--- title: Angela Belcher description: An M.I.T. polymath uses genetic engineering to make a better car battery out of viruses canonical: https://time.com/archive/6596803/angela-belcher/ author: Michael Lemonick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2007-04-06T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T06:28:06.342Z article:section: Science og:title: Angela Belcher og:description: An M.I.T. polymath uses genetic engineering to make a better car battery out of viruses og:url: https://time.com/archive/6596803/angela-belcher/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Angela Belcher twitter:description: An M.I.T. polymath uses genetic engineering to make a better car battery out of viruses twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) # Angela Belcher > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=4ce3e1ba-e08a-4583-abd0-fbec051792fc&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) Apr 6, 2007 4:00 AM UTC by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) Apr 6, 2007 4:00 AM UTC The reason we aren’t all driving electric cars has little to do with a Detroit conspiracy. It’s that nobody has invented a lightweight, inexpensive battery that can store enough electricity to make such a vehicle practical. If anyone can change that, it’s Angela Belcher. A materials scientist and bioengineer at M.I.T., Belcher, 49, won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2004, and last fall Scientific American named her research leader of the year for her current project: creating an entirely new kind of battery, not by building it but by growing it. Working with several M.I.T. colleagues, Belcher has engineered a virus, known as M13 bacteriophage, that latches onto and coats itself with bits of inorganic materials, including gold and cobalt oxide. That turns each long, tubular virus into what amounts to a minuscule length of wire. Coax these nanowires to line up, and you have the components of a battery that is far more compact and powerful than anything available. If her battery works as a commercially viable product, that alone could qualify Belcher as a climate-change hero, but her vision is green in other ways as well. Conventional batteries generate a lot of waste during manufacture, and they’re a disposal nightmare. But a viral battery essentially grows itself, using water as a solvent, so there’s practically no waste. And since much of its relatively small bulk is organic, the battery is partly biodegradable. Belcher has been tackling a whole new field of science every five years (so far, she has mastered materials science, biochemistry, molecular biology and electrical engineering). 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