Keykavous Parang
Biography
Keykavous Parang, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology at Chapman University School of Pharmacy, where he has served since 2013. He holds a joint appointment in the Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Schmid College of Science and Technology and serves as Project Scientist at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. Parang received his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 1997 and completed postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Before joining Chapman, he was Full Professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, where he also served as Program Coordinator for the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), a $20 million NIH-funded program.
Parang's research focuses on medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, particularly the design and synthesis of peptide-based drug delivery systems, antimicrobial agents, and protein kinase inhibitors. His laboratory has been funded with more than $7.5 million from NIH, American Cancer Society, NSF, and industry sources. He has published 269 peer-reviewed articles and holds 24 issued or pending patents. His work has been cited 11,622 times with an h-index of 53, and he is listed among the world's top 2% of scientists by Stanford University. Parang serves on the editorial boards of 15 scientific journals, including the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and has reviewed grants for NIH, NSF, and international funding agencies. His research is currently funded by two NIH grants.
Throughout his career, Parang has mentored 28 postdoctoral fellows, 31 graduate students, and 67 undergraduate students. He served as Associate Dean of Research, Innovation, and Global Affairs at Chapman University School of Pharmacy from 2013 to 2022, where he established graduate programs in pharmaceutical sciences, developed research infrastructure, and fostered collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and international institutions. Parang is an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and serves as Vice President of the Association of Pharmacy Professionals American International Branch. He was selected as a fellow in the AACP Catalyst Program for Accelerating Research Leadership in 2017 and received the Outstanding Researcher Award from the University of Rhode Island in 2011.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry, University of Alberta, 1997
- Pharm.D., University of Tehran, 1989
Distinctions
- Journal Stars Author, Molecular Pharmaceutics, American Chemical Society, 2017
- AACP Catalyst Program: Accelerating Research Leadership, AACP, 2017-2018
- AACP Teacher of the Year, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, 2015
- The Rho Chi Society The Academic Honor Society in Pharmacy Beta Pi Chapter, University of Rhode Island, 2011
- Harry and Elsa Jiler—American Cancer Society Professors Meeting Travel Scholarship, American Cancer Society, 2009
- M2012 Travel Scholarship, Microbicides: From Discovery to Delivery, 2012
- M2010 Travel Scholarship, Microbicide: Building Bridges in HIV Prevention, 2010
- Honorary Fellow of the Indian Society Chemists and Biologists (ISCB), Indian Society Chemists and Biologists, 2009
- APP Academic Excellence Award, Academy of Pharmacy Professionals (APP), 2024
- AIMS Award, ATOMWISE, 2019
Areas of Expertise
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design
- Peptide-Based Drug Delivery Systems
- Antimicrobial Peptide Development
- Protein Kinase Inhibitor Design
- Nucleoside Analog Synthesis
- Cyclic Peptide Nanostructures
- Antiviral Agent Development
Recent Publications
- Salehi, D., Mohammed, E. H., Helmy, N. M., Parang, K., “Antibacterial and antifungal activities of linear and cyclic peptides containing arginine, tryptophan, and diphenylalanine” (opens in new tab), Antibiotics, vol. 14, pp. 82, 2025.
- Parang, K., “Orchestrating cytosolic access: The partnership of cationic lytic peptide L17E and potassium channel KCa3.1” (opens in new tab), Molecular Therapy, 2025.
- Davani-Davari, D., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “Future applications of cyclic antimicrobial peptides in drug delivery” (opens in new tab), Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, pp. 1-22, 2025.
- Lohan, S., Konshina, A. G., Tiwari, R. K., Efremov, R. G., Maslennikov, I., Parang K., “Broad-spectrum activity of membranolytic cationic macrocyclic peptides against multi-drug resistant bacteria and fungi” (opens in new tab), Eur. J. Pharm. Sci., vol. 197, pp. 106776, 2024.
- Gharavi, A. T., Irian, S., Niknejad, A., Parang, K., Salimi, M., “Harnessing exosomes as a platform for drug delivery in breast cancer: A systematic review for in vivo and in vitro studies” (opens in new tab), Mol. Ther. Oncol., vol. 32, pp. 200800, 2024.
- Akinwale, A. D., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. K., Yamaki, J., “Mechanistic study of antimicrobial effectiveness of cyclic amphipathic peptide [R₄W₄] against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clinical isolates” (opens in new tab), Antibiotics, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 555, 2024.
- Darwish, S., Mozaffari, S., Mohammed, E., Mahdieh, Z., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “Synthesis and biological evaluation of bicyclic peptides containing arginine and tryptophan residues” (opens in new tab), Chem. Biol. Lett., vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 678, 2024.
- Tiwari R, Parang K, Darwish S, “Synthesis and characterization of levofloxacin-conjugated amphiphilic peptides” (opens in new tab), Egyptian Journal of Chemistry, 2024.
- Rai, M. S., Sajid, M. I., Moreno, J., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. K., “Design, synthesis, and evaluation of oleyl-WRH peptides for siRNA delivery” (opens in new tab), Pharmaceuticals, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 1083, 2024.
- Helmy, N. M., Parang, K., “The role of peptides in combatting HIV infection: Applications and insights” (opens in new tab), Molecules, vol. 29, pp. 4951, 2024.
- Darwish, S., Davani-Davari, D., Tong, S., Tiwari, R. K., Yang, S., Parang, K., “Synthesis and evaluation of cyclic peptide-dasatinib conjugates as anti-melanoma agents” (opens in new tab), Tetrahedron Letters, vol. 152, pp. 155365, 2024.
- Lohan, S., Konshina, A. G., Efremov, R. G., Maslennikov, I., Parang, K., “Structure-based rational design of small α-helical peptides with broad-spectrum activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens” (opens in new tab), J. Med. Chem., vol. 66, pp. 855-874, 2023.
- Kim, L., Lohan, S., Moreno, J., Zoghebi, K., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “Cyclic and linear peptides containing alternate WW and RR residues as molecular cargo delivery tools” (opens in new tab), Molecular Pharmaceutics, vol. 20, pp. 341-356, 2023.
- Moreno, J., Zoghebi, K., Salehi, D., Kim, L., Shoushtari, S. K., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “Amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptides containing arginine and hydrophobic residues as protein delivery agents” (opens in new tab), Pharmaceuticals, vol. 16, pp. 469, 2023.
- Helmy, N.M., Parang, K., “Cyclic peptides with antifungal properties derived from bacteria, fungi, natural products, and synthetic sources” (opens in new tab), Pharmaceuticals, vol. 16, pp. 892, 2023.
- El-Mowafi, S.A., Konshina, A.G., Mohammed, E.H.M., Krylov, N., Efremov, R.G., Parang, K., “Structural analysis and activity correlation of amphiphilic cyclic antimicrobial peptides derived from the [W₄R₄] scaffold” (opens in new tab), Molecules, vol. 28, pp. 8049, 2023.
- Lohan, S., Mandal, D., Choi, W., Konshina, A., Tiwari, R., Efremove, R., Maslennikov, I., Parang, K., “Small Amphiphilic Peptides: Activity Against Broad Range of Drug-Resistant Bacteria and Structural Insight into Membranolytic Properties” (opens in new tab), J. Med. Chem., vol. 65, pp. 665-687, 2022.
- Zoghebi, K., Montazeri Aliabadi, H., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “[(WR)₈WKβA]-doxorubicin conjugate: A delivery system to overcome multi-drug resistance against doxorubicin” (opens in new tab), Cells, vol. 11, pp. 301, 2022.
- Mohammed, E. H. M., Lohan, S., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “Amphiphilic cyclic peptide [W₄KR₅]-antibiotics combinations as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents” (opens in new tab), Eur. J. Med. Chem., vol. 17, pp. 235:114278, 2022.
- Salehi, D., Mozaffari, S., Lohan, S., Mandal, D., Zoghebi, K., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., “Amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptides containing natural and unnatural amino acids as drug delivery agents” (opens in new tab), Cells, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 1156, 2022.
This profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 7/14/2026.