Since I entered Rutgers in 2001 I have been working on the synthesis, characterization and modeling of nanomaterials for pharmaceutical applications.  In addition to the production and synthesis of pharmaceutical nanosupensions I have a broad background in the area of surfactants and polymer dynamics. As a postdoctoral fellow at City College, with Charles Maldarelli and Joel Koplik and coworkers at the Levich Institute, I investigated phase transitions of surfactant molecules at the air-water interface focusing also on studies of the interfacial interactions of colloidal systems using experiments and simulations.  Since 2001, my scholarly productivity is reflected by over 65 journal publications on high impact and premier journals, including Physical Review Letters, Physical Review B and E, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Biomacromolecules, American Journal of Physics, Langmuir, Powder Technology, Chemical Engineering Science, AICHE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) Journal, and Conference Proceedings etc.    I have delivered more than 100 conference presentations/abstracts, over 25 invited/plenary presentations, I wrote 2 book chapters and have been the advisor of 10 graduate PhD’s students, 8 of which have already graduated, and 3 of which are still in the lab. I have also advised 10 post-doctoral associates and more than 30 UG students since 2001. Currently I have over 4 patent claims and applications.

 

 My leadership strengths are focused on promoting the development of multidisciplinary research, as evidenced by my past role as Co-Director of the IGERT Nanopharmaceutical and Engineering Science Program funded by NSF in $3.4MM (http://www.igertnanopharma.rutgers.edu) whose legacy to date has been the training of 37 PhD fellows from August  1st  2006 until July 31st 2013.

My research has been supported by grants from NSF, NIH and industrial funds.  My research and scientific accomplishments were recognized through several scientific awards including the NSF-NIH IGERT Award in Nanopharmaceutical Engineering and Science and the Board of Trustees Research Award for Scholarly Excellence from Rutgers University.  I have also have several Teaching Awards from 2001 up to this year, 2016 in which I was awarded “Professor of the Year 2016”  from the Engineering Governing Council in  2016 from all areas in Engineering at Rutgers.

Relevant to the work of this proposal, I received an NSF award for the development and characterization of Nanoparticles for drug delivery, Janus Particles Loaded with Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) for $396,364 for four consecutive years. The key goal of this work was to create novel biodegradable and biocompatible anisotropic biphasic nano- particles for large scale production, capable of dual compartmentalization and incorporation of two or more therapeutic drugs with staggered release profiles. This award lasted form 2012 to 2016.  I have also been received yearly awards for $45,000 since 2002 up to now from the Consortium Manufacturing at Rutgers for the study of Impregnation of Catalytic Alumina Powders without interruption adding up to $494,000. Since 2001, my work has been funded by federal, state, and industrial research funding exceeding $7MM.

As PI or co-Investigator on several university- and NSF-funded grants, I laid the groundwork for the proposed research by developing work on the control of size and agglomeration of nanosuspensions with  polymeric additives and surfactants. We use a variety of techniques such as High Pressure homogenization, emulsion  precipitation and antisolvent crystallization.   We use experimental characterization techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), TEM, UV-Vis, FTIR,Raman and Rheometer. All our equipment is specified in a separate file describing the facilities at Rutgers. To study stabilization of nanoparticles our group developed models and correlations from Crystallographic theory and molecular simulations such as Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics techniques.  As an example of the topics mentioned above I would like to mention the study of the stability of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) in solution of poorly soluble drugs. We have synthesized them experimentally using high pressure homogenization and emulsion precipitation techniques. We have also done simulation studies for a number of hydrophobic drugs in aqueous systems in the presence of individual non-ionic surfactant Tween 80, polymer Hydroxyl Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC), polymer Pullulan, and anionic surfactant SDS, as well as binary surfactant-polymer mixtures.

 

I am the recipient of several awards including the Merck Excellence Young Faculty Development Award (2001), the Pfizer Young Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (2003), Board of Trustees Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence (2008), Professor of the Year Award in Engineering (2016) and several Teaching Excellence Awards in 2006, 2010,2011 and 2013.  I also received a $3.4MM award as a CO-PI in the NSF-NIH IGERT and was the Co-Director of the IGERT Program for 5 years.

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Contribution to Science

 

My research is focused in the fields of nanoscience, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical nanotechnology and a more macroscopic area centered in the flow and particulate interactions of granular materials. Specifically, my research program has involved the development of various nanomaterial platforms for drug delivery; investigation of their properties; and demonstration of their potential applications in pharmaceutical and (nano)medical applications. My research works can be divided into the following three thrust areas, which fit under a broader goal of understanding particle-particle and particle-fluid interactions across atomistic, molecular, particle, and macroscopic scales:

(i)        Development of pharmaceutical nanomaterials for controlled drug delivery to targeted cells/tissues.

(ii)       Investigation of atomistic and mesoscale simulations of various nanomaterials in biological and catalytic systems, cells with proteins and drug particles interacting with surfactant and polymers.

(iii)      Particulate flow of granular materials for pharmaceutical and catalysis applications.  

In these three thrust areas, I have made the following contributions:

 

• The first major area of my research is focused on the fields of nanoscience, nanotechnology, and pharmaceutical nanotechnology. Specifically, my research group quantitatively studied the synthesis, characterization, stabilization, growth, agglomeration, and interactions of clean nanoparticles and nanoparticles-polymeric systems in suspension for drug delivery using a combination of experiments and simulations. Specifically, my research program has involved the development of lipid and polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, and polymeric and hybrid Janus particles for drug delivery, along with the investigation of their properties; and demonstration of their potential applications. We developed a broad platform of nanoparticle composites systems for drug delivery and studied their ability to deliver drugs in vitro and in vivo. We have utilized a number of hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs and tested their encapsulation efficiency, pharmacokinetics, biodistribution and in vitro efficacy in the developed nanodelivery systems.

 

 

• Smith, K. B. ;Tomassone, M.S. (2017). “Ultrathin Hollow Graphene Oxide Membranes for Use as Nanoparticle Carriers”, Langmuir, 2017, 33, 15, 3765-3775.

• J. S. Winkler, J; Minko T, O. Garbuzenko; M. S. Tomassone*; “Biodegradable Janus Nanoparticles for Local Pulmonary Delivery of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Molecules to the Lungs”; Langmuir, Vol 30, 3,pp12941-12949, 2015

• F. S. Romanski; J. S. Winkler; R.C. Riccobene; M. S. Tomassone*, “Production and Characterization of anisotropic Particles from Biodegradable Materials”, Langmuir, 28, 8Pages: 3756-3765, 2012.

• F.S. Romanski; E. Jayjock; F.J. Muzzio, M.S. Tomassone, Important Factors in the Size Reduction of Polymer-Stabilized Drug Particle Suspensions Using High-Pressure Homogenization, Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation, Vol 6, 2Pages: 97-106 JUN 2011.

 

 (ii) My group has studied extensively the atomistic and mesoscale interactions between drug particles, enzymes and proteins with cells, and likewise, drug particles with polymers, surfactants and solvents. This work was supported by the Merck Young Faculty Award $90,000 and partly by the IGERT Program in Nanopharmaceutical Engineering ($3.4M). In this area, I have developed a novel approach suitable for quantitatively assessing changes in morphology and growth in response to the effect of the polar and non-polar solvent environments. Results revealed that the role of hydrogen bonding and the entropy of the crystal surface are crucial factors in determining the final morphology of the particles. This methodology can be applied to predict morphology and growth in any generalized system crystal-solvent-additives (such as surfactant, proteins, polymers, etc). We have expanded our studies to examine the role of surfactants on the growth of very poorly water-soluble drugs (Griseofulvin, Fenofibrate) using molecular simulations and experiments.

 

• Zhu, W.; Romanski, F. S.; Meng, X.; Tomassone MS*, Atomistic simulation study of surfactant and polymer interactions on the surface of a fenofibrate crystal , European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences; 42(5 ) ; 452-461.

• Tomasini, M.D.; Zablocki, D.; Petersen K. ; Latrisha K.; Tomassone M.S., Coarse Grained Molecular Dynamics of Engineered Macromolecules for the Inhibition of Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein Uptake by Macrophage Scavenger Receptors, Biomacromolecules, (14) 8,2499-2509 , 2013

• Zhu; F. S. Romanski; S. V. Dalvi; Tomassone M.S.; “Atomistic simulations and Experiments of aqueous griseofulvin crystals in the presence of individual and multiple additives”; Chemical Engineering Science; Vol 73;p. 218-230 ; 2012.

• Li, T.; Li B.; Tomassone M.S., (2006)“Surface Characterization of the Aspirin Crystal Planes using Molecular Dynamics Simulations”, Chemical Eng. Science, 61, 5159-5169.

 

(iii) In addition to the contributions described above, my third area of expertise focuses on particulate dynamics. Specifically I studied the flow of granular materials using experiments and simulations to examine flow, mixing, and mass & heat transport in pharmaceutical particles and rotary calciners for catalysis manufacturing. I have quantitatively investigated cohesive powder flow, density behavior, heat transfer and electrical properties in catalytic granular materials using theory, discrete element method simulations and experiments. These studies are an essential component of modern technologies such as achieving high performance in cryogenic insulations, drying drug crystals during manufacture, operation of heterogeneous catalytic reactors, manufacture of construction materials, and powder metallurgy.

• Shen, Y.; Tomassone M.S. “Discrete Element Method Simulations and Experiments of Dry Catalyst Impregnation in a Double Cone Blender”, Powder Technology, in press, accepted for publication (2017).

• F. S. Romanski; A. Dubey; A. W. Chester, M.S. Tomassone*; “Dry catalyst impregnation in a double cone blender: A computational and experimental analysis”; Powder Tech. Vol. 221Special Issue; p. 57-69; (2012).

• W. Zhu; F. S. Romanski, X. Meng, S. Mitra; M. S. Tomassone*; “Atomistic Simulation Study of Surfactant and Polymer Interactions on the Surface of a Fenofibrate Crystal”; European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol 42; no5; p. 452-461, (2011).

• R. Mendez, F. S. Romanski, M. S. Tomassone*; “Density behavior of cohesive granular materials”; Powder Technology; Vol 211; I.2-3;p.189-198,(2011).

• B. Chaudhuri, F. J. Muzzio, M. S. Tomassone, "Modeling of Heat transfer in granular materials in rotary vessels" Chemical Engineering Science, Volume 61, Issue 19, Pages 6348-6360, 2006.

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Ongoing Research Support

- NSF SBIR SECO                   Tomassone (PI)                                                                                                               10/1/16-3/31/17

SBIR Phase II: Enzyme-based Magnetic Catalysts for Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates (APIs) Manufacturing  Title: Assessment of the stability of ZYMtronix magnetic materials during storage and biocatalytic processes

Role: PI (Rutgers)

 

-NJ RUTGERS CONSORTIUM FOR CATALYST MANUFACTURING   Tomassone (PI)  09/10/14- 8/31/17

Title: Impregnation of Alumina Powders

Goals: This grant funds research on experimental and particle computational studies on the dry impregnation of catalysts in industrial catalyst preparation

Role: PI

 

Completed Research Support (last 5 years)

 

 

NSF JANUS PARTICLES  2012-2015                 PI(Tomassone)                             7/1/2012 – 6/30/2015

Title: Engineered Anisotropic Biphasic Nanoparticles for Bio-Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Technologies. The key goal of this work is to create novel biodegradable and biocompatible anisotropic biphasic nano- particles for large scale production, capable of dual compartmentalization and incorporation of two or more therapeutic drugs with staggered release profiles. Five papers and 10 conference presentations resulted from this study.

Role: PI

 

CMMI 0506722 NIRT: Environmentally Benign Deagglomeration and Mixing of Nanoparticles;

7/29/2005-8/1/2009; $1,707,424. This award supported multidisciplinary research at Rutgers, NJIT and Princeton. Ten papers and nine conference talks/proceedings resulted from this study.

Role: Co-PI: Tomassone

 

BES 0609117 NIRT: Magnetically Active Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatment; (7/19/2007-8/1/2012); $1,420,715. This NIRT award supported a multidisciplinary research team at Rutgers and University of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Seven journal publications and ten presentations resulted from this study.

Role: Co-PI

NSF-NIH IGERT 0506722                                                                   Muzzio(PI)                            08/1/2005 – 07/31/2012

TITLE:  IGERT on Nanopharmaceutical Engineering and Science       $3.4MM                  Co-PI (Tomassone)

Goals:  This training program focuses on research, education, and development of PhD trainees along an integrative curriculum and research paradigm for developing computational and experimental methods for

nanostructured pharmaceutical materials.

 

Role: Co-PI