Additional information
by Ahmed Al-Harrasi (Author), Saurabh Bhatia (Author), Tapan Behl (Author)
Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a global health threat. Unfortunately, there are very limited approved therapeutics available with established efficacy and safety profile against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Author Biography
Prof. Ahmed Al-Harrasi received his BSc in Chemistry from Sultan Qaboos University (Oman) in 1997. He then moved to the University of Berlin from where he received his MSc. degree in Chemistry (2002) followed by PhD in Organic Chemistry (2005) as a DAAD fellow under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Ulrich Reissig. His PhD work was on New Transformations of Enantiopure 1,2-Oxazines. He received the Fulbright Award (2008) for postdoctoral research in chemistry for which he joined Prof. Tadhg Begely group at Cornell University to work on the synthesis of isotopically labeled thiamine pyrophosphate. After postdoctoral research from Cornell University (2009), he started his independent research at the University of Nizwa, Oman, where he founded the Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center merging chemistry and biology research that has now become a center of excellence in natural and medical sciences. He is currently Professor of Organic Chemistry and Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies, Research and External Relations at the University of Nizwa. The budget of his interdisciplinary funded projects exceeds US$10 million. He was a chair and invited speaker in many international conferences. He is a referee for more than 15 international chemistry and biotechnology journals. He served as a guest editor in chemistry journals. While enduring his research aptitude, he has authored and co-authored over 400 scientific papers, 2 books, and 12 book chapters of high repute. He taught chemistry courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Dr. Saurabh Bhatia graduated from Kurukshetra University, India, in 2007, followed by postgraduation in 2009 from Bharati Vidyapeeth University, India. He successfully completed a PhD program in Pharmaceutical Technology at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India (2015). Currently, he works as an Associate Professor at Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman, and Adjunct Associate Professor at School of Health Science, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India. He has 12 years of academic experience. His areas of interest include nanotechnology (drug delivery), biomaterials, natural products science, biotechnology (plant and animal), microbiology, modified drug delivery systems, analytical chemistry, parasitology (leishmaniasis), and marine science. He has promoted several marine algae and their derived polymers throughout India and has published more than 9 books and 75 articles in many areas of pharmaceutical science and filed 11 patents. He has participated in more than 30 national and international conferences.
