Selected Publications

Click here for a complete list

  • Praveen P. N. Rao, Arash Shakeri, Yusheng Zhao, Frederic Calon. Strategies in the design and development of (TAR) DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) binding ligands. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 225, 113753 (2021), PubMed

  • Chandra Mouli R. Madhuranthakam, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao, Modeling the inhibition kinetics of curcumin, orange G, and resveratrol with amyloid-β peptide. ACS Omega 6, 8680-8686 (2021), PubMed

  • Praveen P. N. Rao, Amy Trinh Pham, Arash Shakeri, Amna El Shatshat, Yusheng Zhao, Rahul Karuturi, Ahmed Hefny, Drug repurposing: Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP4) inhibitors as potential agents to treat SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) infection. Pharmaceuticals 14, E44 (2021), PubMed

  • Praveen P. N. Rao, Amy Trinh Pham, Arash Shakeri, Discovery of small molecules for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, In: Small Molecule Drug Discovery 289-315 (2019) Invited Book Chapter, Elsevier

  • Fernanda Borges, Tiago Silva, Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao, Patricia Soares da Silva, Fernando Remiao, Repurposing nitrocatechols: 5-Nitro-α-cyanocarboxamide derivatives of caffeic acid and caffeic acid phenethylester effectively inhibit aggregation of tau-derived hexapeptide AcPHF6. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 167, 146-152 (2019) PubMed

  • Amna El-Shatshat, Amy Trinh Pham, Praveen P. N. Rao, Interactions of polyunsaturated fatty acids with amyloid peptides Aβ40 and Aβ42. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 663, 34-43 (2019), PubMed

  • Gary Tin, Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Amy Trinh Pham, Praveen P. N. Rao, Interactions of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) with β-amyloid (Aβ). ACS Chem. Neurosci. 10, 226-234 (2019), PubMed

  • Tarek Mohamed, Sarbjeet Singh Gujral, Praveen P. N. Rao, Tau derived hexapeptide AcPHF6 promotes beta-amyloid (Aβ) fibrillogenesis. ACS Chem. Neurosci. 9, 773-782 (2018), PubMed

  • Praveen P. N. Rao, Deguo Du, In silico strategies to design, small molecules to study beta-amyloid aggregation. Computational Modeling of Drugs Against Alzheimer's Disease. Neuromethods. 132, 249-261 (2018) Invited Book Chapter, Springer

  • Tarek Mohamed, Mandeep Mann, Praveen P. N. Rao, Application of quinazoline and pyrido[3,2-d]pyrimidine templates to design multi-targeting agents in Alzheimer’s disease. RSC Adv. 7, 22360-22368 (2017), RSC

  • Alanna McEneny-King, Andrea N. Edginton, Praveen P. N. Rao.Cytochrome P450 binding studies of novel tacrine derivatives: predicting the risk of hepatotoxicity. Bioorg. Med.Chem. Lett. 27, 2443-2449 (2017), PubMed

  • Tarek Mohamed, Praveen P. N. Rao, 2,4-Disubstituted quinazolines as amyloid-beta aggregation inhibitors with dual cholinesterase inhibition and antioxidant properties: Development and structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 126, 823-843 (2017), PubMed

  • Courtney Matthew, Chen Xiaoming, Chan Sarah, Tarek Mohamed, Praveen P. N. Rao,  Carolyn Ren. A droplet microfluidic system with on-demand trapping and releasing of droplet for drug screening applications. Anal. Chem. 89, 910-915 (2017), PubMed

  • Muslim, A. A, Ayyash D, Sarbjeet Singh Gujral, Mekhail, G. M, Praveen P. N. Rao, Shawn D. Wettig. Synthesis and characterization of asymmetrical gemini surfactants. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 19, 1953 (2017), PubMed

  • Tiago Silva, Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao, Loreto Martinez-Gonzalez, Daniel I. Perez, Ana Martinez, Maria Joao Valente, Jorge Garrido, Eugenico Uriarte, Paula Serrao, Patricia Soares da Silva, Fernando Remiao, Fernanda Borges. Development of blood-brain barrier permeable nitrocatechol-based catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors with reduced potential for hepatotoxicity J. Med. Chem. 59, 7584-7597 (2016) PubMed

  • Wesseem Osman, Tarek Mohamed,  Victor, M. S., Vasefi M. S., Beazely, M. A., Praveen P. N. Rao,Structure-activity relationship studies of benzyl, phenethyl and pyridyl substituted tetrahydroacridin-9-amines as multi-targeting agents to treat Alzheimer's disease. Chem. Biol. Drug Des. 88, 710-723 (2016), PubMed

  • Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Gary Tin, Praveen P. N. Rao, Structure-activity relationship studies of isomeric 2,4-diaminoquinazolines on β-amyloid aggregation kinetics. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 7, 502-507 (2016),  (Cover page article) PubMed

Docking image

  • Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao, Amyloid cascade in Alzheimer's disease: recent advances in Medicinal Chemistry. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 113, 258-272 (2016), PubMed

  • Tarek Mohamed, Praveen P. N. Rao, Facile approaches toward the synthesis of N4-monosubstituted quinazolin-2,4-diamines. Tetrahedron Lett. 56, 6882-6885 (2015), Sciencedirect

  • Angeles Ramirez-Cisneros M, Berenice Aguilar-Guadarrama A, Praveen P. N. Rao, Rodriguez-Lopez V, Yolanda Rios M. In vitro COX-1 and COX-2 enzyme inhibitory activities of iridoids from Penstemon barbatus, Castilleja tenuiflora, Cresentia alata and Vitex mollis. Bioorg. Med.Chem. Lett. 25, 4505-4508(2015); PubMed

  • Tin G, Mohamed T, Gondora N, Beazely M. A. Praveen P. N. Rao, Tricyclic phenothiazine and phenoselenazine derivatives as potential multi-targeting agents to treat Alzheimer’s disease. MedChemComm. 6, 1930-1941 (2015); (Cover page article), RSC

Cover page article
  • Liu H, Ojha B, Morris C, Jiang M, Wojcikiewicz E. P, Praveen P. N. Rao, Du D. Positively charged chitosan and N-trimethylchitosan inhibit Aβ40 fibrillogenesis. Biomacromolecules 16, 2363-2373 (2015), PubMed
  • Xian-Le Bu, Praveen P. N. Rao,Yan-Jiang Wang. Anti-amyloid aggregation activity of natural compounds: Implications for Alzheimer's drug discovery. Mol. Neurobiol. 53, 3565-3575 (2015). PubMed
  • Praveen P. N. Rao,Tarek Mohamed, Karan Teckwani, Gary Tin. Curcumin binding to beta-amyloid: A computational study. Chem. Biol. Drug Des. 86,813-820 (2015). PubMed
  • Alanna McEneny-King, Andrea N. Edginton, Praveen P. N. Rao.Investigating the binding interactions of the anti-Alzheimer's drug donepezil with CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein. Bioorg. Med.Chem. Lett. 25, 297-301(2015). PubMed
  • Vannini F, Chattopadhyay M, Kodela R, Praveen P. N. Rao, Khosrow, K. Positional isomerism markedly affects the growth inhibition of colon cancer cells by NOSH-aspirin: COX inhibition and modeling. Redox Biol. 6, 318-325 (2015); Open Access
  • Mostafa Y. A, Kralt B, Praveen P. N. Rao, Taylor S. D. A-ring substituted 17β-arylsulfonamides of 17β-aminoestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-ol as highly potent reversible inhibitors of steroid sulfatase. Bioorg. Med. Chem. (2015). PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed, Abdeljalil, Praveen P. N. Rao. N-benzyl-2-chloroquinazoline-4-amine. Acta Cryst E, E70, o554 (2014);Open Access
  • Tarek Mohamed, Tuan Hoang, Masoud Jelokhani-Niaraki, Praveen P. N. Rao. Tau-derived-hexapeptide 306VQIVYK311 aggregation inhibitors: Nitrocatechol moiety as a pharmacophore in drug design. ACS Chemical Neurosci. 4, 1559-1570 (2013); PubMed
  • Ojha B, Liu H, Dutta S, Praveen P. N. Rao, Wojcikiewicz E. P, Du D. Poly(4-styrenesulfonate) as an inhibitor of Aβ40 amyloid fibril formation. J. Phys.Chem. B 117, 13975-13984 (2013); PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed, Wesseem Osman, Gary Tin, Praveen P. N. Rao. Selective inhibition of human acetylcholinesterase by xanthine derivatives: In vitro inhibition and molecular modeling investigations. Bioorg. Med.Chem. Lett.  23, 4336-4341 (2013); PubMed
  • Ravinder Kodela, Mitali Chattopadhyay, Satindra Goswami, Zong Yuan Gan, Praveen P. N. Rao, Kamran V Nia, Carlos A. Velázquez-Martínez, Khosrow Kashfi. Positional isomers of aspirin are equally potent in inhibiting colon cancer cell growth: Differences in mode of cyclooxygenase inhibition. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 345, 85-94 (2013); PubMed
  • Praveen P. N. Rao, Tarek Mohamed, Wesseem Osman. Investigating the binding interactions of galantamine with beta-amyloid peptide. Bioorg. Med.Chem. Lett.  23, 239-243 (2013); PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed, Jacky C K Yeung, Maryam S Vasefi, Michael A Beazely, Praveen P. N. Rao Development and evaluation of multifunctional agents for potential treatment of Alzheimer's Disease: Application to a pyrimidine-2,4-diamine template. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 22, 4707-4712 (2012);PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed., Praveen P. N. Rao. Alzheimer's disease: Emerging trends in small molecule therapies. Curr. Med. Chem. 18, 4299-4320 (2011); PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed.; Jacky C. K. Yeung.; Praveen P. N. Rao. Development of 2-substituted-N-(naphth-1-ylmethyl) and N-benzhydrylpyrimidin-4-amines as dual cholinesterase and  abeta-aggregation inhibitors: synthesis and biological evaluation. Bioorg. Med.Chem. Lett. 21, 5881-5887 (2011);PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed.; Xiaobei Zhao.; Lila K. Habib.; Jerry Yang.; Praveen P. N. Rao. Design, synthesis and structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies of 2,4-disubstituted pyrimidine derivatives: dual activity as cholinesterase and abeta-aggregation inhibitors. Bioorg. Med.Chem. 19, 2269-2281 (2011); PubMed
  • Tarek Mohamed.; Praveen, P. N. Rao. Design, synthesis and evaluation of 2,4-disubstituted pyrimidines as cholinesterase inhibitors. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 20, 3606-3609 (2010); PubMed
  • Praveen, P. N. Rao.; Saad, N. Kabir.; Tarek Mohamed. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): Progress in small molecule drug development. Pharmaceuticals (2010), 3, 1530-1549. Invited Review
  • P. N. Praveen Rao, Rajesh K. Grover. Apricoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor for the potential treatent of pain and cancer. IDrugs 12, 711-722 (2009). Invited Review; PubMed
  • P. N. Praveen Rao, Edward E. Knaus. Evolution of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): COX inhibition and beyond. J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci. 11, 81s-110s (2008); PubMed
  • Qiao-Hong Chen, P. N. Praveen Rao, Edward E. Knaus. Synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel class of rofecoxib analogues as dual inhibitors of cyclooxygenases (COXs) and lipoxygenases (LOXs). Bioorg. Med. Chem. 14, 7898-7909 (2006); PubMed
  • P. N. Praveen Rao, Qiao-Hong Chen, Edward E. Knaus. Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of 1,3-diphenylprop-2-yn-1-ones: Dual inhibitors of cyclooxygenases and lipoxygenases. J. Med. Chem. 49, 1668-1683 (2006);PubMed
  • P. N. Praveen Rao, Md. Jashim Uddin, Edward E. Knaus. Design, synthesis and structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies of substituted-3,4,6-triphenylpyran-2-ones as selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors J. Med. Chem. 47, 3972-3990 (2004); PubMed
  • Md. Jashim Uddin, P. N. Praveen Rao, Edward E. Knaus. Methylsulfonyl and hydroxyl substituents induce (Z)-stereocontrol in the McMurry olefination reaction. Synlett 1513-1516 (2004).
  • P. N. Praveen Rao, Mohsen Amini, Huiying Li, Amgad G. Habeeb, Edward E. Knaus. Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 6-substituted-3-(4-methanesulfonylphenyl)-4-phenylpyran-2-ones: a novel class of diarylheterocyclic selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors. J. Med. Chem. 46, 4872-4882 (2003); PubMed