Dr Saqlain Suleman

Saqlain joined ARU in July 2024 as a Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences. He was previously part of the faculty at Brunel University London, developing research in gene therapy. He is passionate about improving gene therapy products, throughout all points of the research pipeline.

[email protected]

Connect with Saqlain on LinkedIn

Background

Saqlain's PhD thesis focused on developing the first human-based in vitro model for assessing genotoxicity of lentiviral vectors. His research has developed to focus on improving gene therapy products through the R&D pipeline including improving viral vector production, purification, and gene transfer, as well as assessing the genotoxicity of viral vectors using an induced pluripotent stem cell-based model.

Saqlain is the Module Lead for Core Biology and is a member of the Biomedical Research Group.

Research interests

• Gene therapy
• Cell biology
• Cancer
• Bioinformatics
• Viral vectors
• Induced pluripotent stem cells

Areas of research supervision

Saqlain is open to discussing potential MSc and PhD projects in the area of gene therapy.

Teaching

BSc Biomedical Science

Core Biology (Module Lead)

Qualifications

PhD Cell Biology

BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA)
• Member of the British Society of Gene and Cell Therapy
• Member of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy
• Member of the Royal Society of Biology
• Member of the Adelphi Institute

Selected recent publications

Suleman, S., Fawaz, S., Roberts, T., Ellison, S., Bigger, B. and Themis, M. (2024) 'Optimised protocols to generate high titre lentiviral vectors using a novel transfection agent enabling extended HEK293T culture following transient transfection and suspension culture', J Virol Methods, 325, 114884. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2024.114884. Epub 2024 Jan 11. PMID: 38218417.

Suleman, S., Payne, A., Bowden, J. et al. (2022) 'HIV- 1 lentivirus tethering to the genome is associated with transcription factor binding sites found in genes that favour virus survival', Gene Ther, 29, pp. 720–729. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41434-022-00335-4

Suleman, S., Schrubaji, K., Filippou, C., Ignatova, S., Hewitson, P., Huddleston, J., Karda, R., Waddington, S. N. and Themis, M. (2021) 'Rapid and inexpensive purification of adenovirus vectors using an optimised aqueous two-phase technology', J Virol Methods, 299, 114305. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2021.114305. Epub 2021 Oct 6. PMID: 34626684; PMCID: PMC9757833.