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Nafees Ahmad, PhD

Professor, Immunobiology
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Professor, Applied BioSciences
Member of the Graduate Faculty

PO Box 245221
Building: Medical Research Building (#241)
Room #: 217A

Fax: (520) 626-2100

(520) 626-7022
nafees@arizona.edu

Selected Publications

Ramakrishnan R. Hussain M. Holzer A. Mehta R. Sundaravaradan V. Ahmad N. Evaluations of HIV type 1 rev gene diversity and functional domains following perinatal transmission. AIDS Research & Human Retroviruses. 21(12):1035-45, 2005.
 
Ahmad N. The vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1: molecular and biological properties of the virus. Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences. 42(1):1-34, 2005.
 
Matala E. Hahn T. Yedavalli VR. Ahmad N. Biological characterization of HIV type 1 envelope V3 regions from mothers and infants associated with perinatal transmission. AIDS Research & Human Retroviruses. 17(18):1725-35, 2001.
 

Sponsored Research Through MSRP

Andrew Horodner, (MSRP 1998): "The role of the HIV-1 vpu gene in maternal-fetal transmission."
 
Melanie Palma Avila, (MSRP 2025): "Characterization of HIV-1 vif Gene from Virologically Controlled HIV-infected Older Patients on Long-Term Antiretroviral Therapy"
 

NIH High School Student Research Program

Amy Milson, Rico Rico High School, 2003

Degrees

  • Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India ( B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc.)
  • Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India ( M.Phil. and Ph.D.)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, 1985 (post-doctoral training)

Research Interests

Pediatric AIDS is one of the fastest growing aspects of the AIDS pandemic in the United States and worldwide, as a greater number of women in the childbearing age group are infected with HIV-1. Infants born to mothers infected with HIV-1 are at risk of acquiring HIV-1 infection and subsequently developing AIDS. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by the year 2000, 10 million children will have been born HIV infected. Mother-to-infant transmission of HIV-1 mainly occurs perinatally at an estimated rate of more than 30 percent. In addition, AIDS-related or unrelated cancers can influence HIV-1 transmission and infection in mothers and infants. However, the molecular mechanisms of maternal transmission of HIV-1 are not known, which makes it difficult to define strategies for prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection in children. Genetic studies from my laboratory suggested that a minor subtype of maternal virus from the genetically heterogeneous virus population was transmitted to the infant. The minor HIV-1 genotype predominates initially as a homogeneous population in the infant and then becomes diverse as the infant grows older. Moreover, we don’t understand the molecular and biological properties of the HIV-1 that is transmitted from mother to infant. 

 

Our hypothesis is that specific molecular and biological properties of HIV-1 are critical determinants of perinatal transmission. A better characterized HIV-1 transmitted from mother to infant will contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in maternal transmission of HIV-1. Furthermore, the elucidation of the viral determinants involved in maternal transmission may allow AIDS researchers to develop methods to prevent mother-to-infant transmission by means of perinatal interventions, such as gene therapy, immunotherapy, antiviral therapy, and a preventive vaccine.