Medicinal Chemistry
The University of Mississippi

Graduates of the Med Chem Program

  • Maali Alshammari, Ph.D., 2022
    Synthetic Studies on Valuable Fluorinated Building Blocks
    Dissertation Director, Dr. David Colby
  • AyoOluwa Aderibigbe, Ph.D., 2021
    Computational modeling of non-active functional states of the cannabinoid receptor 1 and its ligands
    Dissertation Director, Dr. Robert Doerksen
  • Nicholas Akins, Ph.D., 2021
    Thesis Title: “Development of Salvinorin-based Ligands for the Opioid Receptors”
    Advisor, Dr. Hoang Le
  • Amna T. Adam, Ph.D., 2020
    Thesis Title: “Application of Fluorinated Reagents in Synthesis and Drug Discovery”
    Advisor, Dr. David Colby
  • Reem Alkhodier, M.S., 2019
    Thesis Title: “Synthesis of 3-Methoxyflavones as Potential Antioxidants, Neuroprotective Agents, and Trifluoromethylated 19F NMR Probes”
    Advisor, Dr. David Colby
  • Maali Alshammari, M.S., 2019
    Thesis Title: “Synthesis of Fluoroflavones as Potential Neuroprotective Agents”
    Advisor, Dr. David Colby
  • Munia Sowaileh, Ph.D., 2018
    Fluorinated Organic Molecules for Medicinal Applications
    Dissertation Director, Dr. David Colby
  • Kelsey McPherson, Ph.D., 2018
    Synthesis and Evaluation of Dual-Acting Ligands for Mu Opioid and Neuropeptide FF Receptors
    Dissertation Director, Dr. Christopher McCurdy
  • Michael Cunningham, Ph.D., 2018
    Synthetic Investigation of Natural Products Causing Dopaminergic Neurodegeneration
    Dissertation Director, Dr. John Rimoldi
  • Mohammed Jihan, Ph.D., 2017
    Synthesis, Chemistry, Biological Evaluation and Structure-Activity Relationships of rac- and Chiral 6-Desmethyl-5β-Hydroxy-D-secoartemisinin
    Dissertation director, Dr. John Rimoldi
  • Veda Gogineni, Ph.D., 2017
    Phytochemical Investigation of Psychoactive Medicinal Plants for the Treatment of Neurological Disorders
    Dissertation director, Dr. John Rimoldi
  • Manal Nael, Ph.D., 2016
    Targeting Protein Kinases to Manage or Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
    Dissertation director, Dr. Robert J. Doerksen
  • Walid Alsharif, Ph.D., 2015
    Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Sigma Receptors (sRS) Ligands as Potential Pharmacotherapy for Cancer, and Drug Addiction
    Dissertation director, Dr. Christopher R. McCurdy
  • Eric Bow, Ph.D., 2015
    Design, Synthesis and Cannabinoid Receptor Activity of Benzofuran Ligands
    Dissertation director, Dr. John M. Rimoldi
  • Pankaj Pandey, Ph.D., 2015
    Protein-Ligand Interaction Studies and Identification of New Drug-Like Hits as Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators
    Dissertation director, Dr. Robert Doerksen
  • Shuneize E. Slater, Ph.D., 2015
    The Discovery of Novel Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum ATPase 6 Obtained Via A Mechanistic Study of Artemisinin
    Dissertation director, Dr. Robert Doerksen
  • Amer H. Tarawneh, Ph.D., 2015
    Evaluation of Novel Ligands for Opioid Receptors
    Dissertation director, Dr. Stephen Cutler
  • Sarah Chajkowski Scarry, Ph.D., 2012
    Dissertation director, Dr. John M. Rimoldi
  • Marco Arribas, Ph.D., 2011
    Synthesis of Analogues Based on the Opioid Alkaloid Mitragynine
    Dissertation director, Dr. Christopher R. McCurdy
  • Rohit Bhat, Ph.D., 2011
    Design, Synthesis, Biological Evaluatiohn and Metabolic Stability Studies of Sigma Receptor Ligands
    Dissertation director, Dr. Christopher R. McCurdy
  • Vanildo Braga, Ph.D., 2011
    Approaches Towards the Synthesis of Bradyoxetin
    Dissertation director, Dr. John M. Rimoldi
  • Jiangtao Gao, Ph.D., 2011
    Fungi Derived Natural Products with Binding Affinities for Human Opiod Receptors or Cannabinoid Receptors
    Dissertation director, Dr. Stephen J. Cutler
  • Swapnil Kulkarni, Ph.D., 2011
    Part A: Studies Towards the Total Synthesis of an Anticancer and Antifugal Natural Products: Pseudolaric Acid B, Part B: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Berkeleyamid
    Dissertation director, Dr. Mitchell A. Avery
  • Rob Smith, Ph.D., 2011
    Design and Synthesis of Novel Agrofungicides Based on Naturally Occurring PBDEs
    Dissertation director, Dr. John M. Rimoldi
  • Falgun Shah, Ph.D., 2011
    Use of Structure and Ligand-Based Drug Design Tools for the Discovery of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Cysteine Proteases for the Treatment of Malaria and SARS Infection
    Dissertation director, Dr. Mitchell A. Avery
  • Mohamed Helal, Ph.D., 2010
    Melanin Concentrating Hormone Receptor-1 Antagonists: Discovery, Optimization, and Biological Evaluation
    Dissertation director, Dr. Mitchell A. Avery
  • Eman Habib, Ph.D., 2010
    Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Biologically Active Compounds from Terrestrial and Fungal Organisms
    Dissertation director, Dr. Stephen J. Cutler
  • Velvet Journigan, Ph.D., 2010
    Part I. Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Ligands for Neuropeptide FF1 and FF2 Receptors. Part II. Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Ligands for the K Opioid Receptor
    Dissertation director, Dr. Christopher R. McCurdy
  • Pankaj Daga, Ph.D., 2010
    Combating Hepatitis B Virus by Targeting DNA Polymerase. Computational Insights into Resistance Development and Search for Novel Inhibitors by Virtual Screening
    Dissertation director, Dr. Robert J. Doerksen
  • Tammy Nolan, Ph.D., 2010
    Molecular Recognition Studies for the Kappa Opioid and Sigma Receptors using Virtual Screening, Pharmacophore Modeling and Semi-Synthesis
    Dissertation director, Dr. Christopher R. McCurdy