Amna Ghith

Research Interests

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Cancer Cell Biology Crystallography Structural biology (incl. macromolecular modelling)

Dr Amna Ghith

NHMRC Grant-Funded Researchr A

School of Medicine

College of Health

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr Amna Ghith is an NHMRC grant funded Researcher in the Adelaide Medical School at the University of Adelaide. She graduated with a BSc in Pharmacy in 2011 with excellent with honors degree. She has obtained MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the school of Pharmacy in 2017, and a PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Adelaide in 2023. Dr Ghith, is interested in different breast conditions that affect women’s health. In her current project, she is studying the proteomics of breastmilk from lactating women at different stages, and how the composition of breastmilk can affect risk of disease states including mastitis, and postpartum breast cancer.

Amna's supervision and leadership experience includes:

Summary of supervision experience

Current co-supervisor of PhD student Reza Maleki (since February 2024), Adelaide Medical School, working on understanding the role of human breastmilk in prevention of postpartum breast cancer. Outcome: A recent publication entitled The Role of Breastmilk in Macrophage-Tumour Cell Interactions in Postpartum Breast Cancer."

Current co-supervision of 2 Honours students, who work on investigating the Sensitivity of human breastmilk cells to inflammatory stimulus, and the other project which involves Investigating the Influence of Menstrual Cycle Phases on Immune Biomarker Expression in Breast Cancer Cells (2024).

Current Primary supervision of Adelaide Summer Research Scholarships student for 2024/2025 who will be working Exploring the role of the lipid fragment of human breast milk on breast cancer cells.

Supervision of 2 Bachelor of Health and Medical Sciences students conducting a group research project in Biomechanics and Cancer Biology, University of Adelaide (2023).
Outcome: Students have learned how to perform tissue sectioning, and histology imaging.

Leadership Experience and University Membership of Committees

Committee member of the 2024 Research Expo organising committee at the Basil Hetzel Institute.

2024 BHI Research Expo abstracts Judge.

Florey Undergraduate Research Conference – Poster and oral presentation Assessor.

Basil Hetzel institute Equipment subcommittee – Equipment applications Assessor.

 

 

Date Position Institution name
2023 - ongoing Postdoctoral Researcher University of Adelaide
2019 - 2023 HDR / PhD Student University of Adelaide
2014 - 2017 MSc Student Ain Shams University

Language Competency
Arabic Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
French Can read
Turkish Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review

Date Institution name Country Title
2019 - 2023 University of Adelaide Australia PhD in Chemical Sciences-Chemistry
2017 Ain Shams University Egypt MSc.in Pharmaceutical Sciences-Pharmacy
2006 - 2011 Ain Shams University Egypt BSc Pharmaceutical Sciences Pharmacy

Date Title Institution Country
2021 - 2021 APR Intern Australian Postgraduate Internship Australia

Year Citation
2025 Ghith, A., Maleki, R., Grzeskowiak, L. E., Amir, L. H., & Ingman, W. V. (2025). Challenges and Opportunities in Quantifying Bioactive Compounds in Human Breastmilk. Biomolecules, 15(3), 325-1-325-20.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2025 Abd El Hadi, S. R., Eldinary, M. A., Ghith, A., Haffez, H., Salman, A., & Sayed, G. A. (2025). Unravelling the potency of the 4-oxo-2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carbonitrile scaffold with <i>S</i>-arylamide hybrids as PIM-1 kinase inhibitors: synthesis, biological activity and <i>in silico</i> studies.. RSC medicinal chemistry, 16(6), 2532-2561.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2024 Churchman, L. R., Beckett, J. R., Tan, L., Woods, K., Doherty, D. Z., Ghith, A., . . . De Voss, J. J. (2024). Synthesis of steroidal inhibitors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 239, 106479-1-106479-16.
DOI
2024 Maleki, R., Ghith, A., Heydarlou, H., Grzeskowiak, L. E., & Ingman, W. V. (2024). The Role of Breastmilk in Macrophage-Tumour Cell Interactions in Postpartum Breast Cancer. Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark, 29(9), 328-1-328-12.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2023 Ghith, A., Bruning, J. B., & Bell, S. G. (2023). The catalytic activity and structure of the lipid metabolizing CYP124 cytochrome P450 enzyme from Mycobacterium marinum.. Archives of biochemistry and biophysics, 737, 109554.
DOI Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC2
2023 Mohamed, H., Ghith, A., & Bell, S. G. (2023). The binding of nitrogen-donor ligands to the ferric and ferrous forms of cytochrome P450 enzymes. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 242, 112168.
DOI Scopus10 WoS10 Europe PMC6
2023 Ghith, A., Bruning, J. B., & Bell, S. G. (2023). The oxidation of cholesterol derivatives by the CYP124 and CYP142 enzymes from Mycobacterium marinum.. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol, 231, 106317-1-106317-12.
DOI Scopus3 WoS4 Europe PMC2
2023 Doherty, D. Z., Ghith, A., Ho, A., De Voss, J. J., & Bell, S. G. (2023). The bacterial cytochrome P450 (CYP) CYP125 enzymes can competitively oxidise sitosterol in the presence of cholesterol. Chemical Communications, 59(61), 9392-9395.
DOI Scopus5 WoS6 Europe PMC3
2023 Ghith, A., & Bell, S. G. (2023). The oxidation of steroid derivatives by the CYP125A6 and CYP125A7 enzymes from Mycobacterium marinum. The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 235, 106406-1-106406-14.
DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2022 Ghith, A., Doherty, D. Z., Bruning, J. B., Russell, R. A., De Voss, J. J., & Bell, S. G. (2022). The Structures of the Steroid Binding CYP142 Cytochrome P450 Enzymes from Mycobacterium ulcerans and Mycobacterium marinum. ACS Infectious Diseases, 8(8), 1606-1617.
DOI Scopus8 WoS8 Europe PMC3
2020 Child, S. A., Ghith, A., Bruning, J. B., & Bell, S. G. (2020). A comparison of steroid and lipid binding cytochrome P450s from Mycobacterium marinum and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 209, 1-12.
DOI Scopus15 WoS14 Europe PMC7
2019 Ghith, A., Youssef, K. M., Ismail, N. S. M., & Abouzid, K. A. M. (2019). Design, synthesis and molecular modeling study of certain VEGFR-2 inhibitors based on thienopyrimidne scaffold as cancer targeting agents. Bioorganic Chemistry, 83, 111-128.
DOI Scopus51 WoS48 Europe PMC29
2017 Ghith, A., Ismail, N. S. M., Youssef, K., & Abouzid, K. A. M. (2017). Medicinal Attributes of Thienopyrimidine Based Scaffold Targeting Tyrosine Kinases and Their Potential Anticancer Activities. Archiv Der Pharmazie, 350(11), 24 pages.
DOI Scopus26 WoS23 Europe PMC16

Robinson Research Institute (RRI) 2025 Step Research Funding Program  grant as a Principal Investigator (2025).

Adelaide Medical School Overseas Research Travel Awards (2025).

Seed funding grant through the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) in Human Milk Nutrition for Preterm Infants  as a Chief Investigator (2025).

Adelaide Medical School Overseas Research Travel Awards (2024).

Australian Don Stranks Award Finalist (2023).

Australian Postgraduate Research Internship award (Australia’s only national industry internship program) for a collaborative project between APR, University of South Australia, and Alcolizer Technology (2021).

University of Adelaide Scholarship International, ASI (2019-2023).

Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) /Med-Tech pharma sector/ competitive mentee award by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, ATSE (2020-2021).

 

Teaching Chemistry Foundations and Chemitsry for undergrdauates.

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2024 Co-Supervisor The role of human breast milk in prevention of postpartum breast cancer Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Reza Maleki
2024 Co-Supervisor The role of human breast milk in prevention of postpartum breast cancer Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Reza Maleki

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