About Dr Shafiq U Ahmed
I joined the School of Medicine as a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology in 2021 having held the position of a Senior lecturer in Biochemistry in the School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Sciences since 2016.
I graduated from Queen Mary (University of London) in 2001 with a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and completed my PhD in 2005 from the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, University of Newcastle, where I developed small molecule inhibitors targeting protein-protein interaction for the treatment of cancers.
I then undertook postdoctoral research at the University of York investigating basal signalling pathways to identify drug development targets in cancers and contributed to the undergraduate teaching programme. I moved to CRUK Beaton Institute, Glasgow in 2011 as a postdoctoral researcher and then relocated to the Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow.
My primary research interest is on glioblastomas; an incurable brain tumour. The aim of my laboratory is to identify signalling pathways that can be targeted for the development novel therapeutics for the treatment of glioblastomas.
Teaching and supervision
I teach the following courses:
- MBChB Medicine
- (MPharm) Pharmacy
- MSc Drug Discovery and Development
- MSc Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Formulations.
Current PhD students as Director of Studies:
- Sara Azeem: Identification of metabolic signatures in glioblastoma for therapeutic exploitation
- Jen Coulson: Development and validation of small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of Glioblastoma Identification.
Previous PhD students as Director of Studies:
- Najla Yussuf Moosa (completed 2021): Molecular and Biological characteristics of 2D and 3D glioblastoma stem-like cell culture models. Currently Research Scientist at Histocyte Laboratories (Newcastle, UK).
Interests
- Metabolomics studies in Glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs)
- DNA damage response in GSCs
- Repurposing existing drugs to target Glioblastoma.
Research
My main research focus is in the development and identification of novel therapeutics for the treatment of Glioblastomas (GBMs). GBMs are the most common form of primary brain tumour in adults. Despite optimal treatment consisting of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, tumour recurrence is inevitable. This is thought to be driven by a population of GBM stem-like cells (GSCs), which are resistant to the therapies and can give rise to new tumours.
My research has identified optimal strategies to target GSC population and revealed distinct metabolic alterations in GSCs circuitry. My current research focuses on metabolomics, DNA damage signalling, high-throughput siRNA and drug library screening in GSCs with the aim of identifying and developing novel therapeutics to improve the outcomes for patients with glioblastoma.
Publications
See all of Dr Shafiq U Ahmed's publicationsAreas of expertise
- DNA damage signalling in cancers
- Cancer metabolism
- 3D tumour models
- High throughput siRNA and drug screening
- Brain tumours
- Cancer therapeutics.
Further information
Editorial and review board
- Journal of Cellular and Molecular Oncology
- OncoTargets and Therapy
Memberships
- American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
- European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
- British Association for Cancer Research (BACR)