Dr Hassan Morad
I studied for a Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc (Hons)) in Biological and Medicinal Chemistry and a Master of Science by Research (MbyRes) in Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter, before continuing my education at King’s College London, where Istudied for a Master of Research (MRes) in Biomedical and Translational Science and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Neuroimmunology.
I am now a Lecturer in Immunology, Co-Course Leader for BSc Medical Sciences and Module Leader for Clinical Immunology and Immunohaematology.
Research in my group is focused on preventing the damaging roles of neutrophils in the pathophysiology of inflammatory conditions, such as sepsis and COVID-19. I am investigating compounds with the potential to prevent neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro, which can then be tested for efficacy in in vivo mouse models of inflammatory conditions. I am particularly interested in the neutrophil-mediated organ damage that occurs during septic shock and the potential for pharmacological intervention to prevent this.
I have great interest in translating projects from basic science through to the clinic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked on repurposing the drug, artesunate, from an antimalarial to an anti-inflammatory, and this compound is now undergoing Phase III clinical trials in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), as part of their ’SOLIDARITY’ initiative to treat patients seriously ill with COVID-19.
Publications
Morad, H., et al., “Artemisinin inhibits neutrophil and macrophage chemotaxis, cytokine production and NET release.” Scientific reports 12.1 (2022), 1-18.
Morad, H., et al., “TRPM2 ion channels steer neutrophils towards a source of hydrogen peroxide.” Scientific reports, 11 (2021), 1-16.
Hoffmann RM, Mele S, Cheung A, Larcombe-Young D, Bucaite G, Sachouli E, Zlatareva I, Morad HO, Marlow R, McDonnell JM, Figini M. “Rapid conjugation of antibodies to toxins to select candidates for the development of anticancer Antibody-Drug conjugates (ADcs).” Scientific Reports 10 (2020): 1-11.
Morad, Hassan OJ, et al. "Pre-Clinical Imaging of Invasive Candidiasis using ImmunoPET/MR." Frontiers in Microbiology 9 (2018): 1996.
Morad, Hassan, Suaib Luqman, and Peter McNaughton. "O30 Natural compounds affecting neutrophil migration." Biochemical Pharmacology 139 (2017): 119.
Morad, Hassan OJ, et al. "Time-course analysis of C3a and C5a quantifies the coupling between the upper and terminal Complement pathways in vitro" Journal of immunological methods 427 (2015): 13-18.
Conferences
2024: Keynote speaker at the International Conference on Vaccines and Immunology. Paris, October 2024.
2023: Speaker at the Wolfson Scientific conference. London, July 2023.
2022: Speaker at the Biochemical Society Drug Repurposing II conference. London, May 2022.
2021: Speaker at the Biochemical Society Dynamic Cell IV conference. London (online), April 2021.
2017: Speaker at the Biochemical Pharmacology ICMAN-IUPHAR conference. Aberdeen, September 2017.
2014: Speaker at the Royal Society of Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Allergy Conference. Cambridge, 2014.
