Walaa is a dedicated researcher and academic currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Smart Hybrid Materials (SHMs) Lab at KAUST under supervision of Professor Khashab. Her research focuses on the synthesis and design of BioMOFs derived from biocompatible components for advanced biologics delivery, including CRISPR-Cas9. Her academic journey is marked by significant achievements and contributions to the field of chemistry.
Walaa earned her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, graduating with Honors. Her academic excellence continued as she pursued a Master's degree in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Ottawa in Canada, graduating in June 2016. Her master's thesis focused on "Microwave-assisted Dehydration of Fructose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) over Acidic Porous Catalysts," under the supervision of Professor Abdelhamid Sayari.
Selected publications:
1- Dynamic Hydrogen-Bonded Zinc Adeninate Framework (ZAF) for Immobilization of Catalytic DNA
Baslyman, W. S., Alahmed, O., Chand, S., Qutub, S., Khashab, N. M., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202302840.
2- DNA-Mimicking Metal-Organic Frameworks with Accessible Adenine Faces for Complementary Base Pairing
Chand, S., Alahmed, O., Baslyman, W. S., Dey, A., Qutub, S., Saha, R., Hijikata, Y., Alaamery, M., Khashab, N. M, JACS Au, 2022.
3- Coordination-based self-assembled capsules (SACs) for protein, CRISPR–Cas, DNA and RNA delivery
L.O. Alimi, M.Z. Alyami, S. Chand, W. Baslyman, N.M. Khashab, Chem. Sci., 2021.
4- Iron Nanowires Coated with Metal-Organic Frameworks for Cell-Type-Specific Multimodal Therapy
Alyami, M. Z.; Li, Y.; Patel, N.; Baslyman, W.; Alahmed, O.; Alsharif, N. A.; Sleiman, J.; Kosel, J.; Merzaban, J. S.; Khashab, N. M., ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2022.
5- Sustained and targeted delivery of checkpoint inhibitors by metal-organic frameworks for cancer immunotherapy
S.K. Alsaiari, S.S. Qutub, S. Sun, W. Baslyman, M. Aldehaiman, M. Alyami, A. Almalik, R. Halwani, J. Merzaban, Z. Mao, N.M. Khashab; Science Advances, 2021.
6- Customized mesoporous metal-organic frameworks engender stable enzymatic nanoreactors
Liwen Zhang, Walaa Baslyman, Peng Yang and Niveen M. Khashab, Chem. Commun., 2019.