Prof. Mohammad Amjad Kamal is a biochemist and researcher and a Professor at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia. His research spans neurodegenerative disorders, toxicology, diabetes, cancer, medicinal chemistry, enzymology and drug discovery, with particular emphasis on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Education
Mohammad Amjad Kamal earned a Bachelor of Science from Gomal University in 1983 and a Master of Science in biochemistry from the same university in 1986. He received a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry from Islamia University, Bahawalpur, in 1999.
From 2000 to 2003, he held a U2000 Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Sydney’s School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences. His research during the fellowship focused on the inhibition of amido phosphoribosyltransferase by new antifolates and on the design and mechanism of action of purine antagonists.
Career
Prof. Mohammad Amjad Kamal began his academic career as a lecturer at Gomal University in 1987 and served there until 1990. From 1990 to 2000, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Following his postdoctoral fellowship, he continued his research activities in Australia. He was associated with the University of Sydney and later served as a visiting scholar in the Department of Medical and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Technology Sydney from 2007 to 2009. He also worked as a lead scientist with Enzymoics.
From 2010 to 2012, he was an adjunct researcher in the Drug Design and Development Section of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, where he worked with Nigel H. Greig and other researchers on drug discovery related to neurodegenerative diseases.
From 2011 to 2013, Kamal was a professor at the King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah. During the same period, he led the center’s Fundamental and Applied Biology Group. He subsequently served as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor there and coordinated the center’s Publication Committee and Metabolomics and Enzymology Unit.
He has also been affiliated with the Institutes for Systems Genetics at West China Hospital, Sichuan University. His international research collaborations have involved scientists and institutions in Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, the United States and other countries.
Kamal is currently a Professor at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia. His research encompasses biochemistry, neuroscience, enzymology, toxicology, metabolomics, medicinal chemistry, nanomedicine and drug discovery.
His scientific work has particularly focused on Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. He has studied acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, enzyme kinetics, protein interactions and potential therapeutic compounds for neurological disorders.
In collaboration with Nigel H. Greig and other researchers, he investigated phenserine and related compounds as potential therapeutic agents for Alzheimer’s disease, including their biochemical mechanisms and therapeutic potential. His research has also examined the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes and possible therapeutic approaches arising from their shared biological mechanisms.
His broader research has covered cancer therapeutics, drug delivery, nanotechnology, molecular biology, cancer resistance and medicinal chemistry, as well as natural compounds and other potential therapeutic agents. His publication record includes hundreds of scientific papers and other scholarly works.
Prof. Kamal was also an editor of The Alzheimer's Disease Challenge, Volume II, a research topic published by Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2023. The collection brought together research on Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegeneration, diagnosis and therapeutic approaches.
Membership
Prof. Kamal is a Fellow Chartered Chemist of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
He has also been associated with the International Society for Neurochemistry, the European Society for Toxicology in Vitro, and the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.
