Mark R. Prausnitz
Professor
Contact Information
Building: Petit IBB
Office:
1312
Phone: 404.894.5135
Fax: 404.894.2291
email
Mailing Address
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Chemical &
Biomolecular Engineering
311 Ferst Drive, N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30332-0100
Links
Mark R. Prausnitz
Education
B.S. 1988, Stanford University
Ph.D. 1994, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bio
In addition to training graduate students in the laboratory, Dr. Prausnitz is actively involved with teaching undergraduate students in the classroom. His core courses are introductory classes on mass and energy balances and thermodynamics and the upper-division course on unit operations laboratory. An elective course developed by Dr. Prausnitz is entitled “Effective Communication for Professional Engineering,” which addresses oral and written communication in the context of a case study of the nicotine patch.
Another elective course, developed in collaboration with Dr. Bommarius, is entitled "Drug Design, Development, and Delivery." This course for senior undergraduates and graduate students exposes students to the interplay between multiple technical, as well as economic and societal factors that influence the creation of a successful pharmaceutical.
Dr. Prausnitz has co-authored more than 100 research articles, given 120 invited lectures to industry and academia, published 170 conference abstracts, holds close to 20 issued or pending patents, and has served as an expert witness. Among his honors are the NSF/NIH Scholar-in-Residence at the National Institutes of Health, CAREER Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, TR100 Young Innovator Award from Technology Review and Young Investigator Award and Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper Award from the Controlled Release Society.
Research Interests
Dr. Prausnitz and his colleagues carry out research on biophysical methods of drug delivery by employing engineering analysis and inventing new technologies. His research emphasizes delivery of drugs, vaccines, proteins and genes into cells and tissues using mechanical, thermal, acoustic, electrical and other physical forces. These forces drive molecules across biological barriers through transient structural reorganization of the barrier on the nano- and micro-scale. A major project in the Prausnitz group involves the use of microfabricated microneedles that painlessly pierce the skin to administer drugs and vaccines in a minimally invasive manner. Intensive efforts focus on development of an influenza vaccine patch containing solid microneedles that could be self-administered by patients and increase vaccine effectiveness by targeting immune cells in the skin. Additional efforts focus on other vaccines, especially those needed in developing countries, such as measles, polio, tuberculosis and cervical cancer vaccines. Hollow microneedles are being used to administer insulin to diabetic patients to make insulin injection easier and painless, as well as to improve therapy by increasing insulin pharmacokinetics. The Prausnitz group also works to improve drug delivery to the eye. Drug solutions can be infused to the back of the eye to treat diseases such as macular degeneration via a natural conduit within the suprachoroidal space that can be easily accessed using hollow microneedles. Increased and targeted delivery to the front of the eye across the cornea is also being pursued using a number of approaches. Finally, the Prausnitz groups works to transiently increase cell membrane permeability using ultrasound and laser-activated carbon nanoparticles. Uptake of molecules into cells, as well as the cellular processes to repair the membrane breach, are studied. Other exploratory studies seek to leverage additional physical methods to overcome biological barriers for increased and targeted drug delivery.