Sengeh was offered a scholarship to study in Norway , and joined the UWC Red Cross Nordic College in 2004 . His uncle was a surgeon . He studied biomedical engineering at Harvard University . He researched aerosolised vaccines for tuberculosis and graduated with a bachelor 's degree in 2010 . During his time at Harvard University , he was cofounder of '' Lebone Solutions '' , a start-up that developed inexpensive batteries from microbial fuel cells . He was listed in the 2013 Wired magazine Smart List . Sengeh joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his postgraduate studies , working under the supervision of Hugh Herr . He was inspired to work on prosthetics because he grew up surrounded by victims of civil war . He used MRI to map amputee 's limbs , then assessed where artificial materials could create pressure points , and used 3D printing to generate new sockets . His prototypes were tested by veterans and amputees from the Boston Marathon bombing . He was named as a TED fellow in 2014 , delivering a talk entitled '' The sore problem of prosthetic limbs '' . He was selected as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2014 . He won the 2014 Lemelson – MIT Prize for his innovations in healthcare . He was selected as one of Face2Face Africa 's '' Young Africans Committed to Excellence . '' He completed his PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 . After completing his PhD , Sengeh toured makerspaces in America talking about his work on prosthetics
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing
David Moinina Sengeh