About Us » FFB Funded Researchers
Muayyad R. Al-Ubaidi, Ph.D.
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Muayyad R. Al-Ubaidi, is a Professor of Cell Biology, Radiation Oncology and the Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). Dr. Al-Ubaidi came to OUHSC in 2000 from his positions as Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Dr. Al-Ubaidi earned his Ph.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed his post-doctoral training in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and later on in the Cullen Eye Institute. Dr. Al-Ubaidi’s has been active in vision research since 1986. He uses transgenic and knockout mice to understand the mechanism of retinal degeneration associated with mutations in different retina specific genes. His laboratory was the first to report that re-entry into the cell cycle by any cells in the post-mitotic retina leads to apoptotic cells death. In collaboration with Drs. Ripps and O’Brien, they reported the identification and molecular cloning of the first retinal gap junctional protein. Dr. Al-Ubaidi has generated the first mouse cone photoreceptor cell line, which has been distributed to over 400 laboratories all overt the world. Currently, Dr. Al-Ubaidi is investigating a new area of research that has not been studied in the retina, i.e. protein sulfation. His primary aim is to understand how alterations in protein sulfation can lead to blindness. Dr. Al-Ubaidi has published widely in the scientific literature, having written over 60 articles and chapters. He also serves as an Executive Editor for Experimental Eye Research and has served as a reviewer for many major vision and Ophthalmology journals, as well as for Genomics, Journal of Biological Chemistry, PNAS, Molecular Carcinogenesis, and Free Radical Biology and Medicine. In addition to NEI support, Dr. Al-Ubaidi has received research support from the Foundation Fighting Blindness, American Cancer Society, the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, and the Midwest Eye Bank and Transplantation Center. Among his many awards and honors, Dr. Al-Ubaidi has received the OUHSC Provost Senior Scientist Award in 2006. |
