On Thursday, October 22, 2026, the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of science at the University of Mosul discussed the doctoral dissertation tagged “prediction of new anti-cancer compounds derived from isatin using quantitative models of the relationship between efficacy and synthesis (QSAR)”, submitted by researcher Anfal Raad Mahmoud al-barhawi, from the branch of Physical Chemistry. The thesis aimed to employ computer modeling to study the relationship between the chemical composition and biological activity of isatin derivatives, assess their potential effectiveness against breast and colon cancer, through the development of QSAR models and analysis of the molecular and pharmacokinetic properties of compounds. In its first part, the study dealt with the development of a predictive model to study the anticancer activity against the breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), and resulted in the identification of ten new derivatives with improved predictive efficacy, four of which emerged as promising compounds for future chemosynthesis and laboratory biological examination. The second part focused on the development of models for predicting cytotoxic activity against colon cancer (HCT-116), and the results showed acceptable statistical performance, however, the external predictive ability of the two models was not sufficient for their adoption in predicting new compounds. The importance of the thesis is highlighted in the use of computational methods and quantitative models in the exploration of promising anti-cancer compounds, supporting the orientation of future studies towards compounds more suitable for synthesis and laboratory evaluation. The discussion Committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Emad Abdul Ilah Saleh, and the membership of Prof. Dr. Ammar Abdul Sattar Ibrahim, assistant professor Dr. Omar Adel Sharif, assistant professor Dr. Fanar Mohammed Ismail, assistant professor Dr. Rawia Zaghloul said, and Prof. Dr. Rabah Ali Khalil as a member and supervisor. On the sidelines of the discussion, the dean of the Faculty of Science, Prof. Dr. Hiam Adel Ibrahim, presented a letter of thanks and appreciation to Prof. Dr. Imad Abdul Ilah Saleh from the University of Mosul / College of education for pure sciences, and assistant professor Dr. Rawia Zaghloul Saeed from the northern Technical University, in appreciation of their scientific efforts and participation in the thesis discussion Committee, and in appreciation of their giving and contributions in supporting the scientific and academic process. We wish the researcher good luck and success in her scientific career, and further progress and achievement in the field of scientific research.

Government information and Communication Division

Friday, October 23, 2026