MIT graduate student wins prize for work in genomics, linguistics

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

A graduate student who developed a method for sequencing the genome in 3-D, invented a shoe insole to help detect balance problems in the elderly, and studied the evolution of language was awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT student prize today.

Erez Lieberman-Aiden, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, is one of four winners of the prize, for a body of work that includes math, linguistics, and polymer physics.

As an intern at NASA, Lieberman-Aiden invented the iShoe -- an insole with sensors that could be used to diagnose balance problems and reduce the risk of injury due to falling among senior citizens. He and his collaborators are currently testing the technology in clinical trials.

More recently, he and collaborators developed a method for 3-D genome sequencing, a technique that helps to explain how the genome folds up to fit into the nucleus of a cell.

He has also studied the evolution of language, finding that irregular verbs are disappearing from English in a predictable way.

The winners of the Lemelson prize "have the ability to transform seemingly implausible ideas into reality and are the true entrepreneurial leaders of their generation," said Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT program in a statement.

The other winners of the student prize were Heather Agnew of the California Institute of Technology, Jonathan Naber and the Illini Prosthetics Team at the University of Illinois, and Kayvan Rafiee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.