Dr. Taleb studied Medical Science at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, from which he graduated with High Distinction (30^th April, 2004). He received his Honors degree in Medicinal Chemistry working under the supervision of Professor Janice Aldrich-Wright at UWS (29^th September, 2005). He obtained his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry on the 22^nd of April, 2009 from UWS. His honors and PhD thesis focused on the design and synthesis of platinum complexes with specificity for certain DNA sequences. Dr. Taleb also has practical and theoretical experience in instrumental analysis and that includes NMR, LCMSMS, ICPMS, GCMSMS, HPLC, GC, Elemental Analysis, Mass-Spec, IR, UV, Protein Synthesizer and Circular Dichroism (CD). Dr. Taleb is a Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (MRACI) and a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Dr. Taleb was also awarded the Commercialization Training Postgraduate Research Award from University of Technology, Sydney on the 15^th of August, 2008. Dr. Taleb joined LAU as a tenured faculty on October 2011.

Dr. Taleb is currently interested in three different aspects in chemical research: Medicinal Chemistry, Toxicology and Natural Products. In the medicinal chemistry field, Dr. Taleb focuses on the design, synthesis, optimization and characterization of organometallic platinum and ruthenium complexes. The complexes designed are expected to exhibit cytotoxicity in addition to selectivity for cancer cells. In the field of Toxicology, Dr. Taleb investigates the carcinogenic and neurotoxic risks of acrylamide resulting from the consumption of various food products among the Lebanese community. When it comes to Natural Products, Dr. Taleb is part of a highly decorated and well established group that works on extracting aqueous and oily extracts from natural products whose components are analyzed before being tested for anticancer and antioxidant activities.

Research Interests and Projects

Dr. Taleb is currently interested in two different aspects in chemical research: Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products. In the medicinal chemistry field, Dr. Taleb focuses on the design, synthesis, optimization and characterization of organometallic platinum and ruthenium complexes. The complexes designed are expected to exhibit cytotoxicity in addition to selectivity for cancer cells. When it comes to Natural Products, Dr. Taleb is part of a highly decorated and well established group that works on extracting aqueous and oily extracts from natural products whose components are analyzed before being tested for anticancer and antioxidant activities.

SDGs Research Mapping

Dr. Robin Taleb conducts research relevant to the following SDGs:

Professional Memberships and Awards

Dr. Taleb is a Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (MRACI) and a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Dr. Taleb was also awarded the Commercialization Training Postgraduate Research Award from University of Technology, Sydney on the 15^th of August, 2008. Dr. Taleb joined LAU as a tenured faculty in October 2011.

Selected Publications

1. Aleen Khoury, Elias Elias, Stephanie Mehanna, Wassim Shebaby, Krishant M. Deo, Najwa Mansour, Christian Khalil, Katia Sayyed, Jenette A. Sakoff, Jayne Gilbert, Costantine Daher, Christopher Gordon, Robin I. Taleb and Janice R Aldrich-Wright, Novel Platinum(II) and Platinum(IV) Antitumor Agents that Exhibit Potent Cytotoxicity and Selectivity, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2022, 65(24), 16481. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c01310
2. Wassim Shebaby, Jane Saliba, Wissam Faour, Jana Ismail, Marissa El Hage, Costantine Daher, Robin I. Taleb, Bilal Nehme, Carol Dagher, Edwin Chrabieh, Mohamad Mroueh, In vivo and in vitro anti-inflammatory activity evaluation of Lebanese Cannabis sativa L.ssp. indica (Lam.), Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2021, 270, 113743. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2020.113743.
3. Sally El Kantar, Bilal Nehmeh, Phillipe Saad, Gabie Mitri, Celine Estephan, Mohamad Mroueh, Elias Akoury and Robin Taleb, Derivatisation and combination therapy of current COVID-19 therapeutic agents: a review of mechanistic pathways, adverse effects, and binding sites, Drug Discovery Today, 2020, 25(10), 1822-1838. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2020.08.002.
4. Andree Elias, Wassim N. Shebaby, Bilal Nehme, Wissam Faour, Bassem S. Bassil, Joelle El Hakim, Rita Iskandar, Nahia Dib-Jalbout, Mohamad Mroueh, Costantine Daher and Robin I. Taleb, In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of the Anticancer and Anti-inflammatory Activities of 2-Himachelen-7-ol isolated from Cedrus Libani, Scientific Reports, 2019, 9, 12855. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49374-9.
5. Stephanie Mehanna, Najwa Mansour, Hassib Audi, Kikki Bodman-Smith, Mohamad Mroueh, Robin I. Taleb, Costantine Daher and Rony S. Khnayzer, Enhanced Cellular Uptake and Photochemotherapeutic Potential of a Lipophilic Strained Ru(II) Polypyridyl Complex, RSC Advances, 2019, 9, 17254-17265. DOI: 10.1039/c9ra02615k.
6. Ghada El-Zakhem Naous, Areej Merhi, Mohamad Mroueh and Robin I. Taleb, Carcinogenic and Neurotoxic Risks of Acrylamide Consumed through Caffeinated Beverages among the Lebanese Population, Chemosphere, 2018, 208, 352-357. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.05.1850045-6535.
7. Najwa Mansour, Stephanie Mehanna, Mohamad A. Mroueh, Hassib Audi, Kikki Bodman-Smith, Costantine F. Daher, Robin I. Taleb, Mirvat El-Sibai, and Rony S. Khnayzer, Photoactivatable Ru(II) complex bearing 2,9-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline: unusual photochemistry and significant potency on cisplatin-resistant cell lines. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 2018, 22, 2524-2532. DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201800194.
8. Robin I. Taleb, Paul Najm, Wassim Shebaby, Joelle C. Boulos, Sally Demirdjian, Essa Hariri, Mirvat El-Sibai, Costantine Daher and Mohamad Mroueh, β-2-Himachalen-6-ol: A Novel Anticancer Sesquiterepene Unique to the Lebanese Wild Carrot, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2016, 190, 59-67. DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.05.053.
9. Essa Hariri, Martine Abboud, Sally Demirdjian, Samira Korfali, Mohamad Mroueh and Robin I. Taleb, Carcinogenic and Neurotoxic Risks of Acrylamide and Heavy Metals Consumed through Potato/Corn Chips among the Lebanese Population, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2015, 42, 91-97. DOI:10.1016/j.jfca.2015.03.009.
10. Taleb, R. I.; Jaramillo, D.; Wheate N. J.; Aldrich-Wright, J. R. Synthesis of DNA sequence selective hairpin polyamide platinum anticancer agents, Chem.– A Eur. J. 2007, 13, 3177-3186.
11. Wheate, N. J.; Taleb, R. I.; Krause-Heuer, A. M.; Cook, R. L.; Wang, S.; Higgins, V. J.; Aldrich-Wright, J. R. Novel platinum(II)-based anticancer complexes and molecular hosts as their drug delivery vehicles, Dalton Transactions 2007, 5055-5064 (Invited Paper).