Biographical Info

Research Areas

Drug delivery and targeting with an emphasis on AIDS, cancer, and chemical counterterrorism, biomaterials, hydrogels and nanocarriers, mechanism-based pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics; transport and metabolism, and bioavailability.

Research Highlights

Dr. Sinko’s research is focused on the mechanisms and applications of biopharmaceutics and polymers to drug delivery and targeting. His laboratory is located in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. His group’s research efforts focus on the design, fabrication and evaluation of molecular-scale drug and diagnostic delivery technologies applied broadly to asthma, AIDS, cancer, and chemical counterterrorism. Dr. Sinko’s research efforts have been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health, various nonprofit organizations and the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries.

The research group is organized into therapeutic areas focusing on AIDS, cancer, and chemical counter-terrorism. Drug delivery at the molecular scale (i.e., nano) using biodegradable and biocompatible polymer platforms is a central theme. The scope of current projects includes a molecular mechanistic component, chemical design and synthesis, and biological and efficacy characterization (in vitro, in situ, and in vivo) with an emphasis on translation from concept to clinic.

Scholarly Activities

• 2006 MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award, National Institutes of Health, for grant: Enhancing Intestinal & Brain Uptake of Anti-AIDS Drugs (R37 AI/DK-51214). The NIH awards MERIT status “to a select number of funded investigators (<5%) who have demonstrated superior competence, outstanding productivity during their previous research endeavors and are leaders in their field with paradigm-shifting ideas. The MERIT award runs through 2016.
• 2003 Parke-Davis Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University.
• 2003 elected Fellow, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, (Alexandria, VA).
• 1999 Gallo Award for Outstanding Cancer Research (with Drs. F.R. Luo, E. Rubin and A.K. Lalloo, and P.V. Paranjpe).
• 1997 Gallo Award for Outstanding Cancer Research (with Drs. E. Gupta, T. Cook, and E. Rubin).
• 1997 Controlled Release Society, Inc., CRS-Dow Corning Recognition Award for Excellence in Guiding Graduate Student Research.
• 1995 Hoechst Celanese Innovative Research Award.
• 1994 Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Rutgers College Parents Association, Rutgers University.
• 1993 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Young Investigator Grant in Pharmaceutics and the Pharmaceutical Technologies.
• 1992 Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award in Pharmaceutics.
• 1992 Burroughs Welcome Fund New Investigator Award, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Recent Publications

1. Roldan, TL, Li, S, Guillon, C, Heindel, ND, Laskin, JD, Lee, IH, Gao, D, Sinko, PJ. Optimizing Nanosuspension Drug Release and Wound Healing Using a Design of Experiments Approach: Improving the Drug Delivery Potential of NDH-4338 for Treating Chemical Burns. Pharmaceutics. 2024;16 (4):. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16040471. PubMed PMID:38675132 PubMed Central PMC11053863
2. Roldan, TL, Li, S, Laskin, JD, Gao, D, Sinko, PJ. Depilatory double-disc mouse model for evaluation of vesicant dermal injury pharmacotherapy countermeasures. Animal Model Exp Med. 2023;6 (1):57-65. doi: 10.1002/ame2.12304. PubMed PMID:36872306 PubMed Central PMC9986227
3. Joseph, LB, Gordon, MK, Zhou, P, Hahn, RA, Lababidi, H, Croutch, CR, Sinko, PJ, Heck, DE, Laskin, DL, Laskin, JD et al.. Sulfur mustard corneal injury is associated with alterations in the epithelial basement membrane and stromal extracellular matrix. Exp Mol Pathol. 2022;128 :104807. doi: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2022.104807. PubMed PMID:35798063 PubMed Central PMC10044521
4. Sandhu, SK, Kumar, S, Raut, J, Singh, M, Kaur, S, Sharma, G, Roldan, TL, Trehan, S, Holloway, J, Wahler, G et al.. Systematic Development and Characterization of Novel, High Drug-Loaded, Photostable, Curcumin Solid Lipid Nanoparticle Hydrogel for Wound Healing. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021;10 (5):. doi: 10.3390/antiox10050725. PubMed PMID:34063003 PubMed Central PMC8148018
5. Al-Zubaydi, F, Gao, D, Kakkar, D, Li, S, Holloway, J, Szekely, Z, Chan, N, Kumar, S, Sabaawy, HE, Love, S et al.. Breast intraductal nanoformulations for treating ductal carcinoma in situ II: Dose de-escalation using a slow releasing/slow bioconverting prodrug strategy. Drug Deliv Transl Res. 2022;12 (1):240-256. doi: 10.1007/s13346-021-00903-y. PubMed PMID:33590464
6. Wilson, BK, Sinko, PJ, Prud’homme, RK. Encapsulation and Controlled Release of a Camptothecin Prodrug from Nanocarriers and Microgels: Tuning Release Rate with Nanocarrier Excipient Composition. Mol Pharm. 2021;18 (3):1093-1101. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.0c01012. PubMed PMID:33440941
7. Laskin, JD, Wahler, G, Croutch, CR, Sinko, PJ, Laskin, DL, Heck, DE, Joseph, LB. Skin remodeling and wound healing in the Gottingen minipig following exposure to sulfur mustard. Exp Mol Pathol. 2020;115 :104470. doi: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2020.104470. PubMed PMID:32445752 PubMed Central PMC7374066
8. Al-Zubaydi, F, Gao, D, Kakkar, D, Li, S, Adler, D, Holloway, J, Szekely, Z, Gu, Z, Chan, N, Kumar, S et al.. Breast intraductal nanoformulations for treating ductal carcinoma in situ I: Exploring metal-ion complexation to slow ciclopirox release, enhance mammary persistence and efficacy. J Control Release. 2020;323 :71-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.04.016. PubMed PMID:32302762
9. Chen, P, Zhang, X, Venosa, A, Lee, IH, Myers, D, Holloway, JA, Prud’homme, RK, Gao, D, Szekely, Z, Laskin, JD et al.. A Novel Bivalent Mannosylated Targeting Ligand Displayed on Nanoparticles Selectively Targets Anti-Inflammatory M2 Macrophages. Pharmaceutics. 2020;12 (3):. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics12030243. PubMed PMID:32182675 PubMed Central PMC7150811
10. Gu, Z, Al-Zubaydi, F, Adler, D, Li, S, Johnson, S, Prasad, P, Holloway, J, Szekely, Z, Love, S, Gao, D et al.. Evaluation of intraductal delivery of poly(ethylene glycol)-doxorubicin conjugate nanocarriers for the treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)-like lesions in rats. J Interdiscip Nanomed. 2018;3 (3):146-159. doi: 10.1002/jin2.51. PubMed PMID:30443411 PubMed Central PMC6220801