Praveen Nekkar Rao

• Drug Discovery
• Rational Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry
• Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders
• Cancer Therapy

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

For more information see Dr. Nekkar’s Research Website.

Dr. Nekkar teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Course offerings have included:

• PHARM 141 Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry, Toxicology and Pharmacology
• PHARM 220-223 Integrated Patient Focused Care 1-4
• PHARM 320-324 Integrated Patient Focused Care 5-8
• PHARM 603 Selected Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
• PHARM 607 Advanced Pharmaceutical Analysis 
• PHARM 610 Topics in Drug Development

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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).
5. 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.
6. 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. 
7. 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).
8. 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.
9. 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.

• Indolizine derivatives, WO2013116948, 2013

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

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

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.

The following news stories have featured Dr. Nekkar's research:

• Global Impact 2018-2019: New discovery could slow Alzheimer’s in its tracks

• Oct 23, 2018: This common medication can help overcome dementia

• Oct 22, 2018: Nekkar lab determines that depression medications can help treat Alzheimer’s disease

• April 6, 2018: Small molecule drug discovery: from countertop to over-the-counter

• July 29, 2015: Waterloo pharmacist examines drug therapies for Alzheimer’s disease

• July 29, 2015: Waterloo scientists receive nearly $250K for state-of-the-art infrastructure

• June 22, 2015: Prof. Nekkar Rao receives an Early Researcher Award

1995 BPharm (Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

1998 MPharm (Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

2004 PhD Pharmaceutical Science (University of Alberta)

2004-5 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Specialization in Medicinal Chemistry (University of Alberta)

2006-8 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Specialization in Medicinal Chemistry (The Scripps Research Institute)