Dr. Awad received his graduation as a pharmaceutical doctor in 2005, soon in 2009 he established his pharmacy “Dr. Kareem Pharmacy” in the surroundings of the Giza Pyramids in Egypt. He has earned his Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences degree in biochemistry from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, where he extensively studied infection of the helminth parasite Schistosoma. In 2011 he got his Germany-Egypt long term PhD scholarship to purchase a doctoral degree in medical sciences in Germany. He spent his pre-doctoral year at the neuro-oncology department at the Medical Faculty of the University of Regensburg in Germany. There, he conducted research on the brain tumor glioblastoma and how to diagnose it using different imaging techniques as well as to control it using different neurotrophic factors of different origins.

In 2013 he registered for his Dr. sc. Hum doctorate at the Medical Faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg in Germany. There, he focuses on the immune system responses to pathogenic and non-pathogenic stimuli and how to manipulate and control the growth of these cells using different transforming growth factors.

Parallel, being funded by the Finnish Scholarship Pool, the University of Turku and many other Finnish entities and the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Egypt, Dr. Awad conducted clinical and experimental research on human immune cells responses to viruses including influenza virus. This lead to his PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in biochemistry from Cairo University.

Dr. Awad, coopts with many medical scientists from US, Finland, Germany, Russia, Egypt and India to produce high impact published work and currently, Dr. Awad works on research projects in immunology, biochemistry, infectious and vascular diseases in different countries.

Spoken languages

English - Arabic - German

Orcid number

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1007-9632

Conference talks

“TGFβ family signaling in cardio-metabolic disorders”, Kyrgyz Society of Cardiology Annual Conference, Bishkek 2018

“Vascular calcifications: The role of α-smooth muscle actin during TGFβ/BMPs interplay”, Kyrgyz Society of Cardiology Annual Conference, Bishkek 2018

“Metabolic reprogramming in immune cells; a role for TGFβ family?”, Global Meet on Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Miami 2023

“TGFβ1-high glucose reprogramming in immune cells: Cardio-metabolic consequences”, Euro-global summit on advances in clinical and cellular immunology, London 2023

“Hyper-glycaemia induces TGFβ1-differential gene expression in primary human immune cells”, European Congress on Human Genetics, Paris 2023

Thematic interest

“Doctoral1 thesis topic: Study of immune reprogramming associating changes in carbohydrate metabolism upon influenza infection using an in vitro cell cultured immortalized macrophages system.

Doctoral2 thesis topic: Effect of Hyperglycemia on Smad signaling in Macrophage and its role in diabetic complications

Pre-Doctoral topic: Molecular and cellular dissection of high grade glioma using magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a signature method.

MSc thesis topic: Characterization of helminth proteases that play a role in skin invasion, digestion and immune evasion: Identification of possible targets for new anthelmintic drugs.

Selected publications

Awad AM, Hansen K, Del Rio D, Flores D, Barghash RF, Kakkola L, Julkunen I, Awad K. Insights into COVID-19: Perspectives on drug remedies and host cell responses. Biomolecules 2023, 13:1452. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13101452

Awad K. Covid19: End or fade of the pandemic? Lupine Online Journal of Medical Sciences 2023, 638-639. DOI: 10.32474/LOJMS.2023.06.000238

Awad K, et al. Carbohydrate metabolism signatures in immune cells: Response to infection. Frontiers Immunology 2022, 13:912899. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.912899

Motawi TK, Shahin NN, et al, Awad K, et al. H1N1 Infection Reduces Glucose Level in Human U937 Monocytes Culture. Viral Immunology 2020, 3:384-390. https://doi: 10.1089/vim.2019.0163.

Motawi TK, Shahin NN, Awad K, et al. Glycolytic and immunological alterations in human U937 monocytes in response to H1N1 infection. IUBMB Life2020, 72: 2481-2498. https://doi: 10.1002/iub.2378.

Solin A V, Lyashev A Yu, Lyashev Yu D, and Awad K. Comparative analysis of the stimulatory action of selective agonists of opioid receptors on the rat liver mass after extensive hepatectomy. Experimental and clinical pharmacology 2019, 82:3-6. https://doi: 10.30906/0869-2092-2019-82-3-3-6.

Lazarenko VA, Antonov AE, Markapuram VK, Awad K. Experience of neuronet diagnosis and prediction of peptic ulcer disease by results of risk factors’ analysis. Bulletin of Siberian Medicine 2018, 17: 88-95. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.20538/1682-0363-2018-3-88-95.

Abdel Aleem R, et al, Awad K, et al. Immunostimulatory activity of Schistosomula in mice Russian Open Medical Journal 2018, 7: e0407. https://doi: 10.15275/rusomj.2018.0407.

Nurgazieva D, Mickley A, Moganti K, Ming W, Ovsyi I, Popova A, Sachindra, Awad K, et al. TGF-β1, but not bone morphogenetic proteins, activates Smad1/5 pathway in primary human macrophages and induces expression of proatherogenic genes. Journal of Immunology 2015, 194:709-18.