A lecture titled “Synthesis of a Cluster of a C-linked Disaccharide Analogue of the Thomsen- Friedenreich (TF)-Epitope: Precursor of a Potential Anticancer Vaccine”, given by Dr. Loay Awad, was held as scheduled in the multi-functional hall of BSAZ on January 11th, 2016.

Dr. Loay Awad obtained his master’s degree from Institute of Technology, Lausanne University and his PhD from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, winning full scholarships several times during his doctoral and postdoctoral period. He was senior postdoctoral researcher in both Laboratory of Pierre Vogel and Laboratory of Hilal A. Lashuel, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology as well as Laboratory of Olivier Michielin, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and served as assistant professor of School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Currently, he is assistant professor of College of Engineering, University of Dammam.

As a synthetic organic chemist, Dr. Loay Awad has extensive research experience in:

(a)   Total synthesis;

(b)   Polymer and dendrimer chemistry, heterocyclic and aromatic chemistry;

(c)   Biochemistry, carbohydrate chemistry, medicinal chemistry, peptide chemistry and non-natural amino acid synthesis.

His research projects include:

(a)    research and development of anticancer vaccines for prostate cancer and breast cancer;

(b)    synthesis and characterization of small molecules (such as indoleamine pyrrole, 2,3- dioxygenase inhibitor);

(c)    study the mechanism of protein misfolded and fibrils formation, and the effects of these processes on the pathogenesis of Huntington and Alzheimer's disease.

Loay Awad also published articles in a number of international professional journals, such as Biochemical Journal, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Chemistry - A European Journal, etc. In addition, he holds a patent on IDO inhibitors and their therapeutic use.

This lecture not only enhanced BSAZ’s international academic exchanges, but also heightened BSAZ staff’s professional technologies and awareness of values of foreign languages.

The site of Loay's lecture