Visiting Scholars/ Senior Research Scientist

Dr. Shabana Anjum received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Zoology from  Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (India), in 2006 and 2008,  respectively. She received her Ph.D. degree in “Animal physiology and molecular mechanism of Endocrinology ” from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (India), in 2016.

In 2017, she joined as a National Postdoctoral Fellow awarded by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science technology at CSIR- Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow (India). In 2020, she joined the ‘Diabetic Research Group” as a Senior Research Associate at Sharjah Institute of Medical Research, University of Sharjah, UAE, and co-supervising numerous masters research projects within the group. In 2021, she joined the “Drug Delivery Group” as a Visiting Scholar at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. She was the recipient of ISSN International Research Awards in 2021 and Prof. N.J.Chinoy Award in 2012. She is a member of the Research Council. She has a strong experience in animal physiology, especially in Endocrinology and Metabolism disorders (Obesity model), Neurodegenerative (Alzheimer model), Diabetes, and Cancer Research, with therapeutic expertise involving mice model systems. She is an expert in the development of novel small molecules for their anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-neurodegenerative activities, translational research, mechanism of drug/chemical action and understanding the molecular phenomenon and signaling pathways that are consequences of types I and II Diabetes, Cancer and Alzheimer  (both in vitro and in vivo), and other abnormalities in order to find out potential therapeutic targets. Her current research interest is developing ultrasound-activated targeted nanocarriers used for drug delivery in multiple cancer treatments using xenograft mice models. Dr. Anjum has published several research papers and chapters in high-impact journals.

Dr. Remya Radha is a Biotechnologist/Biochemical Engineer with more than 10 years of research and academic experience. She received her Ph.D. in “Biological Engineering-Biotechnology” from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, India, in 2020. She holds a Master’s degree in M.Tech Biotechnology and a Graduate degree in B.Tech Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering. In February 2020, she joined AUS, Department of BCE as Postdoc Research Assistant and In May 2022, joined the Drug Delivery Group at AUS. 

She has an interdisciplinary research background combining Biotechnology, Biosciences, Microbiology and Nanotechnology, and Biochemical Engineering. She has excellent research skills in Immunoassay development for Biomarkers-Human diseases (cardiovascular), Microbiology/ Biochemistry techniques, Bacterial/animal cell culture and cytotoxic assays, Overexpression of Bacterial genes, Recombinant protein production and purification, Biochemical characterization of recombinant protein/stability analysis, Secondary structure analysis of enzymes. Additionally, she has extensive research experience in the synthesis of nanoparticles-nanoliposomes and their analysis, synthesis of carbon dots/characterization/antimicrobial assays, synthesis of drug/marker-loaded liposomes and drug delivery analysis, organic nanosensor analysis/applications, chemical reaction analysis and environmental studies, bioprocess development/statistical optimization of industrial metabolites, as well as thorough knowledge in Reactor/Bioreactor studies and fermentation process.

Her current research focuses on Ultrasound-mediated targeted drug delivery in cancer cells with curcumin liposomes. She is also co-supervising research projects within the group. She has published several research articles in reputed journals and international conferences. Recently she received a Research Excellence Award from QUWA-2nd forum for women- UoS, 2021 for the research “Development of Liposome-based Immunoassay for the detection of Cardiac Troponin- A Golden Biomarker for the Diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction”.

Heba Abed received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the American University of Sharjah (AUS), Sharjah, UAE. She has research experience in different fields of chemistry, including analytical, synthetic, and environmental chemistry. Her senior thesis focused on synthesizing porous organic polymers for iodine capture and storage. Currently, she joined the Drug Delivery Laboratory at AUS as a research assistant.

Dr. Ana Martins obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry/Enzymology from the University of Lisbon (Portugal). Dr. Martins has wide research experience: after completing her PhD she spent seven years at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she began as a postdoctoral associate in the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, later becoming a research scientist in the same institute as well as in the Department of Biological Sciences. Dr. Martins has a systems biology approach to research, combining experimental and modeling work to understand the function of biochemical systems.

In the UAE, Dr. Martins worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Applied Biology at the University of Sharjah (UoS), in the biotechnology joint program between UoS and the University of Sheffield (UK). She taught introductory as well as advanced courses, and directed undergraduate research projects. In 2013-2014 she joined the Drug Delivery Group at AUS, where she currently works as a senior research assistant.

Dr. Martins has published several research papers and two book chapters in biochemistry, systems biology and biotechnology; two review papers in the area of drug delivery systems; and conference proceedings. One of her papers (Martins, A.M. et al. (2001) FEBS Lett. 499, 41-44), was chosen as one of the 12 representative of the high quality of biochemistry research carried out in Portugal in the last 50 years, by the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Dr. Debasmita Mukhopadhyay joined “Drug Delivery Group” at AUS in August 2019 as a Visiting Scholar and co-supervising numerous MSc research projects within the group. Dr Debasmita received her Ph.D. in 2017 in “Molecular Biology & Cancer Genetics” from the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad (India) in 2017 and her MSc degree from Presidency College, India. She worked in Sharjah Institute of Medical Research (SIMR), Sharjah University as Senior Research Associate since early 2018. Earlier she also worked in National institute of Pharmaceutical research (NIPER), India as a post-doctoral fellow. She has a strong experience cancer research with a therapeutic expertise involving mice model system. She is expert in development of novel small molecules for their anti-cancer activities, translational research, mechanism of drug action and understanding the molecular events and signalling pathways that are consequences of various types of cancers (both in vitro and in vivo) and other abnormalities in order to find out potential therapeutic targets. Her current research interest is focused on developing ultrasound activated targeted nanocarriers used for drug delivery in multiple cancer treatment using xenograft mice models. Dr Debasmita has published a number of papers in high impact journals and conference proceedings.

Mr. Vinod Paul joined AUS in 2015. He has his bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Biomedical Engineering from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin (2008) and Master’s degree in Nanotechnology from Karunya University, Coimbatore (2011). He has worked in NIT Rourkela as a research scholar in the area of bio materials. He also has an experience in working in software development for biomedical imaging.

Area of interest includes Nano/bio materials, self-assembly, drug delivery.

Dr. Rute F. Vitor joined the AUS Drug Delivery Group in 2014. In 1998 she became a teacher in the COFAC group in Lisbon (Lusofona University and others schools). She has taught in the Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Degree in Nutrition Sciences programs. She has been an active researcher in areas such as biochemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry. She has had three monographs, one patent, ten articles and one proceeding in international journals with referees, one orientation master's thesis and several communications of scientific dissemination.

She received her PhD (2008) and MS (2003) in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Lisbon