Masad J. Damha (born 1960) is a Canadian academic and nucleic acid researcher.
[1] After growing up in Managua, Nicaragua, Damha moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1978 for his post-secondary education and received his BSc’83 and PhD’88 degrees from McGill, the latter under the supervision of Prof. Kelvin Ogilvie.
[1] Damha's group developed 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoroarabinonucleic acid (2'F-ANA)[2] in 1998, which was the first sugar-modified oligonucleotide to allow cleavage by the enzyme RNase H.[3] A drug candidate made of 2'F-ANA to treat COPD was pursued by Topigen Pharmaceuticals and received approval to start Phase 1 clinical trials in December 2008.
[4] His group was the first to synthesize 2'F-ANA using DNA polymerases, an area that has flourished recently with the development of Xeno Nucleic Acids (XNAs) - synthetic alternative to the natural nucleic acids DNA and RNA.
[7][8] Damha received the Chemical Institute of Canada's 2020 Raymond Lemieux and 2007 Bernard Belleau Awards for significant contributions to medicinal and organic chemistry by a Canadian chemist.,[9][10] the Fessenden Professorship in Science Innovation (McGill University; 2010), the David Thomson Award in Graduate Supervision and Teaching (McGill University; 2010), the Leo Yaffe Award for Excellence in Teaching (McGill University; 2011–12), and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (The Governor General of Canada; 2012).