Quality Control University
Resume:
Atta Ahmad
Greenville, NC, 27834
Ph: 805-***-****
******@*****.***, ******@***.***
Present Position (Aug 2013 - ):
Visiting Scientist and Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Biology, East Carolina
University, Greenville, NC
Education:
Ph. D (2002)
Molecular and Structural Biology Division,
Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow,
India Department of Chemistry, HNB Garhwal
University, Garhwal, India
M. Sc. (1996) Department of Chemistry, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh, India
Professional Experience:
2006 -2013
Research Investigator, Biological Chemistry, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2006 -2008
Sr. Scientist, Applied Biotechnology Institute Inc., San Luis
Obispo, CA
2004 - 2006
Post Doctoral Associate, Department of Biology, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
2001 - 2004
Post Doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Chem & Biochem, University of
California, Santa Cruz, CA
Publications: (* indicates corresponding author)
1. Li X, Srinivasan S, Connarn J, Ahmad A, Young Z, Kabza A, Zuiderweg E,
Sun D, Gestwicki JE. (2013) ACS Med Chem Lett 4, 1042-47
2. Cesa LC, Patury S, Komiyama T, Ahmad A, Zuiderweg ER and Gestwicki JE.
(2013) ACS Chem Biol 8, 1988-97
3. Zuiderweg ERP, Bertelsen EB, Rousaki A, Mayer MP, Gestwicki JE and Ahmad
A (2013) Top Curr Chem 328, 99-153
4. Ahmad A*, Burns CS, Fink AL and Uversky VN (2012) Journal of Biomol
Struct Dyn 29, 825-42
5. Zuiderweg ERP and Ahmad A (2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109, E735
6. Ahmad A, Bhattacharya A, McDonald RA, Cordes M, Ellington B, Bertelsen
EB and Zuiderweg ERP (2011) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108, 18966-71
7. Muzaffar M and Ahmad A* (2011) PLoS ONE 6(11): e27906
8. Ahmad A* (2010) Int J Biol Macromol. 46, 275-79
9. Ahmad A*, Muzaffar M and Ingram VM (2009) Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1794,
1536-47
10. Munishkina LA, Ahmad A, Fink AL and Uversky VN (2008). Biochemistry 47,
8993-06
11. Hood EE, Love R, Lane J, Bray J, Clough R, Pappu K, Drees C, Hood KR,
Yoon S, Ahmad A, Howard JA (2007) Plant Biotechnol J. 5, 709-19
12. Hong DP, Ahmad A and Fink AL (2006) Biochemistry 45, 9342-53
13. Ahmad A, Uversky VN, Hong D and Fink AL (2005) J Biol. Chem. 280, 42669-
75
14. Ahmad A, Millet IS, Doniach S, Uversky VN and Fink AL (2004) J Biol.
Chem. 279, 14999-13
15. Ahmad A, Millet IS, Doniach S, Uversky VN and Fink AL (2003)
Biochemistry 42, 11404-16
16. Akhtar MS, Ahmad A and Bhakuni V (2002) Biochemistry 41, 3819-27
17. Akhtar MS, Ahmad A and Bhakuni V (2002) Biochemistry 41, 7142-49
18. Ahmad A, Akhtar MS and Bhakuni V (2001) Biochemistry 40, 1945-55
19. Ahmad A, Madhusudanan KP and Bhakuni V (2000) Biochim. Biophys. Acta.
1480, 201-10
20. Ali V, Prakash K, Kulkarni S, Ahmad A, Madhu KP and Bhakuni V (1999)
Biochemistry 38, 13635-42
Book Chapter:
1. Zuiderweg ERP, Bertelsen EB, Rousaki A, Mayer MP, Gestwicki JE and Ahmad
A (2012) Allostery in the Hsp70 chaperone proteins. Series: Topics in
Current Chemistry; Volume 328; Page 99-153.
Invited Talks/Lectures:
1. Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Wayne State University,
Detroit, MI August 2013
2. Dophen Biomed, Sacramento, California, June 2013
3. Midwest Chaperone Conference, Chicago, January 2010
4. Applied Biotechnology Institute, Cal Ploy, San Luis Obispo, California,
July 2006
5. Adlyfe Pharmaceuticals, Baltimore, Maryland, March 2006
6. University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Department of Neurology,
March 2006
7. ExSar Therapies, Princeton, New Jersey, April 2005
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biology Department, August 2004
9. University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Dept of Biochem
and Mol Pharm, January 2004
10. Tufts University, Department of Physiology, December 2003
11. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Department of Chemistry, November
2003
12. University of Virginia, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Genetics, August 2003
13. Dr. C R Krishnamurthy memorial oration and young scientist awards CDRI
Lucknow, India March 2000
Presentations:
1. Cesa LC, Patury S, Komiyama T, Ahmad A, Zuiderweg ERP, Gestwicki JE
(January 19, 2013) 19th Annual Midwest Stress Response and Molecular
Chaperone Meeting, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL USA
2. Zuiderweg EPR, Ahmad A, Rousaki A, Gestwicki JE (May 1-5, 2012) Cold
spring harbor, New York USA
3. Ahmad A, Bhattacharya A, Macdonald R, Bertelsen E, Zuiderweg E (July 25-
30, 2010) Protein Folding in the Cell?; The FASEB Summer Research
Conference, Saxtons River, Vermont, USA
4. Bertelsen E, Bhattacharya A, McDonald R, Ahmad A, Zuiderweg E (January
16, 2010) 15th Annual Midwest Stress Response and Molecular Chaperone
Meeting, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL USA
5. Ahmad A and Howard JA (Feb 2-6, 2008) Biophysical society Los Angeles,
California, USA
6. Ahmad A, Blanchard B, Ingram VM (Jan 2006) Massachusetts General
Hospital, Boston MA, USA
7. Ahmad A, Blanchard B, Ingram VM (Nov 12-16, 2005) 35th Meeting, Society
for Neurosciences, Washington DC, USA
8. Ingram VM, Blanchard B, Ahmad A (Sept 7-11, 2005) Strategies for
Engineered negligible senescence (SENS) IInd conference Queens College
Cambridge UK
9. Ahmad A and Ingram VM (Aug 28- Sep 1, 2005) Small molecules DAPH, decoy
peptides and their analogs may help rescuing the toxic effect of A beta 1-
42 in Alzheimer's disease, ACS Washington DC,
10. Ahmad A, Burns CS and Fink AL (March 1-5, 2003) Biophysical society
San Antonio, Texas, USA
11. Ahmad A, Millet IS, Doniach S, Fink AL (August 17-21, 2002) 16th
Symposium of the Protein Society San Diego, California, USA
12. Ahmad A, Kulkarni S, Madhusudanan KP and Bhakuni V (September 19-24,
1999) XIII International Biophysics Conference, New Delhi, India
13. Bhakuni V, Kulkarni S, Ahmad A and Prakash K (September 19-24, 1999)
XIII International Biophysics Conference, New Delhi, India
Funding:
Title: "Examining role of chaperones in protein quality control and its
relation with diabetes." Agency: MDRC Michigan - Status: Awarded - $69,976.
Awards and Honors:
1. Awarded Senior Research Fellow (SRF) (2000) by CSIR, Ministry of
Education, Government of India
2. Qualified Graduate Aptitude test in Engineering (GATE) in Chemistry
(1997) IIT, India
3. Awarded post-graduate merit scholarship, Department of Chemistry, AMU,
Aligarh, India (1994-96)
4. Member youth organizing Committee, International Conference on molecular
association (1996), Department of Chemistry, AMU, Aligarh, India
Memberships:
(1) Protein Society (USA); (2) Sigma Xi; (3) Biophysical Society (USA)
Thesis supervised:
1. Janelle Crane: Undergraduate thesis "Fibrillation of ?-synuclein"
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa
Cruz, California, USA
2. Michael Downing: Undergraduate thesis "Effect of SDS on fibrillation
of A? peptides involved in Alzheimer's disease" Department of Biology,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Teaching Experience:
1. Teaching instructor: Advance undergraduate course (7.346) in
Biology: Feb 2006 - May 2006: Department of Biology, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), MA, USA. Prof. Bob Horvitz (Nobel Laureate
Physiology or Medicine 2002) Director, instructor/course-screening process.
Selected Teaching Instructor for 2007 semester - did not participate due to
conflicting schedules.
2. Teaching Instructor: Graduate course (BIOLCHEM 530 - Structural
Biology in Solution); Teaching biophysical techniques; Department of
Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2009-Current
Editorial Board member:
(1) The Scientific World Journal; (2) International Scholarly Research
Network; (3) Alzheimer's & Dementia
Reviewed/Reviewer for:
(1) Alzheimer's Association; (2) Current Neuropharmacology; (3) Current
Proteomics; (4) Cure Parkinson Trust, London, UK; (5) Biochemistry Research
International; (6) ACS Chemical Neuroscience; (7) PLoS ONE
Synopsis:
I have more than 16 years of hands on experience with protein biological
and biophysical chemistry and am associated with chemical biology for two
years. (Please see papers published in corresponding year)
> I was part of one of the groups that applied mass spectroscopy to study
the protein-folding problem (1998-99).
> I explored conditions for industrially important enzyme Glucose oxidase
to make it 10 C more stable to temperature and 50% more stable towards
chemical denaturation, using Fluorescence, CD, FPLC, DSC, enzyme assays,
UV-visible Absorbance, proteolysis and electrophoresis, (2001-2002).
> I conceptualized a methodology to study stability and aggregation
propensity of pharmacologically important protein insulin using H/D
exchange Mass spectroscopy, SAXS, HPLC, ATR-FTIR, DLS, thus, accumulating
and analyzing biochemical and biophysical data in extensive detail which
resulted in publishing 6 articles as first, collaborating or
corresponding author that have been cited more than 300 times, (2003-13).
> I showed copper at ?M concentrations can aggravate Parkinson's disease
causing protein ?-synuclein aggregation by SEC, IEX, RP or affinity
chromatography, EPR and ITC (2012).
> I established calcium at physiological conditions could induce amyloid
formation of A-beta involved in Alzheimer's, (2009).
> For pharmacological intervention of neurodegenerative or other diseases I
proposed to harness the potential of physiological protein quality
control machinery - chaperones, and am working on it (2010).
> I helped solve the structure of DnaK/DnaJ complex by NMR method, (TROSY,
HSQC, MTSL protein labeling) using Site directed mutagenesis (2011).
> For developing a chemical pharmacophore against cancer, I worked with
groups at Ann Arbor on screening of chemical libraries and reported two
molecules of interest recently, (2013).
> My pilot-grant application of using chaperones to interfere in protein
aggregation relevant to diabetes was awarded recently ($45K) from MRDC
Michigan.
> I worked for two years in a biotechnology company on characterizing
proteins expressed in genetically modified plants (corn) for use in
industries related to bleaching (manganese peroxidase - as an alternative
for green chemistry), Food industry (monellin family as protein
sweetener); Biofuels industry (cellulose - for cellulose hydrolysis-
ethanol) and expression of oral vaccines of protein-origin in plants for
diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C using immunochemical methods like ELISA
and western blots (2007).
Technical research experience (Briefly listed)
Proteins/enzymes: Protein isolation and purification using (SEC, IEX, RP
and affinity chromatography HPLC/FPLC). One and 2-dimensional
electrophoresis, Isoelectric-focusing, Chemical and Radiolabelling and
proteolysis of proteins, enzyme assays, Electron Micrography (EM).
Immuno-Chemical: ELISA assays; Antibody purification and Western blot
Spectroscopy: UV-visible Absorbance, Circular Dichroism (CD), Metal
(Copper) binding to proteins by X-band Electron Paramagnetic Resonance
(EPR), Characterization of secondary structure of proteins by ATR-FTIR,
Characterization of protein conformations by H/D exchange by Mass
Spectrometry, Small Angel X-ray Scattering (SAXS), Fluorescence (intrinsic
and using dyes), Fluorometric/spectrophotometric studies by Multi well
plate readers.
Calorimetry: Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC), Differential Scanning
Calorimetry (DSC)
DNA & RNA: DNA (plasmid) isolation and purification, Agarose
electrophoresis and Site directed mutagenesis
Peptide Chemistry: Edman degradation and Solid phase synthesis of peptide
fragments, TLC.
Crystallography: Hanging/sitting drop method of crystal production.
Cell culture: Maintenance, transfection and related work cos7, IMR32 cell
line, Cell viability assays (MTT)
NMR: Studying - current; Protein peak assignment, TROSY, HSQC
Visa status: US permanent resident - Green card
References: (on request)[pic]
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