Spotlights

Prof. Badria Hassan Almurshidi

Assistant Professor in Molecular Toxicology, Nanomedicine, Neurosciences & Environmental Health

Prof. Badria Almurshidi holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Toxicology in 2014 from Oregon State University, USA, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences with a discipline in Nanomedicine and Neurodegenerative diseases in 2020, from the University of South Carolina, USA. Her graduate research focused on synthesizing and designing different Nano drugs such as Selenium, Platinum, and Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles' Applications to Cancer, Neurodegenerative diseases, and Fibrotic Diseases in Medicine. She was one of the outstanding Students Honor lists of the UAE embassy list in the USA according to the academic culture division due to her high GPA of 4 out of 4. Now she is also affiliated with the Biology department as an Assistant Professor. Her current research interests are the Implementation of Nanomedicine to treat Neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases through engineered nanodrugs to target diseases progression, the Application of Immunotherapy to target cancer; understanding the role of Nano drugs carriers (nanoparticles and colloids) at the molecular and cellular levels. Besides the cell culture and molecular techniques, she uses state-of-the-art analytical techniques, such as Inductive coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy and laser light scattering, scanning transmission electron microscopy hyphenated with chemical analysis detectors, and atomic force microscopy to characterize natural and engineered therapeutic nanomaterials and to elucidate their interaction with genes, enzymes and biological factors in signaling at the molecular level. She was one of the op outstanding graduate Emirati students at the US Arnold School of Public Health and College of Medicine at USC University from 2017-2020, and she had several awards related to her research achievements in using Nanomaterials as a therapeutic agent to treat Multiple Sclerosis, certain types of Hemangioma and Cardiac Fibrosis.

Her first online publication was through the Canadian non-profitable Health Organization (Starfish Organization), dealing with Human and Environmental Health Issues, the topic of publication which titled Irradiated food: Zap with caution, was about the side effects of radiation methods to preserve and extend the shelf life of nutrients. In 2019, she published her first paper about the Roles of miRNAs in spinal cord injury and potential therapeutic interventions, in Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation, and in 2021, she published Toxicity of fungal pigments from Chlorociboria spp. and Scytalidium spp. which artificially extracted as food additives and for industrial purposes which has Health concerns At Journal of Fungi. She was one of the coauthors during the Covid-19 pandemic when they published research about the Investigation of factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among communities of universities in the United Arab Emirates in early 2022. Recently she was one of UAEU’s research team from the Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Medicine and Health Sciences designed a graphite oxide-based field-effect transistor (GO-FET) sensor for real-time COVID detection.

The biosensor was fabricated and functionalized with a COVID-19 antibody for the purpose of real-time detection of COVID-19 spike protein antigen. She is a member of the College of Sciences Honor Society and she is the mentor of Biology honor students where she always supports them in achieving their professional training, finding job opportunities, and encouraging them to complete their higher education.