Dr. Mayssa Hachem is an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Khalifa University, UAE working under the Forensic Chemistry track. She graduated from National Institute of Applied Sciences ‘INSA’, Lyon, France with a PhD in Biochemistry and a distinction Award for higher education in Biochemistry. During her doctoral studies, she conducted her research at Cardiovascular, Metabolism, diabetology and Nutrition ‘CarMeN’ research unit. She served as lecturer at Biotechnology and Biochemistry Department at INSA, Lyon, France. After her PhD, she had a post-doctoral position at Sorbonne University, University of Technology of Compiegne ‘UTC’, France within the Enzymatic and Cellular Engineering research center ‘GEC’ Royallieu where she was working on Picardie Plant Innovations Teachings and Technological Research program ‘PIVERT’. Later, she was admitted as Assistant Professor and Research Coordinator in Forensic Science Department at Amity University Dubai, UAE where she was extensively involved in the development of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Forensic Science program .Then, she joined Faculty of Health Sciences at Higher College of Technology, UAE. Her main research interests concerns lipid biochemistry, drug targeting and forensic science. Over the last ten years, her main research focuses on the formulation and study of the cerebral uptake (in vitro, in vivo and ex-vivo) of potential drugs with Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) with the purpose of treatment of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson and Alzheimer Disease. In fact, DHA or 22:6n-3 is a marine polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) of primary importance to the brain where it is highly enriched in neural membranes. Deficiencies in DHA have been associated with neurodegenerative diseases in humans. Because DHA precursor, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA or 18:3n-3), is poorly synthesized de novo in mammals, and does not contribute significantly to the brain content of DHA, an exogenous supply of DHA is necessary and recommended to ensure normal brain functions. Hence, targeting the brain with DHA offers encouraging perceptions in the improvement of precautionary and therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases.
This work lead to several publications in highly ranked Scopus indexed journal as well as international conference participation. Related to Forensic Science field, she conducted several interdisciplinary projects in forensic science. Among these projects, the development of biochemical approaches for estimation of Post-Mortem Interval PMI, or Time Since Death TSD, time elapsed between death and discovery of the dead body with a special focus on lipids and proteins as biomarkers. In addition to shooting investigations projects, forensic soil examination, forensic odontology as well as forensic microbiology and forensic chemistry research.
Dr Hachem has published a number of papers in the field of forensic science and participated in several international conference among them, lately American Chemical Society 2021."