Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow
University of Oxford
OXFORD, England, United Kingdom
Dr Abdullah Khan (Abs), is a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow currently based at the MRC WIMM in Oxford. Abs’ primary research interest is in engineering and applying multi-lineage, 3D models for the study of human diseases. Abs completed his PhD at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, during which he established a method for the generation of CRISPR-edited megakaryocytes (platelet-producing cells) from human induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs). Alongside this, he also developed a CRISPR-based approach to express photo-switchable tags in iPSCs and their progeny, enabling single molecule imaging. After completing his PhD in 2019, he was awarded a competitive Henry Wellcome fellowship for his current work, developing a human iPSC-derived bone marrow organoid model. This work was recently published in Cancer Discovery, and has been positively received by the field leading to numerous collaborations and enquiries from academia and industry. This platform provides the first bone marrow organoid that maintains architectural and cellular features of native human myelopoietic bone marrow, creating a much-needed platform for drug discovery and disease modelling. His research has also included work investigating the role of pericytes in the endotheliitis that occurs after severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the development of a vascularised cardiac microtissue system for the study of remodelling in the heart.
Abs is working to establish his own research group at the MRC WIMM in 2024, pursuing his interests in developing and applying increasingly complex human culture models. Future will work focus on improving the complexity and longevity of human haematopoietic and cardiovascular models, including organoids, using hiPSCs, microfluidics, 3D bioprinting, and materials based approaches.
Outside of research, Abs is overly fond of reading, music, eating, and dangling from rock faces by his finger-tips questioning all his life choices.
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Human bone marrow organoids as an alternative to animal models of blood cancer
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
11:30 – 12:00 CEST