Mona Minkara

Mona Minkara is an American-Lebanese blind bioengineer and computational biophysicist whose research focuses on molecular modeling of the pulmonary surfactant system and innate immune recognition at the lung air–liquid interface.^[1] She is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Northeastern University and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, where she directs the Computational Modeling for Biointerface Engineering (COMBINE) Lab.^[2]

Minkara’s research uses molecular dynamics and multiscale computational modeling to investigate how pulmonary surfactant proteins interact with lipids and glycans to support respiration and early immune defense against airborne pathogens.^[3] Her work has examined collectins, including surfactant proteins A (SP-A) and D (SP-D), as well as surfactant proteins B and C (SP-B and SP-C), which contribute to lung stability and breathing mechanics.^[4]

In addition to her research contributions, Minkara has been recognized for her work on accessibility in scientific research and education.^[5] She is blind and has been involved in the development of multisensory approaches for representing molecular and nanoscale data, including tactile and nonvisual scientific tools.^[6] She is the founding director of the Academy of Blind Scientists^[7] and the creator of Planes, Trains, and Canes, a public media project examining travel accessibility.^[8]

Minkara was born in Maryland to parents who immigrated to the United States from Tripoli, Lebanon. Raised in a bilingual household speaking Arabic and English, she grew up in the greater Boston area and frequently visited Lebanon during her childhood, shaping her multicultural identity.^[9]

Diagnosed in early childhood with macular degeneration and cone-rod dystrophy, Minkara gradually lost her vision.^[10] Despite early discouragement about the feasibility of pursuing science as a blind person, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Middle Eastern Studies from Wellesley College in 2009. Her senior thesis focused on the design of HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors.^[11]

She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 2015, conducting research at the Quantum Theory Project, under the mentorship of Professors Kenneth M. Merz Jr. and Erik Deumens. Her dissertation contributed novel insights into the dynamics of urease inhibition in Helicobacter pylori.^[12]

She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 2015, where she conducted doctoral research at the Quantum Theory Project under the supervision of Kenneth M. Merz Jr. and Erik Deumens.^[13] Her dissertation focused on quantum mechanical and molecular dynamics approaches to enzyme inhibition, including studies of Helicobacter pylori urease.^[14]

Following her doctoral training, Minkara completed postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota’s Chemical Theory Center under the mentorship of J. Ilja Siepmann.^[15] Her postdoctoral work involved molecular simulation of surfactant interfaces and interfacial thermodynamics.^[16] During this period, she collaborated with Procter & Gamble on computational studies of surfactant formulations and was supported by a Ford Foundation Fellowship administered through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.^[17]

In 2019, Minkara joined Northeastern University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and later became affiliated with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.^[18] She directs the COMBINE Lab, where she mentors students in computational biophysics and molecular modeling.^[19]

Minkara’s research explores the molecular mechanisms that sustain life at its smallest scales. Each breath we take depends on the expansion and contraction of millions of alveoli in the lungs—a process made possible by surfactant proteins at the air–liquid interface. Her lab uses high-resolution molecular dynamics simulations to investigate how key surfactant proteins enable respiratory function, support innate immune defense, and inform the design of molecular-scale therapeutics.^[20]

By bridging pulmonary biophysics, glycan recognition, and computational modeling, the Minkara COMBINE Lab seeks to understand and engineer the molecular interactions that underlie breathing, immunity, and drug delivery. Minkara’s group also develops multisensory approaches to make science accessible to blind and sighted scientists alike.

She has delivered invited research talks at institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and MIT, sharing both her scientific insights and her innovations in accessible computational science.^[21]

Alongside her scientific work, Minkara develops multisensory resources—including tactile lithophanes and accessible molecular visualizations—with collaborators such as Bryan Shaw (Baylor University). These tools are part of the Blind Scientist Toolkit, a resource that makes molecular data accessible to both blind and sighted individuals. She also served as a planning member for the 2022 National Academies’ Summit Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM, a forum focused on fostering equity in science.^[22]

Minkara is recognized for her leadership in promoting accessibility in science. She co-founded ALLIED (Allies for Leading, Learning, Inclusion, and Education of Disabilities) at Northeastern, a cross-campus initiative advancing accessibility through community. Since 2020, she has also led a weekly mentorship program for blind and disabled students in STEM, supporting individuals across six continents.^[23]

She has served on the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Committee on Chemists with Disabilities (CWD) and regularly consults with educators, publishers, and institutions on inclusive scientific practices. Her motto, "Vision is more than sight," captures her belief that scientific insight comes in many forms—eyesight is just one of many tools. We are all capable of vision.^[24]

Minkara is the creator and host of the YouTube travel series Planes, Trains, and Canes, where she navigates global cities alone as a blind traveler using only public transportation. The series showcases how cities around the world accommodate people with disabilities. It has been screened at international festivals and used as an educational resource in accessibility training programs.^[25]

Minkara’s research and teaching have earned awards, including:

• NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (2024–2029)^[26]
• NSF CAREER Award (2024–2029)^[27]
• Martin W. Essigmann Outstanding Teaching Award, Northeastern University (2022)^[28]
• Holman Prize, LightHouse for the Blind (2019)^[29]
• Ford Foundation Fellowship, National Academies of Sciences (2016)^[30]

She has also received travel and leadership awards from the Protein Society, the American Chemical Society, and the National Academies. Her work has been featured in Nature, Science Advances, Acta Astronautica, and NPR’s All Things Considered.^[31]

• Li, D., & Minkara, M. S. (2025). "Decoding SP-D and glycan binding mechanisms using a novel computational workflow." Biophysical Journal, 124(4), 1–9. DOI.

Presents a new molecular dynamics-based workflow for identifying glycan-binding patterns in surfactant protein D, advancing the understanding of host-pathogen interactions.

• Li, D., & Minkara, M. S. (2022). "Elucidating the enhanced binding affinity of a double mutant SP-D with trimannose on the influenza A virus using molecular dynamics." Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 20, 4984–5000. DOI.

Explores how mutations in SP-D enhance binding to viral glycans, revealing structural determinants of collectin-mediated immune defense.

• Li, D., & Minkara, M. S. (2024). "Benchmarking water models for simulating protein–glycan interactions: A molecular dynamics study of surfactant protein D." Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 64(2), 302–314. DOI.

Systematically compares water models in glycan–protein simulations, identifying optimal parameters for studying collectin-glycan binding.

• Koone, J. C., Dashnaw, C. M., … Minkara, M. S., Shaw, B. F. (2022). "Data for all: Tactile graphics that light up with picture-perfect resolution." Science Advances, 8(33), eabq2640. DOI.

Describes a novel method for creating high-resolution tactile graphics, improving access to scientific visual data for blind learners.

• Minkara, M. S., & Merz, K. M. Jr. (2016). "Inhibition mechanism of Helicobacter pylori urease: A QM/MM molecular dynamics study." Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 12(2), 889–898. DOI.

Combines quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics to elucidate how urease inhibitors act at the atomic level, targeting a key virulence factor in H. pylori.

• Minkara, M. S., & Siepmann, J. I. (2018). "Interfacial behavior of pulmonary surfactant components: A molecular simulation study." Langmuir, 34(27), 7976–7985. DOI.

Uses simulations to model how surfactant molecules behave at the lung’s air-liquid interface, offering insights into respiratory mechanics.

• Official website
• Minkara COMBINE lab
• Planes, Trains, and Canes
• Scientist of the Week – YouTube Series
• Mona Minkara on LinkedIn
• Blind Scientist Toolkit