• PhD in Plastic Surgery 1999
• BSc (Hons) Biochemistry 1995

Dr Zubair Ahmed studied for a PhD in Plastic Surgery at University College London where he investigated the repair of peripheral nerves using artificial biological matrices. He then moved to the Institute of Neurology (London) to investigate the mechanisms of disease development in Multiple Sclerosis.

Zubair moved to the University of Birmingham in 2002 where he investigated the mechanisms behind why central nervous system axons fail to regenerate and developed strategies to combat these complications. Zubair was awarded an RCUK Academic Fellowship in NeuroRegeneration in 2007 to develop his own independently funded research programmes on themes such as neuroprotection in the eye and the formation of cavities after spinal cord injury. In 2011 he was promoted to Lecturer and continues to develop his programme of research.

Zubair is a non-executive Board member and a co-founder of Neuregenix, a University of Birmingham-based spin-off company that seeks to exploit his work. He and his colleagues at Neuregenix have already demonstrated the preclinical efficacy of an anti-apoptotic gene-based medicine in protecting retinal neurons from injury-induced death. The target is now being assessed in Phase II clinical trials.

• Co-module coordinator for BMedSc Neuroscience 3 (Year 3)
• Lectures on the BMedSc Biomaterials programme (Year 1)
• Contributes to small group teaching in BMedSc Biomedical Science
• BMedSc Biomaterials and MBChB programmes (Years 1 and 2)
• Facilitator for Integrated Problems on the MBChB programme (Years 1 and 2)
• Supervisor for BMedSc Year 3 projects
• Personal Mentor for MBChB student

• Supervisor for MSc/MRes
• Currently supervises 2 PhD Students

Dr Zubair Ahmed’s research focus is on understanding the fundamental biology of the failure of CNS axon regeneration. Current projects in the lab include: strategies to promote axon regeneration and dissolution of the scar tissue after a chronic spinal cord injury; analysis of the angiogenic response after spinal cord injury; investigating the role of novel genes in CNS axon regeneration; the role of epidermal growth factor receptor in CNS axon regeneration and neuroprotection in spinal cord and optic nerve injury models.

Through these approaches, he and his colleagues have recently identified several molecules that are neuroprotective such as pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and combinations of neurotrophic factors. He has also demonstrated that inhibition of caspase-2, once thought to be an initiator caspase, protects both retinal and spinal neurons from apoptosis.

• School representative on the College Library Committee
• School representative on the Postdoctoral Training and Career Development Committee
• Registered Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador

Ahmed Z., Douglas M.R., John G., Berry M., Logan A. (2013). AMIGO3 is an NgR1/p75 co-receptor signalling axon growth inhibition in the acute phase of adult central nervous system injury. PLoS ONE 8: e61878.

Vigneswara V., Berry M., Logan A., Ahmed Z. (2013). Pigment epithelium-derived factor promotes retinal ganglion cell survival and axon regeneration after optic nerve injury. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 54: 2624-2633.

Vigneswara V., Berry M., Logan A., Ahmed Z. (2013). Caspase-2 is upregulated after dorsal column injury and its inhibition using siRNA in vitro protects dorsal root ganglion neurons from apoptosis by serum starvation. PLoS ONE 8: e57861.

Vigneswara V., Berry M., Logan A., Ahmed Z. (2012). Protection of axotomised retinal ganglion cells from apoptosis by inhibition of caspase-2. PLoS ONE 7: e53473.

Blanch R.J., Ahmed Z., Sik A., Snead D.R.J., Good P.A., Berry M., Scott, R.A.H., Logan A. (2012). Neuroretinal cell death in a murine model of closed globe injury; pathological and functional characterisation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 53: 7220-7226.

Jacques S.J*., Ahmed Z*., Douglas M.R., Berry M., Logan A. (2012). Delivery of gfp by AAV2/8 demonstrates targeting of large diameter dorsal root ganglion neurones and labelling of their central projections. Mol Cell Neurosci 49: 464-474. *Joint first authors.

Ahmed Z., Douglas M.R., Read M.L., Berry M., Logan A. (2011). Citron kinase regulates CNS axon growth through a pathway that converges on cofilin downstream of RhoA. Neurobiol. Dis. 41: 421-429.

Ahmed Z., Kalinski H., Berry M, Almasieh M., Ashush H., Brafman A., Spivak I., Prasad N., Mett I., Shalom E., Alpert E., Di Polo A., Feinstein E., Logan A. (2011). Ocular neuroprotection by siRNA targeting caspase-2. Cell Death Dis 2: e173.

Ahmed Z., Read M.L., Berry M., Logan A. (2010). Satellite glia not DRG neurons constitutively activate EGFR but EGFR inactivation is not correlated with axon regeneration. Neurobiol. Dis. 39: 292-300.

Ahmed Z., Aslam M., Lorber B., Douglas M.R., Suggate E.L., Berry M., Logan A. (2010). Optic nerve and vitreal inflammation are RGC neuroprotective but only the latter is RGC axogenic. Neurobiol. Dis. 37: 441-454.

Douglas M.R., Morrison K.M., Jacques S.J., Leadbeater W.E., Gonzalez A.M., Berry M., Logan A., Ahmed Z.,. (2009). Off-target effects of EGFR antagonists mediate retinal ganglion cell disinhibited axon growth. Brain 132: 3102-3021.