The college of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University organized and participated in a joint symposium with the college of Pharmacy, University of Arizona. Faculty members and students from both sides participated in the event which was held over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, February 17th and 18th, 2021. The symposium had several talks by faculty members from both colleges. The event’s main aim is to bring scientists from both sides together and identify areas of mutual interest leading to potential collaborations between faculty members from both institutions. Another aim is that such collaborations may open doors for our Master of Science in Drug Discovery and Development (MDD) students to do part of their thesis work in the research labs of the University of Arizona and to benefit from mentorship and scientific supervision both at home and abroad.
Students of the MDD program were among the audience as part of the seminar series of the MDD program to increased students’ exposure to international expertise and recent findings in various research areas related to their study in the MDD program.
The symposium had several talks in different areas related to cancer progress and resistance, development of anti-cancer and anti-viral agents, brain targeting, and pharmaceutical formulation problems. Both colleges are planning to have the second mini-symposium held later during the Spring semester to have additional talks and discussions from other faculty members from GMU and UA Colleges of Pharmacy.
Speakers of the mini-symposium and titles of the talks:
Dr. Ahmed Al-Abd, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy & Thumbay Research Institute for Precision Medicine, Associate Dean-Academic, College of Pharmacy
“Intratumoral Pharmacokinetic assessment as an integral step of anticancer drug discovery: wrapping 15 years of research”
Dr. Daeyku Sun, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, University of Arizona
“Targeting the transcriptional activation of human oncogenes with small molecules”
Dr. Ibrahim Elsayed, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy & Thumbay Research Institute for Precision Medicine, Director of Quality Assurance & Institutional Effectiveness, Gulf Medical University
“Transnasal Brain Targeting of CNS Acting Drugs Loaded in Nanovesicles: Optimization and Biodistribution”
Dr. Yin Chen, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Track Director of The Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Science Program
“A novel host target for antiviral therapy”
Dr. Samuel Yalkowsky, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Arizona
“Dealing with poorly soluble drugs”
Dr. Ahmed Negmeldin, Assistant Professor of pharmaceutical sciences, college of pharmacy & Thumbay Research Institute for Precision Medicine
“Structural Requirements of Isoform Selective Histone Deacetylase (HDAC) Inhibitors: Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of different chemical classes of selective HDAC inhibitors”