Areej Hamad Yousef Haj Suleiman

Specialization: Physics 

Accurate Specialization: Bio-Physics 

Palestinian supervisor:  Prof. Abdallah Sayyed Ahmad

Palestinian Supervisor affiliation:  Physics department /Faculty of Science at Birzeit University

Degree aims: MSc 

FZJ Supervisor:  Dr. Hebah Fatafta and Prof.Dr. Birgit Strodel 

Center in FZJ:  Institute of Biological Information Processing Structural Biochemistry (IBI-7)

Affiliated University in Germany: Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Title of  Research: Computationally Guided Design, Synthesis and Assessment of Functionalized Pt-Derivatives in Liposomal Formulation  

Research Purpose: Traditional cancer therapies pose the risk of causing damage to healthy tissues while eradicating cancer cells. Finding new and innovative treatments for cancer is of great concern across the world. The scientific community is currently working on implementing therapeutics based on nanotechnology, particularly nanoparticles (NPs) as a drug delivery system to overcome these limitations. A notable example  of approved drugs for anticancer treatment are the platinum-based drugs (Pt-based). Around 50-70% of the patients diagnosed with a solid tumor are treated with platinum derivatives. Nonetheless, its limited solubility, high toxicity, and high cellular resistance led to the exploration of several cisplatin analogues, which are mainly based on introducing changes to the ligand or to the oxidation state of the metal (Pt(II) vs Pt(IV). Though several of these analogues underwent clinical trials, the treatment is still limited due to their serious side effects In this project we plan to combine both experimental and computational. approach to study the interactions between platinum-based drugs and liposomes, considering the latter as the most promising member of the NPs family as a drug delivery vehicle. The knowledge gained will help in developing new therapeutic treatments of cancer.

Aims of the research: In this project in collaboration with Dr. Yousef Najajreh of Al-Quds University, we plan to combine both experimental  and computational approaches to study the interactions between platinum-based drugs and liposomes, considering the latter as the most promising member of the NPs family as a drug delivery vehicle. The knowledge gained will help in developing new therapeutic treatments for cancer

Research Cluster:  NanoScience

Role in the research Cluster: Predicting the Platinum-based drug ligands that will be used at each site of the Platinum center using computer simulations"