Reem Arafa

Professor of biomedical sciences
biomedical sciences
University of Science and Technology at Zewail CIty
Egypt

Biography

"Dr. Reem Arafa is currently a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Science and Technology, Zewail City. She is also the coordinator of the drug design and development concentration. Arafa started her academic career in 1997 when she acquired her Bachelor of Science degree (excellent with honors) in pharmaceutical science from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt. Arafa then acquired her Master of Science degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 2000 from the same university. In 2004, Arafa obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree in medicinal chemistry from Georgia State University, U.S. Before joining Zewail City, Arafa was appointed as a teaching and research assistant at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University in 1997. In 2010, she was promoted to an associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry; and in 2015, she became a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the same university. Arafa has participated in the development of pharmaceutical chemistry, organic chemistry and drug design courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in Cairo University, Georgia State University, Modern Sciences and Arts University (MSA), Misr International University (MIU), Ahram Canadian University (ACU), and the University of Science and Technology at Zewail City. She has also been an active member in the curriculum design committees as well as the quality assurance and accreditation of education committees in some of the universities she attended. Arafa’s research interests lie in the area of drug design, synthesis and discovery of small molecule modulators of biological systems, anti-HIV agents, anticancer agents with kinase inhibitory activity, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and small molecules with anti-inflammatory capacity. Arafa has published 40 papers in high impact peer-reviewed international journals such as the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Biochemistry, and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. She also serves as a reviewer on a number of national and international scientific journals such as the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Drug Research, Current Medicinal Chemistry, Monatshefte für Chemie, and the Journal of Advanced Research, among others. She has four U.S. patents in the area of drug design and discovery of biologically active agents. In recognition of her scientific contributions, Arafa was awarded the David W. Boykin Graduate Fellowship in Medicinal Chemistry from Georgia State University. She has also been annually awarded the Cairo University International Publications Award since 2010."

Research Intrest

Arafa’s research interests lie in the area of drug design, synthesis and discovery of small molecule modulators of biological systems, anti-HIV agents, anticancer agents with kinase inhibitory activity, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and small molecules with anti-inflammatory capacity.

List of Publications
Patrick DA, Ismail MA, Arafa RK, Wenzler T, Zhu X, Pandharkar T, Jones SK, Werbovetz KA, Brun R, Boykin DW, Tidwell RR. Synthesis and antiprotozoal activity of dicationic m-terphenyl and 1, 3-dipyridylbenzene derivatives. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 2013 Jun 24;56(13):5473-94.
Munde M, Ismail MA, Arafa R, Peixoto P, Collar CJ, Liu Y, Hu L, David-Cordonnier MH, Lansiaux A, Bailly C, Boykin DW. Design of DNA minor groove binding diamidines that recognize GC base pair sequences: a dimeric-hinge interaction motif. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2007 Nov 7;129(44):13732-43.
Ismail MA, Arafa RK, Brun R, Wenzler T, Miao Y, Wilson WD, Generaux C, Bridges A, Hall JE, Boykin DW. Synthesis, DNA affinity, and antiprotozoal activity of linear dications: terphenyl diamidines and analogues. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 2006 Aug 24;49(17):5324-32.
Ghorab MM, Ceruso M, Alsaid MS, Nissan YM, Arafa RK, Supuran CT. Novel sulfonamides bearing pyrrole and pyrrolopyrimidine moieties as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: synthesis, cytotoxic activity and molecular modeling. European journal of medicinal chemistry. 2014 Nov 24;87:186-96.