School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

NeuroBiomedical Innovations in Neurodegenerative Diseases

At the NeuroBiomedical Innovations in Neurodegenerative Diseases research group, our objective is to advance understanding of the molecular, cellular, and genetic mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases for enabling early detection, developing personalized treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative disorders. The Target Diseases include Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders. The main focus areas of this group are:
  • Molecular Mechanisms and Biomarker Innovations in Neurodegeneration.
  • Neuro-Genomics and Neuro-Proteomics.
  • Personalized Medicine and Precision Therapeutics.

Our Team

Meet Our Research Team


Dr Saima Zafar
Group Lead – PhD Molecular Biology

 


Dr Aneeqa Noor
Group Co-lead – PhD Molecular Medicine
Dr Asim Waris
PhD Biomedical Engineering

Our Projects

Identification and characterization of Tau hyperphosphorylation role in the spread of tau pathology, an attractive therapeutic target in Alzheimer’s disease

3D Organoid Culture: In Vitro Models to decipher the Role of exosomal Tau in Alzheimer’s disease

Development of self-responsive glucose dependent insulin patch (Insupatch)

Early career grants for the establishment of an independent lab

NeuroBiomedical Innovations in Neurodegenerative Diseases

 

  1. Multiomic analyses direct hypotheses for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk genes. May 16, 2025 – Brain - Accepted
  2. Chenodeoxycholic Acid-Mediated neuroprotection via α-synuclein and BDNF Modulation in MPTP-Induced mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. May 07, 2025 – Neuroscience, Vol. 573, Pages: 442–450
  3. Alpha-Synuclein Demonstrates Varying Binding Affinities With Different Tau Isoforms. April 30, 2025 – Journal of Neurochemistry, Vol. 169(4), e70053
  4. Genetic assessment of apolipoprotein E polymorphism and PRNP genotypes in rapidly progressive dementias in Pakistan. Dec 18, 2024 – Prion, Vol. 18(1), Pages 1–7
  5. Genome wide association study of clinical duration and age at onset of sporadic CJD. July 26, 2024 – PLOS One, Vol. 19(7), e0304528
  6. Therapeutic Potential of Nitrogen-Doped Rutin-Bound Glucose Carbon Dots for Alzheimer’s Disease. June 28, 2024 – Yale J Biol Med, Vol. 97(2), Pages 153–164
  7. Prevention of Chronic Diabetic Neuropathy and Diabetes-Associated Cognitive Impairment Using Medicinal Herbs (Cassia Angustifolia and Nigella Sativa). June 28, 2024 – Yale J Biol Med, Vol. 97(2), Pages 141–152
  8. A systemic analysis of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease cases in Asia. Feb 07, 2024 – Prion, Vol. 18(1), Pages 11–27
  9. Current Technologies Unraveling the Significance of Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs) as Crucial Players in Neurodegeneration. Jan 16, 2024 – Biomolecules, Vol. 14(1), Article 118
  10. Differential interactome mapping of aggregation prone/prion-like proteins under stress: novel links to stress granule biology. Dec 01, 2023 – Cell and Bioscience, Vol. 13(1), Article 221
  11. Genetic Variants Associated with the Age of Onset Identified by Whole-Exome Sequencing in Fatal Familial Insomnia. Aug 12, 2023 – Cells, Vol. 12(16), Article 2053
  12. The Role of Tau Proteoforms in Health and Disease. June 02, 2023 – Molecular Neurobiology, Pages 1–12
  13. α-Synuclein conformers reveal link to clinical heterogeneity of α-synucleinopathies. Mar 14, 2023 – Translational Neurodegeneration, Vol. 12(1), Article 12
  14. SWATH Mass Spectrometry-Based CSF Proteome Profile of GBA-Linked Parkinson’s Disease Patients. Nov 16, 2022 – Int J Mol Sci, Vol. 23(22), Article 14166
  15. Clinical Proteomics: Diagnostics and Prognostic Markers of Cancer. June 28, 2022 – Book Chapter, Cancer Biomarkers in Diagnosis and Therapeutics, Chapter 4, Pages 83–99
  16. Molecular Profiles of Amyloid-β Proteoforms in Typical and Rapidly Progressive Alzheimer's Disease. Jan 01, 2022 – Molecular Neurobiology, Vol. 59, Pages 17–34
  17. Cellular Prion Protein Mediates α‐Synuclein Uptake, Localization, and Toxicity In Vitro and In Vivo. Aug 27, 2021 – Movement Disorders, Pages 1–14
  18. Distribution of microRNA profiles in pre-clinical and clinical forms of murine and human prion disease. Mar 25, 2021 – Communications Biology, Vol. 4(1), Article 411
  19. Prion protein oligomers cause neuronal cytoskeletal damage in rapidly progressive Alzheimer’s disease. Feb 22, 2021 – Molecular Neurodegeneration, Vol. 16(1), Article 11
  20. Neurodegenerative Proteinopathies in the Proteoform Spectrum – Tools and Challenges. Jan 22, 2021 – Int J Mol Sci, Vol. 22(3), Article 1085
  21. Optimization of the Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion Assay for Prion Disease Diagnosis. Nov 19, 2020 – Front Bioeng Biotechnol, Vol. 8, Article 586890
  22. Identification of novel risk loci and causal insights for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: a genome-wide association study. Oct 01, 2020 – Lancet Neurology, Vol. 19(10), Pages 840–848
  23. Unveiling the Physical and Functional Niches of FAM26F. Aug 25, 2020 – ACS Omega, Vol. 5(35), Pages 22008–22020
  24. SFPQ and Tau: critical factors contributing to rapid progression of Alzheimer’s disease. June 23, 2020 – Acta Neuropathologica, Pages 1–23
  25. Genome-wide association study identifies risk variants for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in STX6 and GAL3ST1. Apr 11, 2020 – medRxiv (preprint), Pages 1–32
  26. The role of cellular prion protein in lipid metabolism in the liver. Mar 05, 2020 – Prion, Vol. 14(1), Pages 95–108
  27. Chromogranin A Analysis in the Differential Diagnosis Across Lewy Body Disorders. Feb 18, 2020 – J Alzheimer's Dis, Vol. 73(4), Pages 1355–1361
  28. Effect of the micro-environment on α-synuclein conversion and implication in seeded conversion assays. Jan 17, 2020 – Translational Neurodegeneration, Vol. 9, Article 5
  29. Therapies for Prion Diseases. Nov 11, 2019 – Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Vol. 165, Chapter 4, Pages 47–58
  30. The cellular prion protein and its derived fragments in human prion diseases and their role as potential biomarkers. Sep 26, 2019 – Expert Rev Mol Diagn, Pages 1–12
  31. Increased expression of heme-binding protein 1 early in Alzheimer’s disease is linked to neurotoxicity. Aug 27, 2019 – eLife, Vol. 8, Article e47498
  32. Cadmium induces GAPDH- and MDH-mediated delayed cell aging and dysfunction in Candida tropicalis. Aug 01, 2019 – Environ Monit Assess, Vol. 191(8), Article 490
  33. Cerebrospinal fluid total and phosphorylated α-synuclein in patients with CJD and synucleinopathy. May 01, 2019 – Molecular Neurobiology, Vol. 56, Pages 3476–3483
  1. Faryal Ihsan, Laila Tanveer, Muhammad Zumair Ali, Aneeqa Noor, Saima Zafar, Muhammad Asim Waris, Source code of Variable Wavelength RGB LED Controller with Flicker Effect. 2025-02-13
  2. Faryal Ihsan, Laila Tanveer, Muhammad Zumair Ali, Aneeqa Noor, Saima Zafar, Muhammad Asim Waris, Variable Wavelength RGB LED Controller with Flicker Effect. 2025-03-05
  3. Humaira Batool, Aneeqa Noor, Saima Zafar, Improved Green Synthesis of rGO/AgNPs nanohybrids. 2025-02-14
  1. Genetic analysis using Polymerase Chain Reaction.
  2. Development of animal models for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders for drug development.
  3. Analysis of Proteome and Post-Translational Modifications.
  4. In vitro characterization of novel drug delivery systems targeted at the nervous system.
  5. Bioinformatic analysis (Focus area: Proteomics).
  6. Analysis and visualization of Omics datasets.

Note: For pricing and availability, please send an email to [email protected].