Ann Logan received her BSc from the University of London, UK in 1974 and PhD training in neuroendocrinology from the University of Birmingham, UK between 1975 and 1978. 

After post-doctoral training at the University of Leeds, UK and in the laboratories of Professor Roger Guillemin and Professor Andrew Baird at Scripps Hospital, La Jolla, CA, she established the Molecular Neuroscience Group at the University of Birmingham in 1990, where she is currently Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Head of the Neuropharmacology & Neurobiology Section within the School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine. 

Her research interests centre on the role of cytokines and growth factors in the scarring and regeneration responses of the injured CNS. She is particularly interested in developing a strategy of gene therapy to promote functional repair and reconstruction of damaged neural pathways in the CNS.

• BMedSc Molecular Medicine and Molecular Neuroscience options
• MBChB 3rd year Neuroscience lectures
• MBChB 2nd and 3rd year SSM – Lectures and extended essays in Neurodegeneration.
• PgR Professional Training Programme

Currently supervises 6 PhD students

Neurodegeneration and repair of the damaged and diseased central nervous system. Using cellular and molecular techniques to investigate the role of growth factors in the scarring and regeneration responses after brain and spinal cord injury. Developing a strategy of gene therapy to promote functional reconstruction of damaged neural pathways in the damaged CNS.

• International Spinal Research Committee – Member Scientific Advisory Board
• International Spinal Research Committee – Member Programme Organising Committee
• Society for Endocrinology – Member Awards Committee
• Society for Endocrinology – Member Finance Committee
• British Society for Gene Therapy – Founder member and Steering Group
• British Society for Gene Therapy – Executive Board
• Endocrinology – Editorial Board
• Current Opinion in Pharmacology – Section Editor (Endocrinology and Metabolism)
• Co-founder and Director of a University of Birmingham spin-out company called “Neuregenix”, whose mission is contract research and licensing of technologies patented by the academic team

Vigneswara V, Berry M, Logan A, Ahmed Z (2013) Pigment Epithelium-Derived Factor Is Retinal Ganglion Cell Neuroprotective And Axogenic After Optic Nerve Crush Injury. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. doi:pii: iovs.13-11803v1. 10.1167/iovs.13-11803. [Epub ahead of print]

Vigneswara V, Berry M, Logan A, Ahmed Z (2013) Caspase-2 is upregulated after sciatic nerve transection and its inhibition protects dorsal root ganglion neurons from apoptosis after serum withdrawal. PLoS One. 8(2):e57861. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057861. 

Vigneswara V, Berry M, Logan A, Ahmed Z (2012) Pharmacological inhibition of caspase-2 protects axotomised retinal ganglion cells from apoptosis in adult rats. PLoS One. 7(12):e53473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053473. 

Blanch RJ, Ahmed Z, Sik A, Snead DR, Good PA, O'Neill J, Berry M, Scott RA, Logan A (2012) Neuroretinal cell death in a murine model of closed globe injury: pathological and functional characterization. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 253(11):7220-6. doi: 10.1167/iovs.12-9887.

Blanch RJ, Ahmed Z, Berry M, Scott RA, Logan A (2012) Animal models of retinal injury. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 53(6):2913-20. doi: 10.1167/iovs.11-8564.

Jacques SJ, Ahmed Z, Forbes A, Douglas MR, Vigenswara V, Berry M, Logan A (2012) AAV8(gfp) preferentially targets large diameter dorsal root ganglion neurones after both intra-dorsal root ganglion and intrathecal injection. Mol Cell Neurosci. 49(4):464-74. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2012.03.002. 

Ahmed Z, Kalinski H, Berry M, Almasieh M, Ashush H, Slager N, 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. doi: 10.1038/cddis.2011.54.

Ahmed Z, Douglas MR, Read ML, Berry M, Logan A (2011) Citron kinase regulates axon growth through a pathway that converges on cofilin downstream of RhoA. Neurobiol Dis. 41(2):421-9. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2010.10.012. .

Berry M, Ahmed Z, Douglas MR, Logan A (2011) Epidermal growth factor receptor antagonists and CNS axon regeneration: mechanisms and controversies. Brain Res Bull. 84(4-5):289-99. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2010.08.004. 

Chan SY, Martín-Santos A, Loubière LS, González AM, Stieger B, Logan A, McCabe CJ, Franklyn JA, Kilby MD (2011) The expression of thyroid hormone transporters in the human fetal cerebral cortex during early development and in N-Tera-2 neurodifferentiation. J Physiol. 589(Pt 11):2827-45. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.207290. 

Wright KT, Seabright R, Logan A, Lilly AJ, Khanim F, Bunce CM, Johnson WE (2010) Extracellular Nm23H1 stimulates neurite outgrowth from dorsal root ganglia neurons in vitro independently of nerve growth factor supplementation or its nucleoside diphosphate kinase activity. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 398(1):79-85. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.06.039. 

Ahmed Z, Read ML, 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(3):292-300. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2010.04.013. 

Ahmed Z, Aslam M, Lorber B, Suggate EL, Berry M, Logan A (2010) Optic nerve and vitreal inflammation are both RGC neuroprotective but only the latter is RGC axogenic. Neurobiol Dis. 37(2):441-54. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2009.10.024. 

Douglas MR, Morrison KC, Jacques SJ, Leadbeater WE, Gonzalez AM, Berry M, Logan A, Ahmed Z (2009) Off-target effects of epidermal growth factor receptor antagonists mediate retinal ganglion cell disinhibited axon growth. Brain. 2009 Nov;132(Pt 11):3102-21. doi: 10.1093/brain/awp240. 

Ahmed Z, Jacques SJ, Berry M, Logan A (2009) Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors promote CNS axon growth through off-target effects on glia. Neurobiol Dis. 36(1):142-50. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2009.07.016. 

Ahmed Z, Berry M, Logan A (2009) ROCK inhibition promotes adult retinal ganglion cell neurite outgrowth only in the presence of growth promoting factors. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2009 Oct;42(2):128-33. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2009.06.005.

Suggate EL, Ahmed Z, Read ML, Eaton-Charnock K, Douglas MR, Gonzalez AM, Berry M, Logan A (2009) Optimisation of siRNA-mediated RhoA silencing in neuronal cultures. Mol Cell Neurosci. 40(4):451-62.

Read ML, Mir S, Spice R, Seabright RJ, Suggate EL, Ahmed Z, Berry M, Logan A (2009) Profiling RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated toxicity in neural cultures for effective short interfering RNA design. J Gene Med. 11(6):523-34. doi: 10.1002/jgm.1321.

Sims K, Ahmed Z, Read ML, Cooper-Charles L, Gonzalez AM, Fisher KD, Berry M, Seymour LW, Logan A (2009) In vitro evaluation of a 'stealth' adenoviral vector for targeted gene delivery to adult mammalian neurones. J Gene Med. 11(4):335-44. doi: 10.1002/jgm.1306.

Gonzalez AM, Berlanga O, Leadbeater WE, Cooper-Charles L, Sims K, Logan A, Eliceiri B, Berry M, Baird A (2009) The deployment of adenovirus-containing gene activated matrices onto severed axons after central nervous system injury leads to transgene expression in target neuronal cell bodies. J Gene Med. 11(8):679-88. doi: 10.1002/jgm.1354.