Samir Mitragotri


Samir Mitragotri is an Indian American professor at Harvard University, an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a researcher in the fields of drug delivery and biomaterials. He is currently the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Prior to 2017, he was the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Mitragotri is widely recognized for his contributions to the field of drug delivery. He is considered a pioneer of many novel drug delivery technologies, especially in the fields of transdermal, oral and targeted systems. He invented the use of low-frequency ultrasound, pulsed microjet injector, high throughput skin experimentation, skin penetrating peptides and ionic liquids for transdermal delivery of proteins and nucleic acids. He also invented intestinal patches and ionic liquids for oral delivery of proteins. Mitragotri also developed nanoparticles of different shapes and stiffness and demonstrated that they improve drug targeting. He pioneered the concept of nanoparticles that hitch a ride on red blood cells and monocytes to improve targeting to specific organs.
Mitragotri has published over 230 research publications, has given over 500 presentations worldwide, and is an inventor on over 160 patents/applications. His publications are cited with an h-index of 100. Mitragotri is a member of U.S. National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, and National Academy of Inventors. He is a co-founder of several companies that are developing products based on his inventions. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT and BS in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology. Mitragotri serves on the editorial boards of several journals and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Bioengineering and Translational Medicine.

Awards and honors

Mitragotri's national and international awards include:
Samir Mitragotri has co-founded several companies: