Mark Robert Prausnitz is an American chemical engineer, currently Regents’ Professor, Regents’ Entrepreneur and J. Erskine Love, Jr. Chair in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

and Adjunct Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST (originally the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is a national university, national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the ...

. He is known for pioneering microneedle technology for minimally invasive drug and vaccine administration, which has found applications in

transdermal Transdermal is a route of administration wherein active ingredients are delivered across the skin for systemic distribution. Examples include transdermal patches used for medicine delivery. The drug is administered in the form of a patch or ointm ...

, ocular, oral, and sustained release delivery systems. He has published almost 350 research papers in collaboration with over 100 different senior collaborations in universities, industry partners, and government. His publications have been cited more than 63,000 times with an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 123 as of March 2025. He is also inventor on more than 70 US

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s (issued or pending).

Biography

Prausnitz received his bachelor's degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1988. He joined

ALZA corporation Alza Corporation was an American pharmaceutical and medical systems company. Background Founded in 1968 by Dr. Alejandro Zaffaroni; the company's name is a portmanteau of his name. Alza was a major pioneer in the field of drug delivery system ...

as junior chemical engineer (1988–1989) where he worked on transdermal drug delivery systems. He then pursued graduate studies at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) under the supervision of Robert S. Langer and James Weaver, and received his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering in 1994, for a thesis “Electroporation of Tissue and Cells for Drug Delivery Applications”.

Teaching

At Georgia Tech, he co-developed and taught with Andreas Bommarius two new interdisciplinary courses with a pharmaceutical focus – “Drug Design, Development, and Delivery” and “Pharmaceutical Development”.

Contributions to science and medicine

Drug and vaccine delivery to the skin using microneedle patches

Prausnitz is best known as the founder of

Microneedle drug delivery Microneedles (MNs) are medical tools used for microneedling, primarily in drug delivery, disease diagnosis, and collagen induction therapy. Known for their minimally invasive and precise nature, MNs consist of arrays of micro-sized needles rangin ...

, having published the first paper on microneedle use for drug delivery in 1998, conducted the first clinical trials of drug and vaccine delivery using

microneedles Microneedles (MNs) are medical tools used for microneedling, primarily in drug delivery, disease diagnosis, and collagen induction therapy. Known for their minimally invasive and precise nature, MNs consist of arrays of micro-sized needles rangin ...

, founded ten companies based on the technologies. His microneedle patches painlessly applied to the skin for simplified

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

are have been studied in a phase 1/2 clinical trial of

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

and

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

vaccination in West Africa with the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...

. In 2007, Prausnitz published the first paper on ocular drug delivery using microneedles. In 2011, he co-founded Clearside Biomedical to further develop his foundational work on suprachoroidal space (SCS) delivery via microneedles for targeted injection into the eye, which is now the basis for an FDA-approved product to treat macular edema (Xipere®). He has collaborated at Emory University and elsewhere to develop hollow and solid microneedle systems to target drug delivery to sites of action within the eye in both the posterior and anterior segments.

Transdermal drug delivery using electroporation and other methods

He published the first paper on skin

electroporation Electroporation, also known as electropermeabilization, is a microbiological and biotechnological technique in which an electric field is applied to cells to briefly increase the permeability of the cell membrane. The application of a high-vo ...

and demonstrated its feasibility for transdermal drug delivery in 1993. He has studied mechanisms of creating transient pores in cell membranes to promote intracellular delivery of biomolecules using electroporation, ultrasound-mediated cavitation, and laser-activated nanoparticles.

Personal life

Mark Prausnitz is the son of University of California, Berkeley professor John Prausnitz.

Co-founded companies

Prausnitz is an entrepreneur who has co-founded several companies: * Redeon (acquired by BioValve Technologies) * Microneedle Systems * Clearside Biomedical * Micron Biomedical * Microstar Biotech * Aldena Therapeutics (acquired by Alys Pharmaceuticals) * Vimela Therapeutics (acquired by Alys Pharmaceuticals) * Alys Pharmaceuticals * Piezo Therapeutics * Serene Ophthalmic

Awards and honors

* Fellow,

American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It represents 50,000 medical and Biomedical engineering, biomedical engineers, and academic i ...

(2009) * Fellow,

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...

(2014) * Fellow, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (2017) * Fellow, Controlled Release Society (2018) * Member, National Academy of Engineering (2023) * Member, National Academy of Medicine (2024) https://nam.edu/news-and-insights/national-academy-of-medicine-elects-100-new-members-6/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prausnitz, Mark American chemical engineers Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors American inventors Stanford University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Georgia Tech faculty Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the National Academy of Medicine