Dr. Praveen P Nekkar Rao

School of Pharmacy, Health Sciences Campus

University of Waterloo, Canada

Medicinal Chemist and Assistant Professor

Email: [email protected]

Qualifications

2004 Ph.D., Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada

1998 M.Sc., College of Pharmacy, Mangalore University, India

1995 B.Sc., College of Pharmacy, Mangalore University

Publications (selected)

1. Anmi Jose, Pallavi Kulkarni, Naveena Kumar AN et al. Abacavir enhances the efficacy of Doxorubicin via inhibition of histone demethylase KDM5B in breast cancer, 02 April 2025, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6208718/v1]

2. Y. Zhao, K. Singh, R. Chowdary Karuturi, A. A. Hefny, A. Shakeri, M. A. Beazely, P. P. N. Rao, ChemMedChem 2024, 19, e202400198. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.202400198

3. F. Keyvani, P. GhavamiNejad, M. A. Saleh, M. Soltani, Y. Zhao, S. Sadeghzadeh, A. Shakeri, P. Chelle, H. Zheng, F. A. Rahman, S. Mahshid, J. Quadrilatero, P. P. N. Rao, A. Edginton, M. Poudineh, Integrated Electrochemical Aptamer Biosensing and Colorimetric pH Monitoring via Hydrogel Microneedle Assays for Assessing Antibiotic Treatment. Adv. Sci. 2024, 11, 2309027. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202309027

4. Zhao, Y., Shakeri, A., Hefny, A.A. et al. N-Benzyl, N-phenethyl and N-benzyloxybenzamide derivatives inhibit amyloid-beta (Aβ42) aggregation and mitigate Aβ42-induced neurotoxicity. Med Chem Res 33, 1229–1241 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-024-03256-6

5. Rao, P.N., Hejazi, L. and Shakeri, A. (2023), Novel Pyrazinoindolones As Amyloid-Beta Aggregation Inhibitors. Alzheimer's Dement., 19: e077090. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.077090

6. Rao, P.P.N., Zhao, Y., Huang, R. (2023). Understanding the Mechanisms of Amyloid Beta (Aβ) Aggregation by Computational Modeling. In: Roy, K. (eds) Computational Modeling of Drugs Against Alzheimer’s Disease. Neuromethods, vol 203. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3311-3_2

7. Khavandi, M., Rao, P. P. N., & Beazely, M. A. (2023). Differential Effects of Endocannabinoids on Amyloid-Beta Aggregation and Toxicity. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(2), 911. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24020911

8. Yusheng Zhao, Praveen P. N. Rao. (2023). 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.

9. Fux JE, Lefort ÉC, Rao PPN and Blay J (2022) Apigenin directly interacts with and inhibits topoisomerase 1 to upregulate CD26/DPP4 on colorectal carcinoma cells. Front. Pharmacol. 13:1086894. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1086894

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

11. Praveen P. N. Rao, Amy Trinh Pham, Arash Shakeri, Amna El Shatshat, Yusheng Zhao, Rahul C. Karuturi, Ahmed A. Hefny. (2021). Drug repurposing: Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP4) inhibitors as potential agents to treat SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) infection. Pharmaceuticals 14, 44.

12. Gary Tin, Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Amy Trinh Pham, Praveen P. N. Rao, (2019). Interactions of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors with β-amyloid. ACS Chemical Neuroscience 9, 226-234.

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

14. Tarek Mohamed, Praveen P. N. Rao. (2017). 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.

15. Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao. (2016). Structure-activity relationship studies of isomeric 2,4-diaminoquinazolines on β-amyloid aggregation kinetics. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 7, 502-507.

16. Tarek Mohamed, Arash Shakeri, Praveen P. N. Rao. (2016). Amyloid cascade in Alzheimer's disease: recent advances in Medicinal Chemistry. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 113, 258-272.

17. 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. (2016). Development of blood-brain barrier permeable nitrocatechol-based catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors with reduced potential for hepatotoxicity Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 59, 7584-7597.

18. Tin G, Mohamed T, Gondora N, Beazely M. A. Praveen P N Rao. (2015). Tricyclic phenothiazine and phenoselenazine derivatives as potential multi-targeting agents to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Medicinal Chemistry Communication 6, 1930-1941.

19. Xian-Le Bu, Praveen P N Rao, Yan-Jiang Wang. (2015). Anti-amyloid aggregation activity of natural compounds: Implications for Alzheimer's drug discovery. Molecular Neurobiology 53, 3565-3575.

20. Tarek Mohamed, Tuan Hoang, Masoud Jelokhani-Niaraki, Praveen P N Rao. (2013). Tau-derived-hexapeptide 306VQIVYK311 aggregation inhibitors: Nitrocatechol moiety as a pharmacophore in drug design. ACS Chemical Neuroscience 4: 1559-1570.

Profile Details

https://uwaterloo.ca/pharmacy/profile/praopera