Mansoor Amiji

PhD, RPh

University Distinguished Professor

Pharmaceutical Sciences


Specializations

  • Pharmaceutical formulation development including targeted delivery systems for small molecules, proteins, peptides, and nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines.
  • Development of biomaterials from natural and synthetic polymers.
  • Nanotechnology applications in disease diagnostics, imagining, and therapy.

Overview

Dr. Mansoor Amiji received his BS degree in pharmacy from Northeastern University in 1988 and a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from Purdue University in 1992.

Dr. Amiji teaches both undergraduate and graduate students at Northeastern University. His research is focused on development of biocompatible materials from natural and synthetic polymers, target-specific drug and gene delivery systems for cancer and infectious diseases, and nanotechnology applications for medical diagnosis, imaging, and therapy.

Dr. Amiji has edited twelve books and has published over 60 book chapters and over 400 peer-reviewed articles. he is a Highly Cited Researcher (top 1%) in Pharmacology and Toxicology and has a Google H index of 105. Dr. Amiji has received several honors and awards including Nano Science and Technology Institute’s Award for Outstanding Contributions towards the Advancement of Nanotechnology, Microtechnology, and Biotechnology, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientist (AAPS) Meritorious Manuscript Award, Controlled Release Society’s (CRS) Nagai Award, and he is an Elected Fellow of the AAPs, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Courses Taught

Awards

2024 – Elected to the College of Fellows, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
2019 – Purdue University, College of Pharmacy, Distinguished Alumni Award
2016 – Northeastern University, School of Pharmacy, Distinguished Alumni Award
2014 – Elected to the College of Fellows, Controlled Release Society 2012 – Controlled Release Society – Tsuneji Nagai Award
2007 – Elected to the College of Fellows, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)
2007 – American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) – Meritorious Manuscript Award
2006 – Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI) Fellowship Award for Outstanding Contributions towards the Advancement, in Nanotechnology, Microtechnology, and Biotechnology

Grants

Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Health R01 Grant (R01-NS108968)
Title: Direct CNS Delivery System for BDNF AntagoNATs using Heterotopic Muscosal Grafting for the Treatment of Parkingson’s Disease

Source: Glaxo-Smith Kline Vaccines, Rockville, MD
Title: Pharm Sci Industrial Fellowship Program

Source: National Institute of Health, National Institute of Aging (1R21-AG074472-01)
Title: Intranasal Gene Delivery for Alzheimer’s Disease

Source: Moderna Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Title: Academic-Industrial Post-Doctoral Fellowships

Source: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (1R01-CA269233-01A1)
Title: TGX-1214 – Combination Strategy for the Treatment of Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Publications

Books

Amiji, M.M. and Sandmann, B.J. (Eds.). Applied Physical Pharmacy. McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division. New York, NY. 2002.

Amiji, M.M. (Ed.) Polymeric Gene Delivery: Principles and Applications. CRC Press, LLC (a subsidiary of Taylor and Francis). Boca Raton, FL. 2004.

Amiji, M.M. (Ed.). Nanotechnology for Cancer Therapy. CRC Press, LLC (a subsidiary of Taylor and Francis). Boca Raton, FL. 2007.

Amiji, M.M. and Torchilin, V.P. (Eds.). Biomedical Nanotechnology, (10 Volumes Book Series). Volumes 1 and 2, “Handbook of Materials for Nanomedicine” Pan Stanford Publishing, Hackensack, NJ. (In press)

Recent Manuscripts

Parayath, N.N., Gandham, S.K., Leslie, F., and Amiji, M.M. Improved anti-tumor efficacy of paclitaxel in combination with MicroRNA-125b-based tumor-associated macrophage repolarization in epithelial ovarian cancer. Cancer Letters,461: 1-9 (2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2019.07.00

Dhaliwal, H.K., Fan, Y., Kim, J., and Amiji, M.M. Intranasal delivery and transfection of mRNA therapeutics in the brain using cationic liposomes. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 17(6): 1996-2005, (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.0c00170.

Attarwala, A.Z., Suri, K., and Amiji, M.M. Co-silencing of tissue transglutaminase-2 and interleukin-15 genes in celiac disease mimetic mouse model using nanoparticle-in-microsphere oral system (NiMOS). Molecular Pharmaceutics,18(8): 3099-3107, (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00322.

Parayath, N.N., Hong, B.V., Mackenzie, G.G., and Amiji, M.M. Hyaluronic acid nanoparticles encapsulated microRNA-125b repolarizes tumor-associated macrophages in pancreatic cancer.Nanomedicine, (London). 16(25): 2291-2303 (2021). DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2021-0080. 

Gandham, S.K., Rao, M., Shah, A., Trivedi, M.S., and Amiji, M.M. Combination microRNA-based cellular reprogramming with paclitaxel enhances therapeutic efficacy in a relapsed and multidrug-resistant model of epithelial ovarian cancer. Molecular Therapy – Oncolytics, 25: 57-68, (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.omto.2022.03.005.

Huang, D., Taha, M.S., Nocera, A.L., Workman, A.D., Amiji, M.M., and Bleier, B.S. Cold exposure impairs extracellular vesicle swarm mediated nasal anti-viral immunity. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 151(2): 509-525-e8, (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2022.09.037.

Hussain, H., Ganesh, A., Milane, L,and Amiji, M. Lessons learned from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; from nucleic acid nanomedicines, to clinical trials, herd immunity, and the vaccination divide. Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 20(4): 489-506, (2023). DOI: /10.1080/17425247.2023.2189697.

D’Souza, A.A., Kulkarni, P., Ferris,C.F., Amiji, M.M., Bleier, B.S.Mild repetitive TBI reduces brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the substantia nigra and hippocampus: A preclinical model for testing BDNF-targeted therapeutics. Experimental Neurology, 374, 114696, (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2024.114696.

Di Francesco, V., Chua, A.J., Huang, D., D’Souza, A., Yang, A., Bleier, B.S., and Amiji, M.M. RNA therapeutics for CNS diseases. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 208: 115283 (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115283. [Invited Publication for the thematic issue of the journal entitled “RNA Delivery Technologies: From Concept toward the Clinic” edited by Professors M. Blanco-Prieto and E. Garbayo-Atienza].

Bitounis, D., E. Jacquinet, Rogers, M., and Amiji, M.M. Strategies to reduce the risks of mRNA drug and vaccine toxicity. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Published Online, DOI: 10.1038/s41573-023-00859-3 (2024).