Welcome

Welcome to the home page for "The Salem Laboratory of Advanced Drug and Gene Delivery". Dr. Salem's research expertise is in drug discovery, development, formulation and delivery. Dr. Salem applies this expertise to developing therapies for regenerative medicine, cancer and other diseases. 

 

Selected Publication Highlights:

M. Hassert, L.L. Drewry, L.L. Pewe, L.S. Hancox, R. He, S. Arumugam, M.R. Mix, A.K. Salem, and J.T. Harty. mRNA vaccination overcomes hemozoin-mediated impairment of whole parasite malaria vaccines. Nature Microbiology. 2026.

R. Smith†, E.I. Wafa†, S.M. Geary†, K. Ebeid, S.O. Alhaj-Suliman, A.K. Salem. Cationic nanoparticles enhance T-cell tumor infiltration and antitumor immune response to a melanoma vaccine. Science Advances. 2022. 

K. Ebeid, X. Meng, K.W. Thiel, A. Do, S.M. Geary, A. S. Morris, E.L. Pham, A. Wongrakpanich, Y.S. Chhonker, D.J. Murry, K.K. Leslie, A.K. Salem. Synthetically Lethal Nanoparticles for Treatment of Endometrial Cancer. Nature Nanotechnology. 2018.

M.C. Coleman, J.E. Goetz, M.J. Brouillette, D. Seol, M.C. Willey, E.B. Petersen, B. Khorsand, A.S. Morris, A.K. Salem, D.C. Fredericks, T.O. McKinley, J.A. Martin. Mitochondrial Responses to Intraarticular Fracture are a Disease-Modifying Target for Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis Prevention. Science Translational Medicine. 2018.

S.M. Geary, C.D. Lemke, D.M. Lubaroff and A.K. Salem. Proposed mechanisms of action for prostate cancer vaccines. Nature Reviews Urology. 2013.

A.K. Salem, P.C. Searson and K.W. Leong. Multifunctional nanorods for gene delivery. Nature Materials. Oct 2003, 2, 668-671.

H.S. Sakhalkar, M.K. Dalal, A.K. Salem, R. Ansari, J. Fu, M.F. Kiani, J. Hanes, K.M. Shakesheff and D.J. Goetz. Leukocyte inspired therapeutic particles that selectively and avidly adhere to inflamed endothelium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.100 (26): 15895-15900 DEC 23 2003.

 

porous particle

Formulation Expertise

Our research group has expertise in formulating small molecules, proteins and nucleic acids

Pyramid Scaffold

Materials Science and Nano and Microtechnology Expertise

Our research group has expertise on materials characterization and using nano and microtechnology to develop effective dosage forms.

Salem Group 2016

Formulation

Experts
In the Lab 2

Drug and Gene Delivery

Toxicity Testing
Kareem Salem

Cancer Immunotherapy

Regenerative Medicine

Directions

See the "Contact Us" page for directions to the College of Pharmacy

 

cells with particles

Research in progress 1

R. Smith†, E.I. Wafa†, S.M. Geary†, K. Ebeid, S.O. Alhaj-Suliman, A.K. Salem. Cationic nanoparticles enhance T-cell tumor infiltration and antitumor immune response to a melanoma vaccine. Science Advances. 2022.

3D Salem Lab logo

Research in progress 2

S. Areecheewakul, A. Adamcakova-Dodd, Z.R. Zacharias, X. Jing, D.K. Meyerholz, K.L. Legge, J.C.D. Houtman, P.T. O’Shaughnessy, P.S. Thorne, A.K. Salem. Immunomodulatory effects of sub-acute inhalation exposure to copper oxide nanoparticles in house dust mite-induced asthma. ACS Nano. 2023.

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Events

2026 MIKIW Medicinal Chemistry Conference at the UI College of Pharmacy promotional image

2026 MIKIW Medicinal Chemistry Conference at the UI College of Pharmacy

Sunday, April 19, 2026 (all day)
College of Pharmacy Building

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Iowa, will host the 63rd Annual Medicinal Chemistry Meeting-in-miniature.

MIKIW is the longest-running and largest regional medicinal chemistry conference in the United States. The meeting integrates over 200 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members from the Universities of Minnesota, Illinois at Chicago, Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin. The two-day, multidisciplinary conference exposes...

College of Pharmacy PSET Seminar Series: Eric Sundberg, PhD promotional image

College of Pharmacy PSET Seminar Series: Eric Sundberg, PhD

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 11:30am
College of Pharmacy Building

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics (PSET) in the College of Pharmacy will host a seminar presented by: 

Eric Sundberg, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Biochemistry
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia

All are welcome to attend. No pre-registration required.

College of Pharmacy PSET Seminar Series: Robin Bogner, PhD promotional image

College of Pharmacy PSET Seminar Series: Robin Bogner, PhD

Tuesday, April 28, 2026 11:30am
College of Pharmacy Building

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics (PSET) in the College of Pharmacy will host a seminar presented by: 

Robin Bogner, PhD
Director, Kildsig Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research (CPPR)
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut

Seminar Title: "Emerging Technology to Enhance the Stabilization of Therapeutics by Lyophilization"

All are welcome to attend. No pre-registration required.

Use navigation links to see publications and current group members

Links also show available equipment, former group members and collaborators