Dr. Tamara Minko is a Professor II and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is also a member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. Her current research interests include drug delivery; biopharmaceutics; nanotechnology; molecular targeting; antisense oligonucleotides, siRNA and peptide delivery; mechanisms of multidrug resistance; intracellular fate and molecular mechanisms of action of anticancer drugs; bioimaging; macromolecular therapeutics; preclinical evaluation of new therapeutics; modulation of cell death mechanisms during hypoxia.

Professor Minko is author and co-author of more than 400 publications (peer-reviewed papers, books and textbook chapters, conference proceedings, patents). Many of her papers are well cited and published in prestigious journals with high impact factors including PNAS, Nature Nanotechnology, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Advanced Drug Delivery Review, Journal of Controlled Release, etc. Dr. Minko is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, elected member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the Controlled Release Society, recipient of numerous awards, Editor of Pharmaceutical Research, member of editorial board of several scientific journals and a member of Study Sections at NIH, DOD, American Heart Association and other national and international review panels. Her research is supported by grants from NIH, NSF, DOD and other national and international sources.

Research Areas

Biopharmaceutics; nanotechnology; molecular targeting; antisense oligonucleotides, siRNA and peptide delivery; mechanisms of multidrug resistance; intracellular fate and molecular mechanisms of action of anticancer drugs; bioimaging; macromolecular therapeutics; preclinical evaluation of new therapeutics; modulation of cell death mechanisms during hypoxia.

Ongoing/Recent Research Support

• 07/01/10 – 05/31/15. NIH/NCI R01CA138533, T. Minko – Principal Investigator. Multifunctional Nanotherapeutics for Cancer Treatment and Imaging.
• 04/01/03 – 07/31/12. NIH/NCI R01 CA100098, T. Minko – Principal Investigator, Targeted Proapoptotic Anticancer Drug Delivery System.
• 04/07/06 – 02/28/12. NIH/NCI R01 CA111766, T. Minko – Principal Investigator. Molecular Targeting of Drug Delivery System to Cancer.
• 09/01/10 – 07/31/15. U54CA151881, T. Minko – Principal Investigator, Combination Nanotherapeutic Strategies to Overcome Tumor Drug Resistance.
• 07/01/09 – 06/30/12. NIH/NIBIB R01 EB008278, T. Minko – Co-Investigator. Efficient Cellular Delivery of Oligonucleotides. (Principal Investigator – Dr. C. M. Roth, Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University).
• 12/01/09 – 11/30/12. National Science Foundation CBET 0933966, T. Minko – Co-Principal Investigator. Novel Self Assembly of siRNA for Efficient and Safe Delivery. (Principal Investigator – Dr. H. He, Department of Chemistry, Newark, Rutgers University).
• Ongoing Research Support:
• 07/01/10 – 05/31/15. NIH/NCI R01CA138533, T. Minko – Principal Investigator. Multifunctional Nanotherapeutics for Cancer Treatment and Imaging.
• 10/01/09 – 09/31/11. NIH/NCI (ARRA) R01 CA100098, T. Minko – Principal Investigator, Targeted Proapoptotic Anticancer Drug Delivery System.
• 04/07/06 – 02/28/12. NIH/NCI R01 CA111766, T. Minko – Principal Investigator. Molecular targeting of drug delivery system to cancer.
• 09/01/10 – 07/31/15. U54CA151881, T. Minko – Principal Investigator, Combination nanotherapeutic strategies to overcome tumor drug resistance.
• 07/01/09 – 06/30/11. NIH/NIBIB R01 EB008278, T. Minko – Co-Investigator. Efficient Cellular Delivery of Oligonucleotides. (Principal Investigator – Dr. C. M. Roth, Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University).
• 09/15/06 – 06/30/11. NIH/NIBIB R01 EB007049, T. Minko – Co- Principal Investigator. Carrier Shape Matters: Filomicelles, Long-circulation, and the EPR effect. (Principal Investigator – Dr. D. Discher, University of Pennsylvania).
• 12/01/09 – 11/30/12. National Science Foundation CBET 0933966, T. Minko – Co-Principal Investigator. Novel Self Assembly of siRNA for Efficient and Safe Delivery. (Principal Investigator – Dr. H. He, Department of Chemistry, Newark, Rutgers University).
• 07/01/10 – 06/30/11. Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program W81XWH-10-1-0347, T. Minko Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator – Dr. O. Taratula, Postdoctoral Research Associate working under the supervision of Dr. Minko). Innovative Strategy for Treatment of Lung Cancer: Inhalatory Co-Delivery of Anticancer drugs and siRNA for Suppression of Cellular Resistance.

Research Highlights

• Nanotechnology based inhalatory treatment of lung cancer
• Targeted multifunctional approach for treatment of multidrug resistant cancer and prevention of metastases
• Prevention of cellular hypoxic damage by the suppression of Jun N-Terminal Kinase 1

Scholarly Activities

• 2010 Member (Elected), Board of Scientific Advisors, Controlled Release Society
• 2009 Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)
• 2008, 2010, 2011 Controlled Release Society Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper Award
• 1998 The Jorge Heller Journal of Controlled Release/Controlled Release Society Outstanding Paper Award

Recent Publications

1. Lee, D, Shen, AM, Shah, M, Garbuzenko, OB, Minko, T. In Vivo Evaluation of Nose-to-Brain Delivery of Liposomal Donepezil, Memantine, and BACE-1 siRNA for Alzheimer’s Disease Therapy. Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25 (19):. doi: 10.3390/ijms251910357. PubMed PMID:39408684 PubMed Central PMC11476875
2. Lee, D, Shen, AM, Garbuzenko, OB, Minko, T. Liposomal Formulations of Anti-Alzheimer Drugs and siRNA for Nose-to-Brain Delivery: Design, Safety and Efficacy In Vitro. AAPS J. 2024;26 (5):99. doi: 10.1208/s12248-024-00967-x. PubMed PMID:39231845
3. Romaniuk-Drapala, A, Skupin-Mrugalska, P, Garbuzenko, O, Hatefi, A, Minko, T. Synergistic antitumor effect of liposomal-based formulations of olaparib and topotecan in primary epithelial ovarian cancer cells. Cancer Cell Int. 2024;24 (1):285. doi: 10.1186/s12935-024-03469-0. PubMed PMID:39135053 PubMed Central PMC11320834
4. Minko, T, Taratula, O. Nanomedicine for Women’s Health. Small. 2024;20 (41):e2405178. doi: 10.1002/smll.202405178. PubMed PMID:39032120
5. Gu, X, Majumder, J, Taratula, O, Kuzmov, A, Garbuzenko, O, Pogrebnyak, N, Minko, T. Nanotechnology-Based Strategy for Enhancing Therapeutic Efficacy in Pancreatic Cancer: Receptor-Targeted Drug Delivery by Somatostatin Analog. Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25 (10):. doi: 10.3390/ijms25105545. PubMed PMID:38791582 PubMed Central PMC11122428
6. Gu, X, Minko, T. Targeted Nanoparticle-Based Diagnostic and Treatment Options for Pancreatic Cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2024;16 (8):. doi: 10.3390/cancers16081589. PubMed PMID:38672671 PubMed Central PMC11048786
7. Garbuzenko, OB, Sapiezynski, J, Girda, E, Rodriguez-Rodriguez, L, Minko, T. Personalized Versus Precision Nanomedicine for Treatment of Ovarian Cancer. Small. 2024;20 (41):e2307462. doi: 10.1002/smll.202307462. PubMed PMID:38342698 PubMed Central PMC11316847
8. Shen, AM, Malekshah, OM, Pogrebnyak, N, Minko, T. Plant-derived single domain COVID-19 antibodies. J Control Release. 2023;359 :1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.05.030. PubMed PMID:37225092 PubMed Central PMC10231691
9. Gildiz, S, Minko, T. Nanotechnology-Based Nucleic Acid Vaccines for Treatment of Ovarian Cancer. Pharm Res. 2023;40 (1):123-144. doi: 10.1007/s11095-022-03434-4. PubMed PMID:36376606 PubMed Central PMC9663189
10. Castellano, GM, Zeeshan, S, Garbuzenko, OB, Sabaawy, HE, Malhotra, J, Minko, T, Pine, SR. Inhibition of Mtorc1/2 and DNA-PK via CC-115 Synergizes with Carboplatin and Paclitaxel in Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Mol Cancer Ther. 2022;21 (9):1381-1392. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-22-0053. PubMed PMID:35732569 PubMed Central PMC9452486