Research Fields

Mahmoud Reza Jaafari, Pharm.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Founder and Chairman of Board Members of ExirNanoSina Company

Mahmoud Reza Jaafari received his Pharm.D. degree from School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Mashhad, Iran, in 1988 and his Ph.D. degree from the School of Pharmacy, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, in 1998. Since 1988, he is with the School of Pharmacy of MUMS. In 2006, he was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) for one year. He is mainly interested in targeted drug delivery, liposomal drug delivery, cancer treatment using nanoliposomes containing cytotoxic drugs, topical liposomes for the treatment of leishmaniasis, liposome based vaccination against cancer and leishmaniasis and nanomicelle based oral delivery of lipophilic drugs. He has published over 265 peer-reviewed international articles. He has 3 granted and 6 published US patents and 1 PCT. He is founder and chairman of board members of ExirNanoSina Company in Iran which produce PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin with the trade name of SinaDoxosome® for the treatment of cancer, Curcumin nanomicelles (SinaCurcumin®) as supplement and topical nanoliposomal Amphotericin B (SinaAmpholeish®) for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. In 1997, he was recipient of the Parke-Davis Centennial Pharmacy Research Award in Canada. In 2007, he was Second Rank in Modern Technology (Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) of the 13th Razi Research Festival on Medical Sciences. He is Directing Manager of Nanomedicine Journal and editor of the BioImpacts. 

Mohammad Ramezani (Pharm.D., Ph.D.)

Distinguished Professor,

Mohammad Ramezani received his Pharma.D. degree from School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran in 1988. He granted a scholarship from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran to continue his education toward a PhD degree at the Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University, Canada. After graduation in 1996, he continued his career as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. He was then promoted to position of Associate and full Professor in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Recently, he was promoted to the position of Distinguished Professor. The main focus of Dr. Ramezani’s research is to develop functional nanomaterials for targeted gene and drug delivery purposes. He has published over 360 research papers in highly cited journals such as Advanced Functional Materials, Biomaterials, Journal of Controlled Release, Nanomedicine and International Journal of Pharmaceutics. He also has contributed to several book chapters in the field of Nanomedicine. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Nanomedicine Journal, an ESCI Indexed journal, published by the Nanotechnology Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Dr. Ramezani has won the National Razi prize for best investigator twice in 2009 and 2018. He is among 1% highly cited scientists since 2018.

Mohsen Tafaghodi (Pharm.D., Ph.D.),

Professor,

Mohsen Tafaghodi received his Pharm.D. degree from School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran in 1997. He continued his education toward a Ph.D. degree at the department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Before graduation in 2003, he acquired a complementary scholarship for six months to perform a study on cancer vaccination by nanoparticulate drug delivery systems in School of Pharmacy, Alberta University, Canada, in 2001. He continued his career as an Assistant Professor at the Departments of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. He was then promoted to position of Associate and full Professor in 2008 and 2012, respectively. In between, he passed a research fellowship in Leiden/Amsterdam center for Drug Research, University of Leiden, Netherland, studying on nasal vaccination against Hepatitis B using nanoparticulate systems. The main research interest of Dr. Tafaghodi is mucosal (mainly nasal) vaccine and drug delivery by nano- and micoparticulate drug delivery systems. He has more than 100 research papers in highly cited journals such as Journal of Controlled Release and International Journal of Pharmaceutics. He has also contributed in 13 books and book chapters in the field of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology.

Bizhan Malaekeh-Nikouei (Pharm.D., Ph.D.),

Professor,

Bizhan Malaekeh-Nikouei received his PharmD degree from School of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Tabriz, Iran) in 1999 and his Ph.D. in 2006 from the Department of Pharmaceutics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. He is currently Full Professor at School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. He is interested in designing of nanoparticles for drug and gene delivery. Also, he is working on improving drug solubility by cyclodextrin complexation. He has published around 100 papers in highly cited journals such as Journal of Controlled Release; European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics; Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces; Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology.

Shiva Golmohammadzadeh (Pharm.D., Ph.D.)

Professor,

Shiva Golmohammadzadeh received her Pharm.D. degree from the School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Mashhad, Iran, in 1999 and her Ph.D. degree from the School of Pharmacy, MUMS, Mashhad, Iran, in 2006. Since 2007, she is a faculty member of the School of Pharmacy of MUMS. In 2005, she was a research student at the Australian Photobiology Testing Facility, University of Sydney for six months. she is mainly interested in novel drug delivery systems for topical drug deliveries, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) for cosmetic and topical medicines, liposomal drug delivery, SPF testing by in vivo and in vitro methods and evaluation of cosmetics and toiletries products.

She has published over 45 peer-reviewed international articles. She has published the best-selling university book entitled Familiarity with the formulation of combination drugs in pharmacies. She also has 4 published internal patents. She is one of the board members of Pharmaceutics.

During 3 years she won the award of the best master in the pharmaceutical group and superior master in the school of pharmacy of MUMS.

Ali Badiee (Pharm.D., Ph.D.)

Associate professor,

Ali Badiee received his Pharm.D. degree from the School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Mashhad, Iran, in 1999 and his Ph.D. degree from the School of Pharmacy, MUMS, Mashhad, Iran, in 2006. he continued his career as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2008. He was then promoted to position of Associate Professor in 2013. He spent one year as a visiting scholar in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina in the USA under the supervision of Prof. Leaf Huang in 2014. He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers in international journals like Journal of controlled release, Cancer letter, Molecular pharmaceutics, etc. He has also been serving as an ad-hoc reviewer for various journals including Oncotarget, Vaccine, Immunotherapy, Int. J. of pharmaceutics. He has advised 14 PhD students and more than 30 undergraduates.  According to Google Scholar, He has some 1641 citations to date (H-index: 24), the majority of which come from researchers unaffiliated with him. His research field is formulation, characterization and immune response evaluation of different lipid based nanoparticles containing candidate antigens or adjuvants as vaccine delivery systems against Cancer or infectious disease.

Leila Arabi (Pharm.D., Ph.D.)

Assistant professor,

Leila Arabi received her Pharm.D. and Ph.D. degree (summa cum laude) from School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Iran in 2009 and 2015. She had the one-year Ph.D. internship during 2012-2013 at University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. During 2016-2017, she also had scientific visits at Johns Hopkins University and University of California San Francisco, USA. She is currently an assistant professor of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

Her research is focused on developing nanoscale drug delivery systems with particular emphasis on developing liposomes for targeted cancer/immune cell drug delivery, combination therapy, cancer immunotherapy, and gene therapy. Her research has been recognized as a highlight from the Controlled Release Society (CRS), and has led to several presentations at nanomedicine conferences. Recently, she has been selected as the board member of Immuno-Delivery Focus group of CRS and the Ambassador of Young Scientist Committee of CRS. She also serves as the assistant editor of Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences.

Seyedeh Hoda Alavizadeh (Pharm.D., Ph.D.)

Assistant professor,

Seyedeh Hoda Alavizadeh received her Pharm.D. and Ph.D. degree from School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Iran in 2010 and 2016, respectively. She is a faculty member at Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology Department, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Since 2016.

She is currently a ProGRANT alumni who completed the three phases of the DIES ProGRANT proposalwriting Training Course and received certificates. She won several travel grants and fellowships throughout her research journey. She has one paper listed among 1% top paper of the World as reported by Essential Science Indicator of Thompson Reuter ISI in 2016 [Alavizadeh SH, Hosseinzadeh H. Bioactivity assessment and toxicity of crocin: a comprehensive review. Food Chem Toxicol. 2014;64:65-80]. She has experience in innovative drug research and development with specific focus on liposomal formulation development of chemotherapeutics and phytochemicals. She also has experience on triggered-release liposome formulations like thermo-, REDOX and pH-sensitive formulations responsive to tumor-microenvironment. Her goal is the rationally design of personalized materials to combat cancer by leveraging nanoparticle science and the art of formulation to impact human health.