Academic Staff

Biography

Name Dr Zana Azeez Abdulkareem
Address Department of Animal Resources, College of Agricultural
Sciences, University of Raparin
General Street
Qaladiza, Sulaymaniyah
Kurdistan Region-Iraq
Tel: +9647725425011
E-mail: zana_med@raparinuni.org
Birthplace Qaladiza District, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan-Iraq.
D.O.B. 30.08.1980
Marital status: Married

Degrees:

BSc, Vet. Medicine (1st out of twenty-five graduates), University of Sulaimani, (2004).
Main Subjects: Chemistry, Biology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Histology, Nutrition, Genetics, Microbiology, Parasitology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Clinical Pathology, Immunology, Infectious diseases, Food Hygiene, Forensic Medicine, Surgery, Medicine,
and Fish diseases.

MSc, Pharmacology, with the grade very good (87.24%), University of Sulaimani, (2008).
Subjects (Semesters): Advanced Biochemistry, Clinical Toxicology, Advanced Physiology, Advanced Pharmacology, Therapeutics, Drug safety and Evaluation, and Biostatistics.
Thesis title: Effect of different doses of captopril on reproduction and lactation in rabbits.

PhD, Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacology and Physiology discipline, Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK), (18 December 2015).
Thesis title: SK potassium and TRPM7 ion channel role in CNS cell survival and breast
cancer cell death decisions, http://orca.cf.ac.uk/80343/.
Main Subjects: Cell Biology, Cell Physiology, Molecular Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Cancer and Regenerative Medicine.

Philosophy of Teaching

As a young researcher, I began my MSc research at University of Sulaimani. During this project, I led and conducted a comprehensive reproductive and developmental toxicology study involving more than 61 rabbit models. The study assessed the dose-dependent effects of captopril during pregnancy and lactation through clinical monitoring, pathological investigations, hematological and biochemical analyses, and developmental outcome assessments. The research generated evidence of significant maternal, fetal, and systemic toxicological effects.

As an PhD researcher at university of Cardiff, my over-arching research interest is in understanding life and death decisions at the cellular level. The molecular mechanisms and pathways that determine cell fate are implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. My early career research has focussed on understanding the role of ion channels in these decisions and how they may be targeted to promote neuronal cell survival in neurodegenerative diseases and stimulate cell death in cancerous cells. In particular, I focussed on a subset of potassium channels activated by intracellular Ca2+ called SK channels. I found that blockade of these channels was potently cytotoxic in a panel of breast cancer cell lines. This included endocrine resistant cell types which represent a clinical phenotype difficult to treat. This work was published in the British Journal of Pharmacology. In parallel I discovered that SK channel activation could protect neuronal cell types from a number of toxic stimuli implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Due to the overlap in activity of SK channel modulators with the TRPM7 channel I also found that TRPM7 blockade may also represent an attractive target in neurodegenerative diseases.
Since then, animal illnesses and other health issues have long been treated with the use of medicinal plants and practices. In this respect, medicinal plants can play a key role in the development and advancement of modern studies by serving as a starting point for the development of drugs. My colleagues and I are currently focusing our research efforts in this area in order to combat common infectious and non-infectious diseases in poultry and other domestic animals using natural plants.

To expand my research expertise, I also investigated the antibacterial, anti-biofilm, and efflux pump inhibitory properties of Zataria multiflora essential oil against antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, demonstrating its potential as a safe therapeutic candidate for bovine mastitis through comprehensive microbiological, molecular, and cytotoxicity analyses.