I am a medicinal chemist with expertise in chemical biology, antibacterial and cancer chemotherapy, and the study of natural products as templates for future drug design.

Emphasis is given to the rational design, synthesis and bioassay-guided evaluation of “small-molecule” anticancer/antibacterial compounds, which are designed to interact with an individual protein target or predetermined DNA sequence. I am also interested in natural products isolation and purification from plants.

I graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Palermo, Italy, and then gained a PhD in medicinal chemistry at the UCL School of Pharmacy, London, where I was also appointed a Maplethorpe Postdoctoral Fellow.

I am a General Pharmaceutical Council registered pharmacist and I have spent some years working in community pharmacies.

Chemistry for Health, Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Ruparelia, K.C.; Zeka, K.; Beresford, K.J.M.; Wilsher, N.E.; Potter, G.A.; Androutsopoulos, V.P.; Brucoli, F. .; Arroo, R.R.J. CYP1-Activation and Anticancer Properties of Synthetic Methoxylated Resveratrol Analogues. Molecules 2024, 29, 423. (16 pages) https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29020423

Robert Murnane, Mire Zloh, Sangeeta Tanna, Renee Allen, Felipe Santana-Gomez, Tanya Parish, Federico Brucoli Synthesis and antitubercular activity of novel 4-arylalkyl substituted thio-, oxy- and sulfoxy-quinoline analogues targeting the cytochrome bc1 complex Bioorganic Chemistry, 2023, 138, 106659. (8 pages).  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2023.106659

Nasrin Shokrzadeh Madieh, Sangeeta Tanna, Norah Ahmed Alqurayn, Alexandra Vaideanu, Andreas Schatzlein, Federico Brucoli Aminobenzofuran-containing analogues of proximicins exhibit higher antiproliferative activity against human UG-87 glioblastoma cells compared to temozolomide RSC Advances 2023, 13, 8420-8426. DOI https://doi.org/10.1039/D3RA00107E

Lindsay Ferguson, Nasrin Shokrzadeh Madieh, Alexandra Vaideanu, Andreas Schatzlein, Joseph Festa, Harprit Singh, Geoffrey Wells, Sanjib Bhakta, Federico Brucoli C2- linked alkynyl poly-ethylene glycol(PEG) adenosine conjugates as water-soluble adenosine receptor agonists Chemical Biology & Drug Design 2023, 101, 340-349 https://doi.org/10.1111/cbdd.14128

Research interests in anti-cancer and anti-tuberculosis drug discovery:

• Medicinal chemistry work aimed at generating synthetic analogues with improved efficacy and potency
• Target validation with the aid of chemical probes
• Natural products
• Development of bio-guided assays for the identification of hit-chemical probes

Medicinal chemistry

Chemical biology

Organic chemistry

Pharm. D.

PhD

PGCertHE

MPharm programme

(BSc) Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science

Modules: PHCO1402; PHAR2802; PHAR2803; PHAR3802

I am an appointed expert in medicinal chemistry in the Chemistry, Pharmacy and Standards Expert Advisory Group (CPS EAG) in the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency of the UK government. (Tenure 2023- 2027).

• Member of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)
• Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
• Chartered Chemist, Royal Society of Chemistry (CChem)
• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), registration number: 2081596
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PGCert TLHE) 2016
• Elected Member of the Chemistry Biology Interface Division Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Elected member of the Acid Fast Club (AFC). AFC is the leading UK research group focusing on pathophysiology, drug resistance mechanisms and drug targets of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Current research activities:

• Rational design, synthesis and evaluation of novel antibacterial hit-molecules.
• Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of molecularly-targeted anticancer agents.
• Bioassay-guided identification of small-molecules with anti-tuberculosis activity.
• Combinatorial approach for the synthesis of analogues with improved efficacy and potency.
• Isolation and identification of novel, bio-active molecules from natural sources, including plants and marine species, and elucidation of their mechanism of action

Chemical biology symposium 2024

13 May 2024, London and online, United Kingdom

https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/77197/chemical-biology-symposium-2024

0000-0001-8661-2910