Assem Barakat

Prof. Assem Barakat is a Full Professor of Organic Chemistry at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a position he has held since February 2021. He obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Alexandria University, Egypt (2002), graduating with distinction and securing a position in a competitive government program for top-ranked students. His early career combined industrial and academic experience, starting as a Chemist at Pharco Pharmaceutical Company before joining the faculty at Alexandria University. His international research trajectory began with a Young Researcher Fellowship at the University of Genoa, Italy (2006). He subsequently earned his Ph.D. (2010) through a prestigious, collaborative program involving the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and the University of Stuttgart (Germany). Prof. Barakat’s research is at the forefront of synthetic organic chemistry and drug discovery. His work focuses on the rational design and development of novel therapeutic agents, with a specialized interest in protein-protein interaction inhibitors, particularly targeting the p53-MDM2 pathway for cancer therapy. His expertise in medicinal chemistry is broad and impactful, encompassing the development of inhibitors for key oncological targets (HER2, CDK2, EGFR, PI3K) and extending to anti-diabetic agents, anti-inflammatory compounds (COX-1 inhibitors with TNF-α and IL-6 inhibitory activity), and potential therapeutics for COVID-19. This work is underpinned by his deep knowledge of asymmetric synthesis, heterocyclic chemistry, and X-ray single crystallography. An accomplished and highly productive scholar, he has authored over 330 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on five US patents. His contributions have been recognized with several prestigious accolades, including the Arab Chemistry Award (Saudi Chemical Society Scientific Excellence Award for the Youth Section) in 2016 and the IAAM Scientist Medal from the International Association of Advanced Materials (Sweden) in 2020. Reflecting his significant and sustained impact, he has been consistently named in the prestigious Stanford University/Elsevier list of the world's top 2% most-cited scientists for multiple years (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025). A dedicated mentor, he has successfully supervised the completion of 13 Master's and four Ph.D. theses.