Prof. Mahmoud Hashem Abdelkader
EUE - European University Founder & Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Professor of Laserchemistry, Cairo University
Lecture Abstract
PHOTODYNAMIC MODALITY FOR CANCER DIAGNOSIS & THERAPY AND FOR CONTROL OF MALARIA VECTOR IN INFESTED AFRICAN SWAMPS
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is a promising new modality for cancer diagnosis and treatment, which involves the combination of light of an appropriate wavelength and a photosensitizing agent, which is selectively taken up and retained by tumor cells. Separately, each of these factors is harmless; however when they are combined in the presence of oxygen, cytotoxic reactive oxygen species are produced, which leads to irreversible cellular damage and causes cell death and tumor destruction.
The following advantages of PDT makes it a very promising modality for cancer diagnosis and therapy e.g. selective destruction of cancer tissues, sensitizers located within the cytoplasm (no DNA damages), reduction of the metastatic rate of treated tissues, few drug-to-drug interactions and no impairment of further adjuvant treatments, as well as from the technical point of view e.g. efficacy, easy to handle and low cost.
This work will introduce the different applications of PDT as well as the methods and techniques of applying it on several types of cancer diagnosis and therapy. In addition, the successful field implementation of using Photodynamic modality utilizing natural extracts of chlorophyll derivatives and sunlight to control Malaria, Schistosomiasis and agricultural pests in infested epidemic swamps in Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan. In conclusion, this work introduces a novel method, with low cost, that combines effectiveness, high selectivity, and highest levels of human safety and environmental friendliness.
Biographical Sketch
Prof. Abdel Kader is a Professor of Photochemistry and currently, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the European University in Egypt "EUE". He is also the Former President of the German University in Cairo (from 2002-2017).
He received his Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Spectroscopy and Photochemistry at Stuttgart University, Germany in 1979. He got a post-doctoral position at University of Karlsruhe (1982-1983) and was a Senior Researcher at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (1983-1984). He was a Visiting Professor at both Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA and the Institute for Laser Technology in Medicine and Metrology, Ulm University. He then served the position of Vice Dean of the National Institute of Laser-Enhanced Sciences (NILES), in Cairo University.
Prof. Abdel Kader has supervised 82 master's theses and doctoral dissertations. He has published over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals and in conference proceedings. Also, he is an inventor of 9 patents. He has given more than 80 invited talks and plenary lectures at both national and international meetings.
His research interests include: Utilization of Solar Energy in Photochemical Conversions for Malaria, Filaria and Dengue Fever Vector control, Parasites such as Schistosomiasis and Agricultural pests using environmentally friendly (natural extract) Photosensitizers and Application of Nanoparticles in Photodynamic Diagnosis and Therapy of Cancer.
Awards: Distinguished State Prize in Chemistry (Egypt, 1996), State Medal in Chemistry (1998), Excellence Award of Science from Cairo University (2012), State Award Discretion in Advanced Technological Sciences (2014), and the First Class Medal of the President of the Republic of Egypt in Science and Arts (2017).