- Natural products chemistry (bacteria, fungi, soft corals, algae, medicinal plants etc.)
- Lead/probe discovery and development
- Infectious disease, Antibiotics and Anticancer
- Chromatography, NMR spectroscopy and Mass spectrometry
- Complex NP structure elucidation
- Biosynthesis
Khaled A. Shaaban, PhD
Associate Professor
Dr. Shaaban obtained his B.S. degree in Chemistry (2000) from Mansoura University, Egypt. He received his M.S. (2005) and PhD. degrees in Organic Chemistry (2009) from the University of Göttingen (Germany) under supervision of Professor Hartmut Laatsch. He joined Prof. Jürgen Rohr’s group to continue natural product research as a postdoctoral fellow (2009-2011) at the University of Kentucky prior to joining Prof. Ben Shen’s group (2011–2012) at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Florida (USA). Currently, Dr. Shaaban holds a Research Associate Professor position at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, and also serves as the Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation (CPRI) Natural Product Repository initiative. His expertise is in the area of natural product discovery, natural product biosynthesis and natural product-based lead discovery. Dr. Shaaban has over 20 years of experience in NPs-based drug discovery, including isolation of bacterial strains from soils, screening, scale-up fermentation, complex NP structure elucidation, biosynthesis and semi-synthesis. Within this context in his current position at CPRI is focusing on microbial natural product discovery from unique ecological environments and to build-up a natural products repository initiative that contains bacterial strains, extracts and pure compounds. Dr. Shaaban has established and validated a streamlined metabolomics-based process for microbial strain dereplication to improve discovery rates of structurally/functionally novel natural products and the corresponding CPRI Natural Products Repository infrastructure and standard operating protocols (e.g., compound/strain deposition, tracking and quality control, as well the electronic database framework for compound structure and data/project management). He has published >95 peer-reviewed high impact research articles and mentored 5 high school students, 8 Ph.D. students, 8 postdoctoral fellows, 8 visiting scholars, and 5 junior faculty members. In addition, through his CPRI role, Dr. Shaaban has effectively managed >10 diverse multi-investigator projects that engage investigators ranging from basic scientists (e.g., geologists, chemists, microbiologists, pharmacologists and pharmaceutical scientists) to clinicians.
Research Interests
Education & Appointments
Education:
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist (2011-2012), The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), (Department of Chemistry), Florida, USA [Prof. Ben Shen]
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist (2009-2011), University of Kentucky, College of Pharmacy (Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences), Kentucky, USA [Prof. Jürgen Rohr]
- PhD. in Organic Chemistry (Natural Products), University of Göttingen, Germany (2009) [Advisor: Professor Hartmut Laatsch].
- M.S. in Chemistry, University of Göttingen, Germany (2005) [Advisor: Professor Hartmut Laatsch].
- B.S. in Chemistry, Mansoura University, Egypt (2000).
Positions:
- Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky, College of Pharmacy
- Natural Product Repository Resource Leader, Center of Pharmaceutical Research Innovation (CPRI), University of Kentucky, College of Pharmacy
- Senior Research Scientist III (2012-2018), Center of Pharmaceutical Research Innovation (CPRI), University of Kentucky, College of Pharmacy
We wish to remember and honor those who inhabited this Commonwealth before the arrival of the Europeans. Briefly occupying these lands were the Osage, Wyndott tribe, and Miami peoples. The Adena and Hopewell peoples, who are recognized by the naming of the time period in which they resided here, were here more permanently. Some of their mounds remain in the Lexington area, including at UK’s Adena Park.
In more recent years, the Cherokee occupied southeast Kentucky, the Yuchi southwest Kentucky, the Chickasaw extreme western Kentucky and the Shawnee central Kentucky including what is now the city of Lexington. The Shawnee left when colonization pushed through the Appalachian Mountains. Lower Shawnee Town ceremonial grounds are still visible in Greenup County.
We honor the first inhabitants who were here, respect their culture, and acknowledge the presence of their descendants who are here today in all walks of life including fellow pharmacists and healthcare professionals.