Professor Mohammad Najlah

Mohammad obtained a pharmacy degree followed by a postgraduate diploma in Industrial Pharmacy from Damascus University before completing a PhD in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology at the University of Manchester in 2007. He subsequently continued his research at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) as a Research Fellow and contributed to the establishment of the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. He later joined the Faculty of Pharmacy at Homs University before moving to the UK to join ARU.

Since joining ARU, Mohammad has contributed to the development of research infrastructure, including the SuperLabs Complex and Pharmaceutical Research Laboratory, and established the Pharmaceutical Research Group, which has grown entirely through externally funded research and industry collaboration.

He has led multiple successful Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, including projects recognised with Innovate UK’s highest “Outstanding” grading, and has supported the development of commercially successful technologies, brands and manufacturing capabilities. His work has contributed to the creation of GMPriority Pharma, the UK’s first dedicated liposomal supplement manufacturer, and the development of proprietary technologies including SAIFx®, SAIFColl® and SAIFNAD®.

Mohammad is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, an external examiner for several UK universities, and has supervised multiple PhD students to completion. He has also led and mentored more than 15 research fellows, many of whom have progressed to senior positions in academia, industry and regulatory organisations. He maintains active collaborations with pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, healthcare organisations, and academic partners in the UK and internationally.

• Translational pharmaceutics and advanced drug delivery systems
• Nanomedicine, liposomal technologies and colloidal formulations
• Pharmaceutical and nutraceutical product development
• Scale-up, manufacturing and commercialisation of complex formulations
• Drug repurposing and novel therapeutics for cancer treatment
• Cancer therapeutics and overcoming chemoresistance
• Pulmonary and intranasal drug delivery
• Dendrimers, polymeric prodrugs and macromolecular drug delivery systems
• University–industry collaboration, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and translational research

• BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Science
• MSc Pharmaceutical Science

• PhD in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, University of Manchester, UK
• University Certificate in Higher Education (UCHE), University of Central Lancashire, UK
• Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) in Industrial Pharmacy, Damascus University, Syria
• BPharm in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Damascus University, Syria

Memberships and professional recognition

• Chartered Chemist (CChem)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Board Director, Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (APS)

Editorial and advisory roles

• Associate Editor, Nano TransMed
• Topic Editor, Molecules
• Editorial board/reviewer roles for international journals in pharmaceutics, nanomedicine and drug delivery

Mohammad has secured more than £2 million in research, innovation and knowledge exchange funding through competitive grants, industry contracts, consultancy activities and Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

• Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Homogenisation Systems Ltd, funded by Innovate UK and UK Research & Innovation. Project focused on advanced scale-up technologies and industrial implementation of high-pressure homogenisation systems for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and advanced materials applications. £209,881. Principal Investigator. 2025–2027.
• Collaboration Agreement with Delono Ltd / Genoframe Ltd. Development of advanced nitric oxide delivery technologies for healthcare and medical applications. £269,730. Principal Investigator. 2023–2025.
• Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Homogenisation Systems Ltd, funded by Innovate UK and UK Research & Innovation. Project to develop and optimise high-pressure homogenisation as a scale-up technology for advanced dispersed formulations. £176,417. Principal Investigator. 2023–2025. Graded Outstanding by Innovate UK.
• Knowledge Exchange and Embed Partnership (KEEP+) with Detoxpeople Ltd, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Project to establish a new manufacturing line for liposomal skincare formulations. £72,634. Principal Investigator. 2022–2023.
• Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Detoxpeople Ltd, funded by Innovate UK and UK Research & Innovation. Project to embed formulation development, analytical capability and manufacturing scale-up for dry and liquid liposomal technologies. £169,300. Principal Investigator. 2021–2023. Graded Outstanding by Innovate UK.
• Research Contract with Lipolife / Detoxpeople Ltd. Development of stable, non-sweetened oral liposomal formulations. £43,000. Principal Investigator. 2020–2021.
• National Priorities Research Program (NPRP), funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). Development of surfactant-based delivery systems for breast cancer treatment. US$698,062. Principal Investigator. 2016–2020.
• Industry-funded consultancy, research contracts, PhD studentships and translational research programmes with pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and health technology companies in the UK and internationally.

Awards

• Featured by the KTP Programme in the national case study: Building the UK’s First Dedicated Liposomal Supplement Manufacturer
• Silver Medal, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Golden Awards 2025
• Innovate UK Business Transformation Award 2025
• Finalist, Best of the Best KTP Awards 2024
• ARU Vice Chancellor’s Award for Business Engagement, 2023
• ARU Vice Chancellor’s Award for Research Impact, 2022
• Dean’s Award for Research and Innovation, 2022, 2023
• Jussara Personelle Award, 56th Brazilian Congress of Plastic Surgery, 2019
• Commendation for Outstanding Science, University of Central Lancashire, 2007
• Controlled Release Society Outstanding Oral Drug Delivery Award, 2006

Patents and intellectual property

• Inventor, Anti-Cancer Saccharide-Linked Dithiocarbamate Compounds (WO2023232904A1). International patent application covering a novel class of sugar-linked dithiocarbamate prodrugs for cancer treatment.
• Development of proprietary formulation and delivery technologies supporting commercial products and trademarks including SAIFx®, SAIFColl® and SAIFNAD®.

Mohammad has published extensively in the fields of pharmaceutics, nanomedicine, drug delivery and translational pharmaceutical sciences. His work includes peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, editorials and book chapters covering nanomedicine, cancer therapeutics, liposomal technologies, pharmaceutical manufacturing and drug delivery systems.

For a complete and up-to-date list of publications, see Mohammad’s Google Scholar profile.