Mona Minkara

Dr. Mona Minkara is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering with secondary appointments in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University. Broadly, her laboratory uses computational methods to study biological interfaces at the atomic and molecular scales. Her current research examines pulmonary surfactant, the complex protein-lipid substance lining the alveoli. The Minkara COMBINE group investigates the need for a globally accessible and affordable synthetic pulmonary surfactant that operates as effectively as a natural pulmonary surfactant. Pulmonary surfactant (PS) is a critical mixture found in the lungs at the air-water interface, assisting in regulating breathing and sequestering pathogens that attempt to enter through the airway. The aim is to understand the human pulmonary surfactant system at a high level of detail through computational exploration of the structural and mechanistic properties of its components. The COMBINE group is also undertaking projects that investigate the role of surfactant proteins in the SARS-CoV-2 virus.