Engineering Project

ABDUL Q. SHEIKH

University of Cincinnati **** Madison Road, Apt. 12,

School of Energy, Environmental, Biological Cincinnati, OH 45209

and Medical Engineering e-mail: ********@****.**.***

**** ****side Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45221 phone: 513-***-****

EDUCATION

University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio Coursework GPA: 3.8

PhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering Program (2007-current) Doctoral Advisor: Dr. Daria Narmoneva

Graduation: Summer 2012 (expected)

Completed with Honors (in top 10)

University of Manchester, Manchester, England

Bachelor in Electrical Engineering (2000-2004) Advisor: Professor Nigel Allinson

Final year Research Project: An Artificial Neural Network based system for diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of

breast cancer from x-ray mammograms using a Radial Basis Function algorithm

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

RESEARCH SUMMARY

U of Cincinnati: PhD candidate, Biomedical Eng Program; September 2007- current

Understand diabetes associated vascular pathologies in acute and chronic heart failure at the cellular and molecular

level. Implement novel therapeutic approaches to augment vascularization in diabetes-induced chronic heart failure

(diabetic cardiomyopathy) and diabetes-induced chronic tissue

Analysis of the effect of diabetes and cyclic strain on myocardial function and structure, cardiac fibrosis,

cardiovascular cell responses, protein expression, intracellular calcium signaling and biochemical pathways

In vitro pharmacological assessment of peptide hydrogel nanofibers to augment cardiovascular pathology and in

vivo application of nanofibers to enhance neovascularization and myocardial regeneration in diabetic

cardiomyopathy

Collaboration: Dr. Yi-gang Wang lab, Dept of Pathology & Lab Medicine, UC Cardiovascular Diseases Center

Study the therapeutic efficacy of electric field and peptide nanofiber systems to augment angiogenic responses

and intracellular biochemical pathways in microvascular endothelial cells and implement the in vivo application

of an exogenous electric field to enhance vascularization for diabetes-induced chronic tissue

Collaborations: Dr. Andrei Kogan Lab, Physics Dept, U of Cincinnati and Dr. Timothy Crombleholme lab,

Dept of Surgery, Cincinnati Children s Hospital Medical Center

The results of these studies have identified the diabetes associated deficiencies in myocardium and chronic tissue;

and help contribute in the development of new vascular based treatment strategies for cardiovascular diseases,

specifically in the context of diabetes

EXPERIMENTAL SKILLS

Functional and structural assessment of the myocardium

Experience in the assessment of cardiac function under physiological and pathological conditions using

transthoracic echocardiography. Efficient in determining left ventricle parameters (including ejection fraction,

septum thickness, ventricular wall thickness etc.) from 2-D images and M-mode interrogation in long-axis view

Expertise in H&E, fluorescence and immunohistochemical staining and quantitative analysis of cardiac tissue

samples assessment of cardiac fibrosis, myocardial structure and collagen reorganization, neovascularization

and protein expression in response to therapeutic treatments

Page 1

Abdul Q. Sheikh ********@****.**.***

Efficient in animal tissue sample processing (myocardium, chronic wounds, skin etc.), embedding and

microtomming

Cellular/molecular biology techniques to assess cell function and biochemical pathways

Efficient in performing inhibitor based assays to understand intracellular and biochemical pathways

Extensive experience in developing and validating in vitro assays to assess cardiac cell morphology,

proliferation, migration, apoptosis, capillary morphogenesis and nitric oxide concentrations

Expertise in performing in vitro protein quantification assays using IP, ELISAs, Western blot,

spectrophotometry and gelatin zymography techniques

Proficient at development of unique protocols based on IP and custom ELISAs to assess protein interaction

and activation

Expertise in tracing live intercellular and intracellular calcium signaling, and protein localizations in

cardiac/vascular cells using dual wavelength fluorescent dyes

Expertise in using various types of angiogenic promoting microenvironments (such as peptide scaffold,

Matrigel etc.) to regulate and assess in vitro and in vivo neovascularization and cell-matrix interactions

In vivo models of cardiovascular diseases

Extensive experience working with diabetes mouse (type II) and rat (STZ induced type I) animal models for

diabetic cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction and chronic healing

Trained in blood collection and glucose level monitoring, surgical wounding, intraperitoneal/intravenous

injections, heart dissection and various organ collection from different animal models

Efficient in performing tensile testing of tissues from mouse and sheep animal models to assess treatment

outcomes

Cell Culture techniques

Extensive experience and strong skills in cell culture

Extensive experience in isolating and maintaining primary cells (endothelial cells/fibroblast/smooth muscle

cell) from heart, lung and skin tissues of normal, diabetic /transgenic animal models

Optimization of medium composition, culture support, shaking and co-cultures

Experience with progenitor cells (EPCs), mesenchymal stem cells and continuous cell lines

Microscopy and other scientific skills

Extensive experience with single/dual wavelength fluorescence, confocal, polarized light and brightfield

microscopy

Excellent capabilities in performing quantitative image analysis to determine characteristic vascular sizes, cell

behavior and protein content

Efficient in advanced digital image processing techniques to understand biological responses using MATLAB,

Photoshop, Illustrator and ImagePro software packages

Proficient in multi-variance statistical analysis and data mining and management using SPSS

Designed and micro-fabricated novel electrophysiological / microfluidic devices to augment cell responses

using standard clean room techniques (photolithography, mask development, polymer micro-patterning and

metal deposition)

Developed a fluorescent-based micromanipulator system to study intercellular and intracellular calcium

signaling in vascular cells

Expertise in applying physiological mechanical strains and shear stresses on vascular cells to mimic in vivo

biomechanical environment

Page 2

Abdul Q. Sheikh ********@****.**.***

ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS

Experienced in setting up labs, assessing/purchasing lab equipment and managing several facilities including cell

culture, microscopy and tissue biomechanics lab

Conducted collaborative inter-disciplinary research; Took initiative and applied leadership skills to co-design

and execute four-way collaboration between U of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati Children s Hospital,

Physics Dept and Biomedical Engineering Dept to achieve the objectives of my research. Ability to collaborate

also demonstrated via contributions to several other research projects within the research group as manifested

in co-authorship of a number of peer-reviewed articles as a non-primary author

Designed digital image processing and senior research design courses in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering

departments, U of Cincinnati (2007). Provided guidance, instruction and leadership to the group of four

graduate students to achieve key results in two separate projects entitled; Models for image restoration

degradation and An Innovative Device for Introducing Color Vision in the Colorblind

As a lead member of the Board of Studies and Student Enterprise, U of Manchester (UMIST, 2002-2004),

represented students in academic Board of Studies meetings, served as a liaison with staff for students and

participated in a representative development course that focused on communicating effectively, group dynamics

and teamwork. Led discussions organized by the Student Enterprise officers on the student experience, learning

and development opportunities, 'graduateness', professional development, skills and career planning

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Excellent written communication skills- refined through report writing, manuscript preparations and proposals

writings for NIH, NSF and AHA grant applications

Proven record of excellent oral communication skills through podium and poster presentations at various

national and international conferences

Mentored and trained graduate and several undergraduate students:

Graduate student: recipient of full tuition academic scholarship from UC physics department

- Thesis title: Interaction of electric field with vascular cells

Two undergraduates recipient of Women in sciences & engineering fellowship (2009, 2010)

- Project title: Remote Temperature Sensing for Biological Experiments

- Project title: Intracellular Calcium Signaling in microvascular endothelial cells

Undergraduate recipient and the 1st prize winner, National Science Foundation fellowship (2009)

- Project title: The Effect of an Electromagnetic Field on the formation of capillary-like networks by

diabetic endothelial cells

Teaching experience at SSUET in EE Department (2005-2006)

HONORS AND AWARDS

Recipient of Sigma Xi Award, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society U of Cincinnati Chapter, 2012

Recipient of University Research Council s Graduate Student Fellowship, U of Cincinnati, 2010

Recipient of UC Graduate Assistantship in Nanomedicine, U of Cincinnati, 2008-09

First prize winner, MS Student Paper Competition, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Summer

Bioengineering Conference, June 2009

Outstanding Poster Presentation, Best in Life and Physical Sciences and Engineering, U of Cincinnati Graduate

Student Poster Forum, March 2008

Member, Academic board, Electrical & Electronic Engineering dept., U of Manchester, England, 2001-03

Page 3

Abdul Q. Sheikh ********@****.**.***

PUBLICATIONS

Sheikh AQ., Taghian T, Hemingway B., et al., Regulation of endothelial MAPK/ERK signaling and capillary

morphogenesis by low amplitude electric field, in revision, Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Sheikh AQ., Hurley J., Taghian T, Huang W., et al., Diabetes alters intracellular calcium transients in cardiac

endothelial cells, in revision, PLoS one

Sheikh AQ, Jenifer R. Hurley and D. Narmoneva, Diabetes alters intracellular calcium transients in cardiac

endothelial cells, Transactions of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, SBC2011-53797, 2011

Hurley J., Sheikh AQ., Huang W., et al., Effects of diabetes on matrix protein expression and response to

cyclic strain by cardiac fibroblasts, in press, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering

Hurley J., Sheikh AQ., Huang W., et al., Self-assembling peptide nanofibers for matrix metalloproteinase-

mediated matrix remodeling in diabetic cardiomyopathy, in press, Journal of Bioengineering and Biomedical

Science

Cho H, Balaji S, Sheikh AQ et al., Regulation of endothelial cell activation and angiogenesis by injectable

peptide nanofibers, in press, Acta Biomaterialia

Balaji S, Sachin S. Vaikunth, AQ. Sheikh et al., Tissue-engineered provisional matrix as a novel approach to

enhance diabetic wound healing, in press, Wound repair and regeneration

Sheikh A, A. Kogan and D. Narmoneva, Electromagnetic field mediates capillary formation via MAPK/ERK

signaling cascade, Transactions of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, SBC2009-206710, 2009

SELECTED PEER-REVIEWED ABSTRACTS AND SCIENTIFIC MEETING

PRESENTATIONS

1. A. Sheikh, T. Taghian, et al., Electric field therapy for the treatment of chronic wound healing, 5th annual

Translational to Clinical Regenerative Medicine Wound Care Conference, poster presentation, 2012

2. Sheikh AQ., Jenifer R. Hurley and D. Narmoneva, Diabetes alters intracellular calcium transients in cardiac

endothelial cells, Transactions of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, podium presentation,

SBC2011-53797, 2011

3. Sheikh AQ., Hurley J., et al., Diabetes alters intracellular calcium transients in cardiac endothelial cells,

Cardiovascular Center of Excellence-translational research day, poster presentation, 2011

4. Sheikh AQ., A. Kogan and D. Narmoneva, Electromagnetic field mediates capillary formation via

MAPK/ERK signaling cascade, Transactions of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, poster

presentation, SBC2009-206710, 2009

5. Sheikh AQ, A. Kogan and D Narmoneva; Nanosecond electromagnetic field mediates capillary-like network

formation via MAPK/ERK pathway, Biomedical Engineering Society Fall Meeting, podium presentation,

September 2009

6. Sheikh AQ, A. Kogan, D. Narmoneva; Electromagnetic field stimulation of capillary assembly in RAD16

nanoscaffold for angiogenic therapy, Biomedical Engineering Society Fall Meeting, poster presentation,

September 2008

7. Jennifer Hurley, AQ Sheikh, et al., Self-Assembling Peptide Nanofibers for MMP Delivery and Cardiac

Regeneration in Diabetes, Transactions of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference SBC2011-53761,

2011

Page 4

Abdul Q. Sheikh ********@****.**.***

8. H. Cho, AQ Sheikh et al., Non-specific endothelial cell interactions with the substrate result in cell activation

and angiogenesis in vitro, Transactions of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, SBC 2010-19094,

2010

9. H. Cho, S. Balaji, AQ Sheikh, et. al., Pro-angiogenic microenvironment restores angiogenic potential of

diabetic endothelial cells . Wound Healing Society, Orlando, FL, April 2010

10. S. Balaji, B.A. King, AQ Sheikh, H. Cho, et. al., Improved wound healing in angiogenic provisional matrix

occurs in the absence of increased TGF-beta expression . Wound Healing Society, Orlando, FL, April 2010

11. S. Balaji, Sheikh AQ, S.S. Vaikunth, J.K. Parvadia, F.Y. Lim, T.M. Crombleholme, and D. Narmoneva: Wound

treatment with angiogenic provisional matrix enhances wound neovascularization and improves healing in

db/db mice . Wound Healing Society, Dallas, TX, April 2009

12. Sheikh AQ. Kogan, D. Narmoneva; Microwave field enhances capillary-like network assembly by

microvascular endothelial cells, Midwest Tissue Engineering Consortium, poster presentation, 2008

Page 5

Abdul Q. Sheikh ********@****.**.***

Contact this candidate