Assistant Professor Samir Mitragotri

Phone: 805-893 7532, Fax: 805-893 4731

E-mail: samir@engineering.ucsb.edu

Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, Transport in Biological Systems, Biomedical Ultrasound

Dr. Mitragotri received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996. He joined UCSB in 1999. He is working towards the development of novel biomaterials and drug delivery methods. The need for novel drug delivery methods is clear from the fact that injections are the most common method of delivering peptides and proteins. The pain and the possibility of infection associated with injection results in low patient compliance. Various alternative routes of drug delivery such as transdermal, nasal, and oral have been investigated. However, utilization of these routes has been limited due to their low bioavailibility, which originates from the low permeability of these membranes. Dr. Mitragotri's research objective is to advance our understanding of the interactions of drugs (proteins) with these membranes through experimental and theoretical research and develop novel methods to enhance drug transport through biological membranes. Through such understanding a broad knowledge platform can be developed and can be used in the development of effective of methods of delivering drugs through various routes. He has developed a non-invasive method of transdermal drug delivery and diagnostics using ultrasound. In this method, a short application of ultrasound is used to permeabilize skin. Therapeutic doses of drugs such as insulin can be delivered through permeabilized skin. At the same time, a sample of interstitial fluid can be extracted through permeabilized skin for non-invasive diagnostics

Appointments, Honors, and Awards

• CRS-Dow Corning Outstanding Research Award (2000)
• International Research Promotion Council Young Scientist Award (2000)
• Technology Review Young Innovator Award (1999)
• Harvard Health Letter Outstanding Research Award (1996)
• Ebert Prize by the American Pharmaceutical Association (1995)
• Schering-Plough Fellowship (1994-1996)
• MIT Chemical Engineering Alumni Fellowship (1992)

Some specific research projects and references

• Ultrasound-Mediated Transdermal Drug Delivery and Diagnostics.
  S. Mitragotri, D. Blankschtein, and R. Langer, "Ultrasound-Mediated Transdermal Protein Delivery", Science 269, 850 (1995)

• Mathematical Modeling of Transport in Lipid Bilayers.
  S. Mitragotri, M. Johnson, D. Blankschtein, and R. Langer, "A Theoretical Analysis of Solute Partitioning, Diffusion, and Permeation across Lipid Bilayers", Biophys. J. 77, 1268 (1999)