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Giovanni Traverso is a physician-scientist who is an associate member of the Ó³»­´«Ã½, the director of the , associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and a gastroenterologist in the Division of Gastroenterology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. 

His research integrates engineering and medicine to create next-generation drug delivery, bioelectronic, and diagnostic platforms across organ systems. His group develops ingestible electronics and robotic capsules, implantable and bioresorbable devices, long-acting injectable depots, and responsive biomaterials designed to improve adherence and enable closed-loop sensing and therapy. These systems combine materials science, mechanics, and electronics to monitor physiology and deliver treatment in real time.

A central focus is the oral delivery of biologics including mRNA, siRNA, plasmid DNA, peptides, and monoclonal antibodies using bioinspired ingestible devices. His lab has engineered self-orienting gastric autoinjectors, microneedle capsules, and active pumping systems that deliver drugs directly into gastrointestinal tissue. Complementing these platforms are ingestible electronic interfaces that anchor to tissue, sense physiological signals, deliver electrical stimulation, release drugs programmably, and communicate wirelessly.

Beyond the gastrointestinal tract, Traverso’s group develops long-acting injectable depot systems, including self-aggregating microcrystal platforms that form high-loading implants in situ for sustained release over months to years. The lab also engineers smart, environmentally responsive materials and electroceutical systems that extend to implantable and minimally invasive applications in other tissues.

Traverso’s work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, Science, and other leading journals. He is a member of the National Academy of Inventors and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He received his B.A. and medical degree from the University of Cambridge and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, and completed clinical training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.