# Saghir Akhtar

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**Saghir Akhtar** is professor of pharmacology in the College of Medicine, [Qatar University](/source/Qatar_University),[1] and [editor in chief](/source/Editor_in_chief) of the *[Journal of Drug Targeting](/source/Journal_of_Drug_Targeting)*.

## Early life and education

Akhtar obtained a First Class honours degree in Pharmacy from the Leicester School of Pharmacy and his [PhD](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy) degree from the [University of Bath](/source/University_of_Bath).

## Academic career

From 1990-1991, he held a post-doctoral fellowship at UNC Medical School at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He began his independent academic career at [Aston University](/source/Aston_University), firstly as lecturer from 1991–1997 and then as Reader in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1997–1999). He led a team studying [DNA chip technology](/source/DNA_microarray) with a hope of combatting a form of brain cancer known as [glioma](/source/Glioma).[2] In 1997, he was a visiting fellow with [Ed Southern](/source/Ed_Southern) in the Department of Biochemistry, [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University). He later became professor of Drug Delivery in the Welsh School of Pharmacy and Director for the Centre for Genome-based Therapeutics, [Cardiff University](/source/Cardiff_University), UK (2002–2006). More recently he was Professor of Pharmacology at Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine (2007-2017) where he also served as Director of the Graduate program.[3]

He is the winner of the [Lilly Prize](/source/Eli_Lilly_Award_in_Biological_Chemistry) (1996), the [Pfizer Academic Award](/source/Pfizer_Academic_Award) (1997), the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Medal (1998), the Controlled Release Society (USA) Young Investigator Research Achievement Award (2001) and the Kappa Society Science Award (2005).[4]

His current research interests include studying molecular pharmacology and signal transduction pathways involved in [diabetes](/source/Diabetes) and/or hypertension-induced cardiovascular dysfunction, and understanding the biological and pharmaceutical challenges associated with the development of [gene silencing](/source/Gene_silencing) [nucleic acids](/source/Nucleic_acids) ([RNA interference](/source/RNA_interference)/ [siRNA](/source/SiRNA)/ [antisense](/source/Antisense) [oligonucleotides](/source/Oligonucleotides)) as potential therapeutic agents; and c) studying the [toxicogenomics](/source/Toxicogenomics) of novel drugs and non-viral drug delivery systems. Akhtar has also provided health advice for fasting during [Ramadan](/source/Ramadan).

## References

1. ["Current Faculty & Staff"](http://www.qu.edu.qa/medicine/faculty/current-faculty-&-staff). *qu.edu.qa*

1. ["Gene therapy 'could treat brain cancer'"](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/307919.stm). [BBC Online](/source/BBC_Online). 31 March 1999. Retrieved 7 May 2011.

1. ["Faculty Bios and Research Interest"](http://www.qu.edu.qa/medicine/faculty/bios). *qu.edu.qa*

1. ["Religion:Biographies"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/biographies.shtml). *BBC*

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Saghir Akhtar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saghir_Akhtar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saghir_Akhtar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.