Dr Sanam Mustafa

Dr Sanam Mustafa
 Position ARC Grant-Funded Researcher B
 Org Unit Medical Sciences
 Email sanam.mustafa@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone +61 8 8313 4101
 Location Floor/Room 6 ,  Helen Mayo North ,   North Terrace

  • Biography/ Background

    Dr Sanam Mustafa is a trained Molecular Pharmacologist with a special interest in the study of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling and regulation

    Dr Mustafa completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2004 with a M.Sci (Honours) in Genetics. This included an Industrial work placement year at the Comparative Genomics department of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Dr Mustafa then trained in one of the world's leading laboratories researching GPCRs under the supervision of Prof Graeme Milligan and Dr Alan Wise. This PhD studentship was co-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and GSK. During her case studentship, Dr Mustafa had the invaluable opportunity to spend 3 months in the high throughput-screening department of GSK.

    Following a short postdoctoral position in collaboration with Almiral, in 2009 Dr Mustafa joined A/Prof Kevin Pfleger's group at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research at the University of Western Australia. Here Dr Mustafa expanded her skill-set to encompass the study of protein-protein interactions at a more detailed level. Alongside academic research projects, Dr Mustafa conducted contract research work for Dimerix Bioscience. This included project management of a research contract outsourced by Takeda Cambridge. Other responsibilities included the teaching and examination of undergraduate students.

    Dr Mustafa then moved to the University of Adelaide to join A/Prof Mark Hutchinson’s Neuroimmunopharmacology group and widened her research interests to include Toll-like receptors. Here Dr Mustafa is investigating receptor-receptor interactions and their role in intracellular signalling, with particular interest in the pain domain.

    Working closely with physicists and chemists, Dr Mustafa has now also accepted a Research Fellowship at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics to develop novel tools for sensing and investigating intracellular signalling.

    Dr Mustafa is also a member of the Biological Sensing and Medical Diagnostics theme within the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS).

    Her skill-set includes techniques such as molecular biology (PCR, RT-PCR), confocal microscopy, immunocytochemistry, Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET), chemotaxis, ERK, [32P] orthophosphate phosphorylation and ELISA assays.

     

    Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics Research Fellow,

    Neuroimmunopharmacology Research Group,

    IPAS Biophotonics Theme Member

    Discipline of Physiology

    School of Medical Sciences

    Level 5, Medical School North, N531, Frome Rd

    Adelaide, South Australia, Australia 5005

    Ph    : +61 8 8313 4101

    e-mail: sanam.mustafa@adelaide.edu.au

     

  • Publications

    1.         Watkins LR, Wang X1, Mustafa S, Hutchinson MR. In vivo veritas: (+)-Naltrexone’s actions define translational importance (Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, article in press)

     

    2.         Mustafa S, Hannagan J, Rigby P, Pfleger KDG, Corry B. Quantitative Forster Resonance Energy Transfer efficiency measurements using simultaneous spectral unmixing of excitation and emission spectra. Journal of Biomedical Optics. 2013;18(2):online 

     

    3.         Brown RM, Mustafa S, Ayoub MA, Dodd PR, Pfleger KDG, Lawrence AJ. mGlu5 Receptor Functional Interactions and Addiction. Frontiers in pharmacology. 2012;3(84):1-9. 

     

    4.         Mustafa S, See HB, Seeber RM, Armstrong SP, White CW, Ventura S, et al. Identification and profiling of novel α1A-adrenoceptor-CXC chemokine receptor 2 heteromer. The Journal of biological chemistry. 2012;287(16):12952–65.

     

    5.         Tarrasón G, Aulí M, Mustafa S, Dolgachev V, Domènech MT, Prats N, et al. The sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor-1 antagonist, W146, causes early and short-lasting peripheral blood lymphopenia in mice. International immunopharmacology. 2011;11(11):1773–9.

     

    6.         Mustafa S, Pfleger KDG. G protein-coupled receptor heteromer identification technology: identification and profiling of GPCR heteromers. Journal of laboratory automation. Elsevier Inc; 2011;16(4):285–91. 

     

    7.         Mustafa S, Ayoub MA, Pfleger KDG. Uncovering GPCR heteromer-biased ligands. Drug Discovery Today: Technologies. Elsevier Ltd; 2010;7(1):e77–e85.

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Entry last updated: Tuesday, 29 Mar 2022

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