Education

Ph.D. Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

B.Pharm. Faculty of Pharmacy, Phildephia University – Amman, Jordan

Research Interests

My research interest lies in the field of computer-aided drug design where I focus in three main areas: (1) Designing and discovery of new inhibitors for different drug targets using structure-based and ligand-based approaches; (2) Assessing protein structures in terms of pocket protein-ligand interactions and druggability: (3) Investigating the aggregation molecular behavior of small organic molecules using molecular dynamics simulations.

Selected Publications

• Atatreh N, Hasan S, Ali BR, Ghattas MA. Computer-aided approaches reveal Trihydroxychroman and Pyrazolone derivatives as potential inhibitors of SARS-COV-2 virus main protease. Acta Pharmaceutica, Volume 71, Pages 325-333, 2021. https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2021-0040
• Ghattas MA, Al Rawashdah S, Atatreh N and Bryce RA. How Do Small Molecule Aggregates Inhibit Enzyme Activity? A Molecular Dynamics Study. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. 60, 8, 3901–3909, 2020. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00540
• Mohamed FE, Al Sorkhy M, Ghattas MA, Al-Gazali L, Al-Dirbashi O, Al-Jasmi F, Ali BR. The pharmacological chaperone N-n-butyl-deoxygalactonojirimycin enhances β-galactosidase processing and activity in fibroblasts of a patient with infantile GM1-gangliosidosis, Human Genetics, 1-17, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-020-02153-3
• Mohamed FE, Al Sorkhy M, Ghattas MA, Al-Zaabi N, Al-Shamsi A, Almansoori TM, Al-Gazali L, Al-Dirbashi OY, Al-Jasmi F, Ali BR. A Novel Homozygous Missense Variant in the NAGA Gene with Extreme Intrafamilial Phenotypic Heterogeneity, Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 2020, 70 (1), 45-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-019-01398-6
• Ghattas MA*, Eissa NA*, Tessaro F, Perozzo R, Scapozza L, Obaid D, Atatreh N. Structure‐based drug design and in‐vitro testing reveal new inhibitors of enoyl acyl carrier protein reductases. Chemical Biology & Drug Design. Published online in May 7, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/cbdd.13536 * Equal contribution
• Salem, AA, Lotfy Mb, Amin Ab, Ghattas MA. Characterization of human serum albumin's interactions with safranal and crocin using multi-spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques. Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrep.2019.100670
• Atatreh N, AlRawashdah S, Al Neyadi SS, Abuhamdah SM, GhattasMA*. Discovery of new butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors via structure-based virtual screening. J of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry 34, 1373-1379, 2019.https://doi.org/10.1080/14756366.2019.1644329*Corresponding author
• Al Rawashdah S, Hamrouni A, Sadek B, Amer R, Metwaly M, Atatreh N, Ghattas MA. Molecular modelling studies on ɑ7 nicotinic receptor allosteric modulators yields novel filter-based virtual screening protocol. Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling 92, 44-54, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/14756366.2019.1644329* Corresponding author
• Atatreh N, Youssef AM, Ghattas MA, Al Sorkhy M, Alrawashdeh S, Al-Harbi KB, El-Ashmawy IM, Almundarij TI, Abdelghani AA, Abd-El-Aziz AS. Anti-inflammatory drug approach: Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel pyrazolo [3, 4-d] pyrimidine compounds. Biorganic Chemistry. 2019; 86: 393-400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2019.02.014
• Atatreh N, Ghattas MA, Bardaweel SK, Al Rawashdah S, Al Sorkhy M. Identification of new inhibitors of Mdm2–p53 interaction via pharmacophore and structure-based virtual screening. Drug Design, Development and Therapy 2018, 12, 1-12. 
• Ghattas MA, Bryce RA, AlRawashdah S, Atatreh N, Zalloum WA. Comparative Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Aggregating and Non-Aggregating Inhibitor Solutions: Understanding the Molecular Basis of Promiscuity. ChemMedChem 2018, 13 (6), 500-506. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201700654
• AlNeyadi SS, Salem AA, Ghattas MA, Atatreh N, Abdou IM. Antibacterial activity and mechanism of action of the benzazole acrylonitrile-based compounds: In vitro, spectroscopic, and docking studies. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2017, 136, 270–282. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2017.05.010

Teaching Courses

• Drug Discvoery & Design (Msc)
• Medicinal Chemistry I (Bsc)
• Medicinal Chemistry II (Bsc)
• Biochemistry & Biotechnology (Bsc)

 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.

This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  

 

Memberships

• Member of American Chemical Society, USA.
• Member of Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC), UK.
• Member of the Jordanian Pharmaceutical Association, Jordan.