Prof. Mariyana Atanasova graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry (now Phaculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy) of the Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski ” in 2004. Since 2008 she has been Assistant Prof., Senior and Head Assistant Prof., since 2022 she has been Associate Professor and since 2024 she has been Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Mariyana Atanasova obtained a PhD degree with a thesis  titled “Quantitative Structure – Activity Relationships (QSAR) of Sets of Compounds with Antitumor Activity“ and a postgraduate degree in Organization and Еconomics of Pharmaceutical Production. She was a Visiting Scientist at School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. Now Prof. Atanasova is the Administrative Head Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry. She teaches Physical and Colloidal Chemistry and Pharmacokinetics.

The scientific interests of Prof. Atanasova are in the fields of Drug Design and Bioinformatics. She is the author of over 35 scientific publications with more than 300 citations (h-index 9), 2 textbooks on Pharmacokinetics in English and many reviews on scientific papers.

She is a Participant of research projects funded by Horizon 2020, Bulgarian Scientific Fund, OP “Science and Education for Smart Growth”, 7th Framework Programme, Council on Medical Science at Medical University of Sofia. She is a Principal Investigator of research projects funded by Council on Medical Science at Medical University of Sofia. She is a member of the Reviewer Board of the journal Molecules (Editor MDPI, Switzerland). Member of the Bulgarian Scientific Society of Pharmacy.

Top 5 most cited publications:

1. Atanasova М, Ilieva S, Galabov B. QSAR analysis of 1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-1-(2-thiazolyl)-1,8-naphthyridines with anticancer activity. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2007;42:81-86.
2. Atanasova M, Stavrakov G, Philipova I, Zheleva D, Yordanov N, Doytchinova I. Galantamine Derivatives with indole moiety: Docking, Design, synthesis and Acetylcholinesterse Inhibitory Activity. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. 2015;23: 5382–5389.
3. Atanasova M, Patronov A, Dimitrov I, Flower DR, DoytchinovaI. EpiDOCK: a molecular docking-based tool for MHC class II binding prediction. Protein Engineering, Design & Selection. 2013:26(10):631-634.
4. Atanasova M, Yordanov N, Dimitrov I, Berkov Str, DoytchinovaI. Molecular Docking Study on Galantamine Derivatives as Cholinesterse Inhibitors. Molecular Informatics. 2015;34:394–403.
5. Doytchinova I, Atanasova M, Valkova I, Stavrakov G, Philipova I, Zhivkova Z, Zheleva-Dimitrova D, Konstantinov S, Dimitrov I. Novel hits for acetylcholinesterase inhibition derived by docking-based screening on ZINC database. J Enz Inh Med Chem. 2018;33(1):768-776.

Scientific Projects:

1. Novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Contract DN-3/9/2016, Bulgarian Scientific Fund, Principal Investigator: Prof. Irini Doytchinova.
2. Centre of Excellence on Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies, Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, 2018 – 2023, OP “Science and Education for Smart Growth”, MES, Contract BG05M2OP001-1.001-0003. Team Leader from MU-Sofia: Prof. Irini Doytchinova.
3. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors with secondary pharmacophore as a new generation of multitarget antineoplastic agents. Bulgarian Scientific Fund. Договор КП-06-Н53/9, 11/11/2021 г., Principal Investigator: Assoc. Prof. Georgi Stavrakov
4. Virtual Screening of Natural Compounds Databases with Acetylcholinesetrase activity. Council on Medical Science at Medical University of Sofia, D-78/23.04.2019, D-118/24.06.2020. Principal Investigator: Assoc. Prof. Mariyana Atanasova
5. Partnership for Advance Computing in Europe (PRACE). 7th Framework Programme, PRACE-1IP, 2010-2012, RI-261557, PRACE-2IP, 2011-2013, RI-283493, PRACE-3IP, 2012-2014, RI-312763. Team Leader from the Faculty of Pharmacy, MU-Sofia: Prof. Irini Doytchinova

Drug Design and Bioinformatics Lab: http://www.ddg-pharmfac.net