Praveen Nekkar Rao

Associate Professor

Location: PHR 4002

Biography

Dr. Nekkar Rao specializes in medicinal and bioorganic chemistry; exploring rational drug design aided by molecular modelling techniques and small molecule synthetic organic/medicinal chemistry.

His work includes method development; solid phase peptide synthesis of bioactive peptides / peptidomimics; modern analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy and high performance liquid chromatography; and development of high-throughput biochemical screening protocols to discover lead candidates.

Research Interests

Drug Discovery
Rational Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry
Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders
Cancer Therapy
Antiviral Agents
Theranostic Materials
Molecular Therapeutics and Theranostics
Synthetic Chemistry and Catalysis
Drug Discovery, Design and Delivery
Clinical Pharmacology

Scholarly Research

Drug discovery/rational design Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel organic molecules and peptides/peptidomimics as therapeutic agents

Education

2006-8 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Specialization in Medicinal Chemistry (The Scripps Research Institute)
2004-5 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Specialization in Medicinal Chemistry (University of Alberta)
2004 PhD Pharmaceutical Science (University of Alberta)
1998 MPharm (Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences)
1995 BPharm (Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Awards

2021-22, 2016 Outstanding Faculty Mentor in the Graduate Program
2015 Early Researcher Award, Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, Government of Ontario

Service

Dr. Nekkar serves as a reviewer to a number of medicinal chemistry journals.
He collaborates with researchers from the University of Alberta, Florida Atlantic University and Department of Neurology and Center for Clinical Neuroscience, Daping Hospital, China.

Affiliations and Volunteer Work

Cross-appointed to the Department of Biology and the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science

Teaching*

PHARM 141 - Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry, Toxicology and Pharmacology
- Taught in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
PHARM 220 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 1
- Taught in 2022, 2024
PHARM 221 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 2
- Taught in 2019, 2022, 2024
PHARM 222 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 3
- Taught in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
PHARM 223 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 4
- Taught in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024
PHARM 320 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 5
- Taught in 2022, 2023
PHARM 321 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 6
- Taught in 2023
PHARM 323 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 7
- Taught in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024
PHARM 324 - Integrated Patient Focused Care 8
- Taught in 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

Selected/Recent Publications

Yusheng Zhao, Praveen P. N. Rao, Small molecules N-phenylbenzofuran-2-carboxamide and N-phenylbenzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxamide promote beta-amyloid (Aβ42) aggregation and mitigate neurotoxicity. ACS Chemical Neuroscience 14, 4185-4198, 2023.
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.
Praveen P. N. Rao, Amy Trinh Pham, Arash Shakeri, Amna El Shatshat, Yusheng Zhao, Rahul C. Karuturi, Ahmed A. Hefny, Drug repurposing: Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP4) inhibitors as potential agents to treat SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) infection. Pharmaceuticals 14, 44, 2021.
Gary Tin, Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Amy Trinh Pham, Praveen P. N. Rao, Interactions of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors with β-amyloid. ACS Chemical Neuroscience 9, 226-234, 2019.
Tarek Mohamed, Sarbjeet Singh Gujral, Praveen P. N. Rao, Tau derived hexapeptide AcPHF6 promotes beta-amyloid (Aβ) fibrillogenesis. ACS Chemical Neuroscience 9, 773-782, 2018.
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. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 126, 823-843, 2017.
Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao, Structure-activity relationship studies of isomeric 2,4-diaminoquinazolines on β-amyloid aggregation kinetics. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 7, 502-507, 2016, (featured on the Cover page).
Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao, Amyloid cascade in Alzheimer's disease: recent advances in Medicinal Chemistry. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 113, 258-272, 2016.
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 Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 59, 7584-7597, 2016.
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. Medicinal Chemistry Communication 6, 1930-1941, 2015, (featured on the Cover page and hot article for the year).
Xian-Le Bu, Praveen P N Rao, Yan-Jiang Wang. Anti-amyloid aggregation activity of natural compounds: Implications for Alzheimer's drug discovery. Molecular Neurobiology 53, 3565-3575 2015.
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 Neuroscience 4: 1559-1570, 2013.

Patents

Indolizine derivatives, WO2013116948, 2013