Dr. Zahoor Ahmad Parry

Dr. Zahoor Ahmad Parry

Senior Principal Scientist

Clinical Microbiology PK/PD Division

CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine,Sanat Nagar, Srinagar– 190005
Email: zahoorap@iiim.res.in

Profile

Bio Sketch

Dr. Zahoor A. Parry joined the CSIR-IIIM Srinagar as Senior Scientist in November, 2010. Dr. Parry Studies infectious disease mechanism, identification of new drug targets, antibacterial persistence and resistance, antibacterial discovery and development with major focus on tuberculosis. Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of new generation antibacterials and use of drug delivery systems including nanotechnology based for development of human friendly drugs/ drug regimens. Dr Parry had his Ph.D. from Drug Delivery Lab, Department of Biochemistry, PGIMER Chandigarh India where he studied nanoencapsulation of azole antifungals and antituberculosis drugs against latent and resistant TB. He worked on MDR tuberculosis in National JALMA ILOMD Agra, India. Later he moved to Material Science Manufacturing; Polymers Ceramics and Composites, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa for understanding how nano-systems work. Dr. Parry worked in Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore-MD USA; where he studied development and characterization of  in vitro and guinea pig models of tuberculosis, Pharmacokinetics and dose fractionation studies of conventional and investigational antituberculosis, therapeutic responses of antituberculosis regimens in immunocompromised and immunocompetant hosts and in vivo efficacies of new drug regimens for better management of TB. As an AcSIR faculty, he teaches courses related to Microbiology, Pharmacology, Molecular Biology and Research Methodology.

Education

Course Year Name Institute Subjects
Doctorate 2006 Ph. D. PGIMER, Chandigarh India Deptt. of Biochemistry
Post graduation 2001 M.Sc. University of Kashmir India Biochemistry
Graduation 1999 B.Sc. University of Kashmir India Gen. Eng, Chem, Botany, Zoology.

Position Held

Position Held

Date Position Institute
2021-present Senior Principal Scientist Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Srinagar.
2016-2021 Principal Scientist Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Srinagar.
2010-2016 Senior Scientist Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Srinagar.
2011-2016 Ramalingaswami Fellow Department of Biotechnology, India.
2007-2010 Post Doctoral Fellow CTR, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
2006-2007 Visiting PDF MSM-PCC, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa.

 

Area of Expertise

Area of Expertise

ADME studies, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of antimicrobials in animal models, Drug-drug interactions, Drug toxicity, Development and characterization of Drug delivery systems, Role of nanotechnology in drug delivery, Development of new drugs as well as new combination regimens, Studying basic biology of diseases and Population studies of drug resistant strains on molecular basis in order to identify novel drug targets against ESKAPE Bacteria and drug resistant strains. Target identification of new antibiotics and their Mechanistic studies. Drug susceptibility testing of natural/synthetic molecules against Gram positive & Gram negative bacteria for AMR purpose.

 

 

 

 

Project Involved / Ongoing Projects

Projects

  1. Development of b-Hairpin Peptidomimetics and Self-Assembled Ultrashort Hybrid Peptide Nanostructures as Anti-Infective Agents. Funding Agency: CSIR, Govt. of India.
  2. Target Identification and ADME Pharmacokinetic properties of a novel antituberculosis Lead that is effective against MDR-TB. Funding Agency: Department of Biotechnology of India.
  3. Deciphering role of astrocytes in pathogenesis of central nervous system tuberculosis (CNS-TB) and exploiting its related pathways as potential therapeutic targets for CNS-TB. Funding Agency: Indian Council of Medical Research, Govt. of India.
  4. Elucidation of molecular basis of drug and multidrug tuberculosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Kashmir Valley. Funding Agency: Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.
  5. Bio-prospection of Actinomycetes from high altitude Salt lakes of Leh – Ladakh for drug discovery against Tuberculosis. Funding Agency: Department of Biotechnology, of India.
  6. Development of new drug regimens for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. Completed
  7. Novel regimens against MDR-tuberculosis. Funding Agency:  CSIR, Govt. of India (MLP-project).Completed

Publications and Patents

Publications

  1. Hussain A, Rather MA, Bhat ZS, Majeed A, Maqbool M, Shah AM, Aga MA, Shah A, Mushtaq S, Sangwan PL, Hassan QP and Ahmad Z*. In vitro evaluation of dinactin, a potent microbial metabolite against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2019; ;53(1):49-53.
  2. Rather MA, Bhat ZS, Lone AM, Maqbool M, Amin S and Ahmad Z*. In vitro antimycobacterial activity of 2-(((2-hydroxyphenyl)amino)methylene)-5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione: A new chemical entity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2018; 52(2):265-268.
  3. Bhat ZS, Ullah H, Rather MA, Maqbool M, Ara T, Ahmad Z* and KY Syed. Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of substituted 3-Cinnamoyl-4-hydroxy-pyran-2-one (CHP) in pursuit of new potential antituberculosis agents. MedChemComm. 2018; 9, 165-172.
  4. Rather MA, Rasool F, Bhat ZS, Ullah H, Maqbool M, Amin S, KY Syed and Ahmad Z*. Design and synthesis of indolopyridone hybrids as new antituberculosis agents. Microb Pathog. 2017; 113:330-334.
  5. Rather MA, Lone am, Teli B, Bhat ZS, Singh P, Maqbool M, Shairgojray BA, Dar JM, Amin S, KY Syed, and Ahmad Z*. Synthesis, Biological Evaluation and Structure-Activity Relationship of 2-Phenylaminomethylene-cyclohexane-1,3-diones as Specific Anti-tuberculosis Agents. Chem. Commun. 2017;8: 2133-2141
  6. Bhat ZS, Rather MA, Maqbool M, UL Lah H, KY Syed, and Ahmad Z*. α-pyrones and its hydroxylated analogs as promising scaffolds against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Future Med Chem. 2017; 9(17):2053-2067.
  7. Ahmad Z, Tyagi S, Nuermberger EL and Grosset JH. Contribution of moxifloxacin or levofloxacin in second-line regimens with or without continuation of pyrazinamide in murine tuberculosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013; 188(1):97-102.
  8. Pandey R and Ahmad Z *. Nanomedicine and tuberculosis: facts, flaws and future. Nanomedicine. 2011; 7(3):259-272.
  9. Ahmad Z, Peloquin CA, Singh RP, Derendorf H, Tyagi S, Ginsberg A, Grosset JH and Nuermberger EL. PA-824 exhibits time-dependent activity in a murine model of tuberculosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2011; 55(1):239-245.
  10. Ahmad Z, Klinkenberg LG, Pinn M, Fraig MM, Peloquin PC, Nuermberger EL, Grosset JH and Karakousis PC. Biphasic Kill Curve of Isoniazid Reveals the Presence of Drug-Tolerant, Not Drug-Resistant, Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Guinea Pig. J Infect Dis. 2009; 200(7):1136-1143.

Patents

Title of the invention: “A process for the preparation of alginate nanoparticles” Name of Inventors: Zahoor Ahmad Parry, Rajesh Pandey, Sadhna Sharma and G.K.  Khuller. International classification: A61K 9/20, No. of Pages: 9, No. of Claims: 8. The Patent Office Journal 02/10/2009; Page 6300.

Awards / Honours

Awards and Honours

  • JALMA Trust Fund Oration Award-2010 of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2013.
  • Ramalingaswami Fellow of Department of Biotechnology, India in 2011.
  • Received the Cover page coverage of Journal of Infectious Diseases ‘Gross examination of guinea pig lungs shows multiple tubercles 28 days after low-dose aerosol infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. (See Ahmad et al, 2009 Oct 1;200(7):1136-1143).
  • Received ICAAC Infectious Diseases Fellows Grant Program in 49th ICAAC, San Francisco, CA September 12-15, 2009.
  • Received Assembly on Microbiology, Tuberculosis and Pulmonary Infections (MTPI) Award in the 2009 ATS International Conference in San Diego.
  • Finalist for the Basic Research Fellow Award 2009 DOM Research Retreat of Johns Hopkins University.

Group

Students

Photo Name Area of Interest  Position
Mohamad Mosa Mubarak Deciphering the Role of Astrocytes in the Pathogenesis of CNS-TB, Drug Discovery against Tuberculosis and general microbial pathogens. DST-INSPIRE Junior Research Fellow (IF190112)
PhD Student AcSIR (10BB19A37005)
Safiya Mehraj Molecular Target Identification of novel antituberculosis agents and their pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics for new generation of drugs against Tuberculosis. PhD Student AcSIR
Dr. Shahnawaz Majeed Areas of Interest: Pathology of CNS-TB for new diagnostic tools and antituberculosis drugs. Nanotechnology based drug delivery for different human diseases. Tackling antibacterial resistance. Research Associate
Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Mir Investigating Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis in Kashmir. TARE Fellow.

Dr Shazia Ali

Breast Cancer Biology, Drug resistance, Anti-Cancer molecular mechanism, Basic leukemogenesis, Mechanism of clinical leukemia, Molecular biology,  Molecular genetics, Microbial molecules, Animal Tissue Culture Primary cell culture and Cell culture techniques, Handling animals.

Area  of current project: “Bio- Prospection of Actinomycetes from high altitude Salt of Leh- Ladakh for Drug Discovery against tuberculosis’’.

 PhD,  PDF

Senior Project Associate-1

Mohammad Abbass Malik

 “Development of Beta hairpin structure peptidomimetics and self assembled ultra short hybrid peptide nanostructures as anti infective agents”.

Project Associate -I

Ishfaq Ahmad Baba

Area of Interest: “Evaluation of antimicrobial potential of actinomycetes from High altitude Salt lakes of Leh-Ladakh for anti-tuberculosis drug discovery”

PhD Student AcSIR (10BB21J37020)

ICMR-JRF (74008)

Hadiya Amin Kantroo

Area of interest: “Target identification and ADME pharmacokinetic properties of a novel antituberculosis Lead that is effective against MDR-TB”

Project Assistant 

Zubair Ahmad wani

Area  of interest: “Bio- Prospection of Actinomycetes from high altitude Salt of Leh- Ladakh for Drug Discovery against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria”.

Project Associate-I