Inaugural Lecture with Professor Najlah Mohammed

The lecture will start at 19.30 and there will be a pre drinks reception from 6.30.

The Nano Story of My Research on Fighting Cancer

Over the last few decades, cancer has been one of the major dangers to human health with more than 200 types of cancer diagnosed globally. According to the World Health Organization, cancer diseases are expected to cause 21 million deaths worldwide by 2030. The impact on the global economy is also overwhelming with an expected global cost of $200 billion by 2022. Although there is an immediate need for efficient cancer therapy, the development of new anticancer drugs is yet slow and expensive. This is mainly due to the high risks associated with new druggable candidates. This has led to a growing interest in repurposing approved drugs into new use for cancer treatments. Drug repurposing has currently become one of the most promising strategies in cancer treatment due to the high safety profile.

In his inaugural lecture, Mohammad will speak about the opportunities and challenges of repositioning non-toxic (proven safe) drugs for cancer therapy. More importantly, the feasibility of this strategy to overcome hurdles arising from conventional anticancer treatment such as multidrug resistance and acquired chemoresistance caused by repetitive exposure of cancer cells to anticancer drugs.

On the other hand, repurposed drugs still have formulation challenges such as poor aqueous solubility, limited stability and/or unsuitability to the new route of administration. Therefore, nanotechnology may play a key role in promoting the efficient use of drugs showing high anticancer activity but associated with delivery problems.

Biography:

Mohammad Najlah is a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Nanomedicine, and Lead of the Pharmaceutical Research Group, part of ARU's Medical Technology Research Centre (MTRC). Mohammad obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester, focusing on the development of nano-medicines based on dendrimer prodrugs. Since joining Anglia Ruskin University, Mohammad has been instrumental in developing the SuperLabs Complex, the establishment of new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and leading the Pharmaceutical Research Group. Mohammad’s research focuses on the fabrication of multifunctional nanomedicines for drug delivery application, and design and development of pharmaceutical carriers for pulmonary drug delivery.

Mohammad is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and external examiner for a number of UK institutions. He has supervised several PhD students to completion, is a regular reviewer for many international pharmaceutical and chemistry journals and has active research collaborations with pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries as well as UK and international universities.