to produce something new that might positively impact our society,” says Marelli, MITs Paul M. Cook Career Development Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Professor Benedetto Marelli uses silk-based innovations to assist crops grow and to maintain disposable foods. Credit: Jake Belcher
Journey Into Biomedical Engineering
Marelli chose to concentrate on biomedical engineering, which at the time was the closest thing offered to biological engineering. “I liked the concept of pursuing research studies that supplied me a background to engineer life,” in order to improve human health and farming, he states.
Marelli went on to earn a PhD in products science and engineering at McGill University and after that worked in Tufts Universitys biomaterials Silklab as a postdoc. After his postdoc, Marelli was drawn to MITs Department of Civil and Environmental in large part due to the fact that of the work of Markus Buehler, MITs McAfee Professor of Engineering, who studies how to develop new products by understanding the architecture of natural ones.
: “Boosting food production to offer food security to an ever-increasing population, soil remediation, reducing the environmental impact of fertilizers, and resolving stressors coming from climate change are social challenges that require the development of rapidly scalable and deployable innovations,” Marelli states. Credit: Jake Belcher
” This resonated with my training and idea of utilizing natures foundation to build a more sustainable society,” Marelli states. “It was a huge leap forward for me to go from biomedical engineering to environmental and civil engineering. It implied entirely changing my neighborhood, comprehending what I could teach and how to mentor students in a brand-new engineering branch. As Markus is working with silk to study how to engineer much better products, this made me see a clear connection with what I was doing and what I could be doing. I consider him one of my coaches here at MIT and was lucky to wind up working together with him.”
Research and Global Impact
Marellis research is intended at mitigating numerous pressing worldwide issues, he states.
” Boosting food production to provide food security to an ever-increasing population, soil restoration, decreasing the ecological effect of fertilizers, and addressing stressors originating from environment change are societal obstacles that need the development of deployable and quickly scalable innovations,” he states.
: “Knowing that the technology can move the needle in reducing 2 social crises such as food waste and food-related environmental impact is the highest benefit of all,” Marelli says. Credit: Jake Belcher
Marelli and his fellow researchers have established coatings stemmed from natural silk that extend the service life of food, provide biofertilizers to seeds planted in salty, unproductive soils, and permit seeds to develop healthier plants and increase crop yield in drought-stricken lands. The technologies have carried out well in field tests being performed in Morocco in partnership with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir, according to Marelli, and offer much capacity.
” I think that with this innovation, together with the typical efforts shared by the MIT PIs taking part in the Climate Grand Challenge on Revolutionizing Agriculture, we have a genuine chance to positively impact planetary health and find new solutions that operate in both rural settings and highly up-to-date farming fields,” states Marelli, who just recently earned tenure.
Awards and Entrepreneurship
As a scientist and entrepreneur with about 20 patents to his name and awards consisting of a National Science Foundation CAREER award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers award, and the Ole Madsen Mentoring Award, Marelli states that in basic his insights into structural proteins– and how to use that understanding to produce innovative products at several scales– are among his proudest accomplishments.
: Marelli and his fellow researchers have established finishings obtained from natural silk that extend the life span of food, provide biofertilizers to seeds planted in salty, ineffective soils, and enable seeds to establish much healthier plants and increase crop yield in drought-stricken lands. Credit: Jake Belcher
More particularly, Marelli mentions among his advancements involving a strawberry. Having dipped the berry in an odorless, tasteless edible silk suspension as part of a cooking contest kept in his postdoctoral laboratory, he accidentally left it on his bench, just to find a week or so later that it had been unspoiled.
” The finish of the strawberry to increase its rack life is tough to beat when it concerns motivating people that natural polymers can work as technical products that can favorably affect our society” by reducing food waste and the requirement for energy-intensive refrigerated shipping, Marelli states.
Motivating Entrepreneurship in Academia
When Marelli won the BioInnovation Institute and Science Prize for Innovation in 2022, he told the journal Science that he believes students ought to be encouraged to pick an entrepreneurial course. He acknowledged the steepness of the knowing curve of being a business owner however likewise mentioned how the impact of research can be significantly increased.
He broadened on this idea more recently.
Asked which of his technologies will have the greatest effect on the world, Marelli states, “I d like to believe its the ones that still need to be discovered.” Credit: Jake Belcher
” I believe an increasing number of academics and graduate trainees ought to try to get their hands dirty with entrepreneurial efforts. We live in a time where academics are called to have a concrete influence on our society, and translating what we study in our labs is clearly an excellent way to employ our trainees and enhance the global effort to develop new technology that can make our society more equitable and sustainable,” Marelli states.
Referring to a spinoff company, Mori, that grew out of the coated strawberry discovery which establishes silk-based items to preserve a vast array of perishable foods, Marelli states he discovers it extremely pleasing to understand that Mori has an item on the market that came out of his research study efforts– and that 80 people are working to translate the discovery from “lab to fork.”
” Knowing that the innovation can move the needle in crises such as food waste and food-related ecological impact is the greatest reward of all,” he says.
Marelli says he informs students who are looking for options to exceptionally complex issues to come up with one solution, “however crazy it may be,” and then do a substantial literature evaluation to see what other researchers have done and whether “there is any tip that points toward developing their option.”
” Once we understand the feasibility, I usually work with them to streamline it as much as we can, and then to break down the issue in little parts that are addressable in series and/or in parallel,” Marelli says.
That procedure of discovery is ongoing. Asked which of his technologies will have the greatest influence on the world, Marelli states, “I d like to think its the ones that still need to be found.”