Dr. Ashraf has an educational training in biochemistry and research expertise in neuroscience. He earned his PhD degree in Biochemistry from Aligarh Muslim University in 2010. During his doctoral work, he carried out fundamental research on purification, characterization and sequencing of galectin-1 from mammalian heart. He has 14 years of combined teaching, research, and innovation experience in biological, health, and medical sciences. During his academic career, he has focused on teaching concise course material, conducting productive research leading to publications, and contributing to a range of studies, curriculum planning, and innovation strategies. 

Dr. Ashraf has also been involved extensively in editorial roles with internationally reputed scientific journals like the Journal of Advanced Research (Associate Editor), Scientific Reports (Senior EBM), PLoS One (Academic Editor), Current Neuropharmacology (Section Editor), and Current Alzheimer Research (Section Editor). He has the credit of 641 Web of Science verified editor records and 675 Web of Science verified reviewer records. He has been involved as a guest editor of 21 special issues in reputed international journals and have participated in 33 scientific meetings around the world. He is professionally associated with the Royal Society of Medicine (Fellow), Royal Society of Biology (Member), American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Member) and Canadian Association of Neuroscience (Member). 

Dr. Ashraf’s primary fields of research is neuropharmacology, currently focusing on investigating the molecular and behavioral mechanisms of novel therapeutic combinations in multiple sclerosis. His lab also investigates the molecular and behavioral mechanism of effects of anti-diabetic drugs in psychotic and dementia conditions. He has published 424 research manuscripts (Google Scholar Citations: 15112, H-index: 63, i10 index: 250) and been involved in 25 research grants. He has also supervised 2 PhD, 2 Masters, and 7 Bachelor students in their thesis-based research projects.

RESEARCH TRACK 1: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disorder prevalent in young adults, and characterized by symptoms like muscle weakness in the arms and legs, trouble with coordination, fatigue, loss of feeling, speech problems, tremor, dizziness etc. Unlike other neurodegenerative disorders, the cognitive impairment and related symptoms in the patients of MS can be effectively attenuated with a well-planned diagnostic and therapeutic regimen. Ashraf's lab screen and identify new drug candidates using artificial intelligence (AI), investigates their prophylactic and therapeutic effects in the animal model of MS, and explores the associated molecular and behavioral mechanistic alterations.

References:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38890237/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36688131/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35323389/

RESEARCH TRACK 2: When a patient with psychotic conditions like Schizophrenia or bipolar disorder reaches a clinic, the immediate medication prescribed by the clinician is an antipsychotic drug. While the antipsychotic drugs effectively normalize patients’ behavior, they quite often trigger the appetite center and the patients start to gain weight. When the antipsychotic drug-induced weight gain (ADWG) gets chronic, the only option left for the clinicians is start a medication to counter the growing weight. For many years, Metformin (an antidiabetic drug) has been a standard prescription for weight loss regimen. However, its long-term usage has been associated with severe gastrointestinal tract disorders, forcing the clinicians to prescribe insulin injections which comes with considerable side effects as well. Ashraf’s lab screen and identify new anti-diabetic agents using artificial intelligence (AI), investigates their effect in ADWG in animal models, and explores the associated molecular and behavioral mechanistic alterations.

References:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33183202/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33953666/

For prospective PhD students 

Ashraf's lab is looking for self-motivated individuals with strong biochemistry and molecular biology background, and excellent self-learning capability to join the research group. Inetersted students can send their CV and academic transcripts directly to GhulamMd.Ashraf@xjtlu.edu.cn. 

2024-PRESENT: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, Department of Biological Sciences, School of Science, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. 

2022-2024: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. 

2017-2022: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, King Fahd Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

2012-2017: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, King Fahd Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

2010-2012: LECTURER, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, India. 

2024-2025: Genome Expression and Maintenance (Module Leader)

2010-2024: Postgraduate: Advanced Clinical Chemistry (Course coordinator), Enzymology, Enzyme Technology, Advanced Laboratory Techniques (Course coordinator), Research Methods (Course coordinator); Undergraduate: Biology, Biochemistry (Course coordinator), Human Anatomy and Physiology, Intellectual Property Rights, Introduction to Research, Molecular Biology, Recombinant DNA Technology, Structural Biology

• Listed in Top 2% Scientists Worldwide, announced by Plos-Elsevier-Stanford University (2021-Present).
• AD Scientific Index Biochemistry best scientist (rank 1) in UAE (2023-2024).
• Expertscape World Expert in Alzheimer’s disease (Ranked 1^st in UAE and Saudi Arabia, 10^th in Asia, and 35^th Worldwide) (2021-2024).
• Expertscape World Expert in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Ranked 1^st in UAE and Saudi Arabia, 12^th in Asia, and 59^th Worldwide) (2021-2024).
• Outstanding Author Award by the journal Neural Regeneration Research (2021)
• Approved as a subject of biographical record in Marquis Who's Who in the World (2020).
• Elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (FRSM, No: 00723087) (2020).
• Elected as Member of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2020).
• Elected as Member of the Royal Society of Biology (MRSB, No: P0139900) (2020).
• Web of Science Top reviewers award in Biology and Biochemistry award (2019).
• Web of Science Top reviewers award in Cross-Field award (2019).