Dr Saba Nayar

Saba Nayar

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Research Fellow
Early Career Researcher Committee Lead

Contact details

Email
s.nayar@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Translational Medicine
Heritage Building
Mindelsohn Way
Birmingham
B15 2TH

Dr. Nayar is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Rheumatology Research Group, studying stromal-lymphocyte interactions and Tertiary Lymphoid Structures as a feature of immune- mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). She has and continues to administer multiple studies on Sjögren’s Disease, from basic research to translational studies, collaborating with pharmaceutical companies. Currently, she is also exploring cellular and molecular mechanisms across diseases and tissues in IMIDs.

Qualifications

  • Mental Health First Aider Certification, 2022
  • PhD in Immunity and Infection, University of Birmingham, 2014
  • MSc in Immunology, King’s College London, 2009
  • BSc Honours in Medical Biotechnology, Amity University (India), 2008

Biography

Saba Nayar studied immunology at King’s College London, where she did her research dissertation on immunoglobulin light chain editing and revision in human B-cells from healthy individuals and SLE patients, under the supervision of Prof. Jo Spencer, obtaining an MSc (Hons) in Immunology in 2009. She then joined the University of Birmingham as a PhD student in 2010 under the supervision of Prof. Chris Buckley, Dr. Francesca Barone and Prof. Peter Lane. In her PhD, she studied the role of tissue resident stromal cells and their interaction with leukocytes in the development of pathogenic lymphoid structures that arise during chronic inflammatory conditions such as Sjögren’s Disease.

In the last 10 years, she has worked in the Department of Inflammation and Ageing at University of Birmingham as a research fellow looking at cross disease and cross tissue comparisons between mechanisms underlying immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). Primarily, she has been involved in research on Sjogren’s Disease where she was responsible for multiple studies ranging from basic research, preclinical studies using ex vivo human tissue and mouse models through to translational studies identifying and evaluating novel therapeutic strategies in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies.

Because of this work, she has participated in analysing clinical trial samples providing tissue based biological outcome measures. Saba Nayar has established immunohistochemical phenotyping of patient biopsies and digital image analysis of patient biopsies as a biological endpoint in Sjögren’s Disease. In addition, is now establishing spatial multi-omic phenotyping of patient biopsies (SS, RA, IBD and SLE) and have performed validation and optimization of Image/transcriptomic data acquisition platforms and analysis systems (Vectra, Geomx, Comet, Visopharm and Inform).

Due to this work, she is actively involved in consortiums (NECESSITY, HarmonicSS, ATAP and AMP) working on experimental medicine model to study of process-driven pathology which will enable stratified medicine approach in different pathologies. This work mostly done in Dr. Andrew Filer’s Birmingham Tissue Analytics (BTA) lab in University of Birmingham. She also closely collaborates with the Sjögren’s clinical team led by Dr. Ben Fisher to identify biomarkers of disease activity from blood, saliva and tissue. And associate these biological read-outs to key symptoms in SS and non-SS sicca syndrome, to help inform clinical trial design in SS as well as to advance understanding and stratification of non-SS sicca syndrome, which is at present poorly characterised and treated with clear unmet medical need.

In addition to research activities, Saba Nayar plays an active role in the representation of Early Career Researcher’s (ECR) at both a College and Department level (ECR representative for College of Medicine and Health (CMH) Research Excellence Committee and Early Career Development Academy Board; ECR Representative for Department of Inflammation and Ageing Executive Board and ECR committee). She is a keen advocate for the development of an ecosystem in which ECRs feel empowered to deliver high quality research which brings opportunities for career progression. She also represents the Parents and Carers Network in the College EDI committee.

Teaching

  • SGTs Immunity and Infection 1st Year BmedSci.
  • MSci Biomed Science Year 4: CCHD module lecture ‘Cytokine receptors in inflammation’
  • MSc Immunotherapy module lecture’ Tertiary Lymphoid Structures and Immunotherapy’
  • Personal Tutor MbChB 1-3 years

Research

  • Stromal-lymphocyte cross talk that underpins the development of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLS)
  • Defining cellular and molecular heterogeneity of Sjogren Disease patients using next generation technologies
  • Expanding the use of next generation platforms for clinical trials
  • Leveraging experimental medicine models for process-driven pathology research. This will ultimately enable the development of stratified medicine approaches for various diseases and pathologies

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Donada, CA, Theisen, E, Zhang, F, Nathan, A, Fairfield, ML, Rupani, KV, Jones, D, Johannes, KP, Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network, Raychaudhuri, S, Dwyer, DF, Jonsson, AH & Brenner, MB 2025, 'Granzyme K activates the entire complement cascade', Nature, vol. 641, pp. 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08713-9

Turner, JD, Tsapparelli, J, Gilligan, LC, Pucino, V, Bandeira, M, Baranskaya, A, Rauz, S, Poveda-Gallego, A, Higham, J, Richards, A, Brown, RM, Bowman, SJ, Taylor, AE, Nayar, S & Fisher, BA 2025, 'Hormonal risk factors and androgen and glucocorticoid dysregulation in Sjogren’s disease and non-Sjogren's sicca', Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keaf546

Tryposkiadis, K, Nayar, S, Pucino, V, Smith, CG, Brown, RM, Bates, T, Bowman, SJ, Sitch, A, Price, M, Barone, F, Deeks, J & Fisher, BA 2025, 'Increasing the number of minor salivary glands from patients with Sjögren's disease improves the diagnostic and measurement precision of the histological focus score', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.01.038

Certo, M, Pontarini, E, Gilbert, SG, Schmidt, R, Turner, JD, Lucchesi, D, Apostolo, D, Cavallaro, G, Smith, CG, Colafrancesco, S, Campos, J, Nayar, S, Schröder, C, Fisher, BA, Spill, F, Bombardieri, M & Mauro, C 2025, 'Lactate signalling leads to aggregation of immune-inflammatory hotspots and SLC5A12 blockade promotes their resolution', Nature metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01331-9

Roche Fibroblast Network Consortium 2025, 'Molecular and spatial analysis of tertiary lymphoid structures in Sjogren's syndrome', Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54686-0

Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network, Faust, HJ, Cheng, TY, Korsunsky, I, Watts, GFM, Gal-Oz, ST, Trim, WV, Kongthong, S, Jonsson, AH, Simmons, DP, Zhang, F, Padera, R, Chubinskaya, S, Wei, K, Raychaudhuri, S, Lynch, L, Moody, DB & Brenner, MB 2024, 'Adipocyte associated glucocorticoid signaling regulates normal fibroblast function which is lost in inflammatory arthritis', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 9859. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52586-x

Thomas, T, Friedrich, M, Rich-Griffin, C, Pohin, M, Agarwal, D, Pakpoor, J, Lee, C, Tandon, R, Rendek, A, Aschenbrenner, D, Jainarayanan, A, Voda, A, Siu, JHY, Sanches-Peres, R, Nee, E, Sathananthan, D, Kotliar, D, Todd, P, Kiourlappou, M, Gartner, L, Ilott, N, Issa, F, Hester, J, Turner, J, Nayar, S, Mackerodt, J, Zhang, F, Jonsson, A, Brenner, M, Raychaudhuri, S, Kulicke, R, Ramsdell, D, Stransky, N, Pagliarini, R, Bielecki, P, Spies, N, Marsden, B, Taylor, S, Wagner, A, Klenerman, P, Walsh, A, Coles, M, Jostins-Dean, L, Powrie, FM, Filer, A, Travis, S, Uhlig, HH, Dendrou, CA & Buckley, CD 2024, 'A longitudinal single-cell atlas of anti-tumour necrosis factor treatment in inflammatory bowel disease', Nature Immunology, vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 2152-2165. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-024-01994-8

Bell, RD, Brendel, M, Konnaris, MA, Xiang, J, Otero, M, Fontana, MA, Bai, Z, Krenitsky, DM, Meednu, N, Rangel-Moreno, J, Scheel-Toellner, D, Carr, H, Nayar, S, McMurray, J, DiCarlo, E, Anolik, JH, Donlin, LT, Orange, DE, Kenney, HM, Schwarz, EM, Filer, A, Ivashkiv, LB & Wang, F 2024, 'Automated multi-scale computational pathotyping (AMSCP) of inflamed synovial tissue', Nature Communications, vol. 15, 7503. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51012-6

Law, C, Wacleche, VS, Cao, Y, Pillai, A, Sowerby, J, Sowerby, B, Horisberger, A, Bracero, S, Skidanova, V, Li, ZJ, Adejoorin, I, Dillon, E, Benque, IJ, Pena Nunez, D, Simmons, DP, Keegan, J, Chen, L, Baker, T, Brohawn, PZ, Al-Mossawi, H, Hao, L-Y, Jones, B, Rao, N, Qu, Y, Alves, S, Jonsson, AH, Shaw, KS, Vleugels, RA, Massarotti, E, Costenbader, KH, Brenner, MB, Lederer, JA, Hultquist, JF, Choi, J, Rao, DA & Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network 2024, 'Interferon subverts an AHR–JUN axis to promote CXCL13+ T cells in lupus', Nature, vol. 631, pp. 857-866. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07627-2

Hovd, A-MK, Nayar, S, Smith, CG, Kanapathippillai, P, Iannizzotto, V, Barone, F, Fenton, KA & Pedersen, HL 2024, 'Podoplanin expressing macrophages and their involvement in tertiary lymphoid structures in mouse models of Sjögren’s disease', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 15, 1455238. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1455238

Accelerating Medicines Partnership Program: RA/SLE Network, Weisenfeld, D, Zhang, F, Donlin, L, Jonsson, AH, Apruzzese, W, Campbell, D, Rao, DA, Wei, K, Holers, VM, Gravallese, E, Moreland, L, Goodman, S, Brenner, M, Raychaudhuri, S, Filer, A, Anolik, J, Bykerk, V & Liao, KP 2023, 'Associations between rheumatoid arthritis clinical factors with synovial cell types and states', Arthritis & Rheumatology (Hoboken). https://doi.org/10.1002/art.42726

Zhang, F, Jonsson, AH, Nathan, A, Millard, N, Curtis, M, Xiao, Q, Gutierrez-Arcelus, M, Apruzzese, W, Watts, GFM, Weisenfeld, D, Nayar, S, Rangel-Moreno, J, Meednu, N, Marks, KE, Mantel, I, Kang, JB, Rumker, L, Mears, J, Slowikowski, K, Weinand, K, Orange, DE, Geraldino-Pardilla, L, Deane, KD, Tabechian, D, Ceponis, A, Firestein, GS, Maybury, M, Sahbudin, I, Ben-Artzi, A, Mandelin II, AM, Nerviani, A, Lewis, MJ, Rivellese, F, Pitzalis, C, Hughes, LB, Horowitz, D, DiCarlo, E, Gravallese, EM, Boyce, BF, Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) RA/SLE Network, Moreland, LW, Goodman, SM, Perlman, H, Holers, VM, Liao, KP, Filer, A, Bykerk, VP, Wei, K, Rao, DA, Donlin, LT, Anolik, JH, Brenner, MB & Raychaudhuri, S 2023, 'Deconstruction of rheumatoid arthritis synovium defines inflammatory subtypes', Nature, vol. 623, no. 7987, pp. 616-624. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06708-y

Sylvestre, M, Barbier, N, Sibut, V, Nayar, S, Monvoisin, C, Leonard, S, Saint-Vanne, J, Martin, A, Guirriec, M, Latour, M, Jouan, F, Baulande, S, Bohec, M, Verdière, L, Mechta-Grigoriou, F, Mourcin, F, Bertheuil, N, Barone, F, Tarte, K & Roulois, D 2023, 'KDM6B drives epigenetic reprogramming associated with lymphoid stromal cell early commitment and immune properties', Science Advances, vol. 9, no. 48. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2708

Comment/debate

Law, C, Wacleche, VS, Cao, Y, Pillai, A, Sowerby, J, Sowerby, B, Horisberger, A, Bracero, S, Skidanova, V, Li, ZJ, Adejoorin, I, Dillon, E, Benque, IJ, Pena Nunez, D, Simmons, DP, Keegan, J, Chen, L, Baker, T, Brohawn, PZ, Al-Mossawi, H, Hao, L-Y, Jones, B, Rao, N, Qu, Y, Alves, S, Jonsson, AH, Shaw, KS, Vleugels, RA, Massarotti, E, Costenbader, KH, Brenner, MB, Lederer, JA, Hultquist, JF, Choi, J, Rao, DA & Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network 2024, 'Publisher Correction: Interferon subverts an AHR–JUN axis to promote CXCL13+ T cells in lupus', Nature, vol. 631. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07845-8

Preprint

Mueller, AA, Zou, AE, Marsh, L-J, Kemble, S, Nayar, S, Watts, GFM, Murphy, CL, Taylor, E, Major, T, Gardner, D, Buckley, CD, Wei, K, Raychaudhuri, S, Korsunsky, I, Filer, A, Croft, AP & Brenner, MB 2025 'Wnt signaling drives stromal inflammation in inflammatory arthritis' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.06.631510

View all publications in research portal