Usama Ammar
usama ammar

Dr Usama Ammar BSc (Hons), PhD, AFHEA

Lecturer

 0131 455 3646

  U.Ammar@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Usama Ammar is a Lecturer of Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Science in the School of Applied Sciences (Life Sciences) at Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, United kingdom.

Within Edinburgh Napier University, Usama provides teaching and learning support through different drug discovery-based modules (Life Sciences) to both postgraduate MSc and undergraduate BSc (Hons) students at the School of Applied Sciences (SAS). In addition, he provides and maintains both students supervision and support to improve their learning experience as well as their employability.

Usama has more than 10 years of experience in Drug Design and Pharmaceutical research with track record in drug discovery. In 2020, he has received his PhD in Biological Chemistry (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) from University of Science and Technology (UST), South Korea, where his research focused on the drug discovery and development of V600E-BRAF kinase enzyme targeting melanoma disease. His research project was based within Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST School), Seoul, South Korea under the supervision of Prof Oh Chang Hyun. During his PhD programme, he has received KIST Academic Excellence Award that covered his research contributions during his PhD studies.

Before that, Usama Ammar has received his master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PGT) from Faculty of Pharmacy at Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt (2016). His research project focused on the drug development of small molecule candidates targeting V600E-BRAF kinase enzyme.

Before joining Edinburgh Napier University, He has expanded his research experience as a Medicinal Chemistry Postdoctoral Research Associate in drug discovery of kinase inhibitors within Prof Simon MacKay research group at Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS) in University of Strathclyde (2020 – 2022), Glasgow, United Kingdom, where he worked as part of a team developing drug-like candidates targeting IKK1 kinase enzyme in treating prostate cancer.

Throughout his career, Usama has used modern strategies in the drug design as well as the Molecular Modelling tools to speed the drug discovery process. These research activities have resulted in a number of patents and over 20 peer-reviewed research articles related to the Drug Design and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. You can check his research output through this ORCID link: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7218-641X

Usama Ammar has earned his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry and Biochemistry (2005) followed by BSc (Hons) in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2010). Afterwards, he practiced as a licensed pharmacist in Egypt.

In 2010, he has joined the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department within the Faculty of Pharmacy at Ahram Canadian University, Giza, Egypt (2010 – 2017). He participated in the teaching activities to deliver Pharmaceutical and Organic Chemistry-based modules as well as Drug Design modules to the undergraduate BSc (Hons) pharmacy students.

His current research interests lie at the interface of Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, with a focus on design and synthesis of drug-like candidates (inhibitors, PROTACs and molecular glues) targeting kinase enzymes. Aiming at the discovery of pre-clinical small molecule candidates that addresses the needs for new therapeutics in the area of anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-infectives.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

Esteem

Fellowships and Awards

  • Associate Fellow at Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)
  • KIST Academic Excellence Award

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Member of Royal Pharmaceutical Society (MRPS)
  • Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
  • Member of the American Chemical Society (MACS)
  • Member of the Egyptian Pharmacists Syndicate (MEPS)

 

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20 results

Design, synthesis and anti-inflammatory activity of imidazol-5-yl pyridine derivatives as p38α/MAPK14 inhibitor

Journal Article
Ali, E. M., Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Hassan, R. M., Mersal, K. I., Ammar, U. M., Se-In, C., …Oh, C. (2021)
Design, synthesis and anti-inflammatory activity of imidazol-5-yl pyridine derivatives as p38α/MAPK14 inhibitor. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 31, Article 115969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2020.115969
P38α/MAPK14 is intracellular signalling regulator involved in biosynthesis of inflammatory mediator cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and IL-1b), which induce the production of in...

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel imidazole derivatives possessing terminal sulphonamides as potential BRAFV600E inhibitors

Journal Article
Ali, E. M., Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Ammar, U. M., Mersal, K. I., Ho Yoo, K., Jooryeong, P., & Oh, C. (2021)
Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel imidazole derivatives possessing terminal sulphonamides as potential BRAFV600E inhibitors. Bioorganic Chemistry, 106, Article 104508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2020.104508
BRAF V600E mutation has been detected in various malignant tumours. Developing of potent BRAF V600E inhibitors is considered a leading step in the way to cure different cancer...

Modification of imidazothiazole derivatives gives promising activity in B-Raf kinase enzyme inhibition; synthesis, in vitro studies and molecular docking

Journal Article
Ammar, U. M., Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Mersal, K. I., Ali, E. M., Yoo, K. H., Choi, H. S., …Oh, C. (2020)
Modification of imidazothiazole derivatives gives promising activity in B-Raf kinase enzyme inhibition; synthesis, in vitro studies and molecular docking. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 30(20), Article 127478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2020.127478
B-Raf mutation was identified as a key target in cancer treatment. Based on structural features of dabrafenib (potent FDA approved B-Raf inhibitor), the design of new NH2-base...

Structural optimization of imidazothiazole derivatives affords a new promising series as B-Raf V600E inhibitors; synthesis, in vitro assay and in silico screening

Journal Article
Ammar, U. M., Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Ali, E. M., Mersal, K. I., Ho Yoo, K., & Oh, C. (2020)
Structural optimization of imidazothiazole derivatives affords a new promising series as B-Raf V600E inhibitors; synthesis, in vitro assay and in silico screening. Bioorganic Chemistry, 100, Article 103967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2020.103967
BRAF mutation is commonly known in a number of human cancer types. It is counted as a potential component in treating cancer. In this study, based on structural optimization o...

Design and synthesis of novel pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine derivatives targeting V600EBRAF

Journal Article
Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Ali, E. M., Ammar, U. M., Mersal, K. I., Yoo, K. H., & Oh, C. (2020)
Design and synthesis of novel pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine derivatives targeting V600EBRAF. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 28(11), Article 115493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2020.115493
Several pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine-based B-RAF inhibitors are well known and some of them are currently FDA approved as anticancer agents. Based on the structure of these FDA appr...

Design, synthesis, and anticancer activity of imidazo[2,1-b]oxazole-based RAF kinase inhibitors

Journal Article
Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Ammar, U. M., El-Gamal, M. I., Gamal El-Din, M. M., Mersal, K. I., Ali, E. M., …Oh, C. (2019)
Design, synthesis, and anticancer activity of imidazo[2,1-b]oxazole-based RAF kinase inhibitors. Bioorganic Chemistry, 93, Article 103349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2019.103349
In the present work, a novel series of B-RAF kinase inhibitors having imidazo[2,1-b]oxazole scaffold was designed and synthesized based on the structures of the well-known B-R...

Synthesis and In Vitro Biological Evaluation of New Pyrido[2,3‐b]pyrazinone‐Based Cytotoxic Agents and Molecular Docking as BRAF Inhibitors

Journal Article
Amin, K., El‐Badry, O., Abdel Rahman, D., & Ammar, U. (2019)
Synthesis and In Vitro Biological Evaluation of New Pyrido[2,3‐b]pyrazinone‐Based Cytotoxic Agents and Molecular Docking as BRAF Inhibitors. ChemistrySelect, 4(30), 8882-8885. https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.201901487
In this study, synthesis of new pyrido[2,3-b]pyrazinone derivatives were identified. The in vitro cytotoxic activity of synthesized compounds against human colon cancer cell l...

Anticancer profile of newly synthesized BRAF inhibitors possess 5-(pyrimidin-4-yl)imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole scaffold

Journal Article
Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., Ammar, U. M., & Oh, C. (2019)
Anticancer profile of newly synthesized BRAF inhibitors possess 5-(pyrimidin-4-yl)imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole scaffold. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 27(10), 2041-2051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2019.03.062
In this work, a new series of imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole was designed and synthesized. The new compounds are having 3-fluorophenyl at position 6 of imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole and pyri...

Recent advances of RAF (rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma) inhibitors as anti-cancer agents

Journal Article
Ammar, U. M., Abdel-Maksoud, M. S., & Oh, C. (2018)
Recent advances of RAF (rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma) inhibitors as anti-cancer agents. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 158, 144-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.09.005
Frequent oncogenic mutations have been identified in MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signaling pathway components. As a result, MAPK pathway is associated with human c...

Design, synthesis, anticancer evaluation and molecular docking of new V600EBRAF inhibitors derived from pyridopyrazinone

Journal Article
Amin, K., El-Badry, O., Abdel Rahman, D., Ammar, U., & Abdalla, M. (2016)
Design, synthesis, anticancer evaluation and molecular docking of new V600EBRAF inhibitors derived from pyridopyrazinone. European Journal of Chemistry, 7(1), 19-29. https://doi.org/10.5155/eurjchem.7.1.19-29.1346
Design and synthesis of some new pyridopyrazinone derivatives as anti-proliferative agents is described. The cytotoxic activities of the synthesized compounds against melanoma...

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