Faculty
Muayyad Al-Ubaidi
John & Rebecca Moores Professor
Office Location SERC 2005
Phone 713-743-1648
Email malubaid [at] central.uh.edu
Dr. Muayyad R. Al-Ubaidi is a tenured professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Al-Ubaidi has a solid track record in his field of research. He was the first to publish the genomic sequence of mouse rhodopsin, which served as a stepping-stone for others in the production of mouse models of rhodopsin-based inherited retinal diseases. Utilizing his training in mouse transgenesis, he has been very active in the production of transgenic models of inherited retinal disease. He is currently funded by awards from the National Institute of Health and the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
Education
Post-doctoral training (Vision Research), Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Post-doctoral training (Molecular Biology/Transgenesis), HHMI, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Ph.D. (Biochemistry/Molecular Biology), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
MS (Biochemistry/Enzymology), University of Baghdad, College of Sciences, Iraq
BS (Chemistry/Biochemistry), University of Baghdad, College of Sciences, Iraq
Courses
Cellular and Molecular Biology for BME (BIOE 4347)
Cell Biology for BME (BIOE 6307)
Awards and Honors
Vice President, International Society for Eye Research, 2015
OUHSC, Faculty Governance Award, 2014
Elected Chair of the Faculty Senate at OUHSC, 2012
OUHSC Provost Senior Scientist Award, 2006
A travel award to attend ARVO from Illinois Eye Fund, Chicago, IL 1995
Award to attend the XI ICER meeting in New Delhi, India, 1994
Certificate of recognition from the Fight for Sight, Inc., 1994
Young Investigators Award, RP Foundation (Foundation Fighting Blindness), 1993
Young Investigators Award, FASEB, 1989
Award to attend the Spetsai Course in Developmental Biology, Spetsai, Greece, 1987
Postdoctoral Welch Fellow, 1984-1986
Research Interests
Dr. Al-Ubaidi is a leader in mouse transgenesis. He has been very active in the production of transgenic models of inherited retinal disease.
Funding Received
NIH/National Eye Institute - "Mechanism of photoreceptor cell degeneration in animal model of human retinal diseases" (PI)
Foundation Fighting Blindness - "The use of mirtrons for a mutation-independent therapeutic strategy for peripherin 2-associated disease" (PI)
Selected Publications
- Zhao X, Naash MI, Al-Ubaidi MR. Riboflavin, Retbindin, and Riboflavin Transporters in the Retina Adv Exp Med Biol. 2025;1468:471-475. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-76550-6_77. PMID: 39930240 Review.
- Rutan Woods CT, Makia MS, Lewis TR, Crane R, Zeibak S, Yu P, Kakakhel M, Castillo CM, Arshavsky VY, Naash MI, Al-Ubaidi MR. Downregulation of rhodopsin is an effective therapeutic strategy in ameliorating peripherin-2-associated inherited retinal disorders. Nat Commun. 2024 Jun 4;15(1):4756. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48846-5. PMID: 38834544
- Crane R, Makia MS, Zeibak S, Tebbe L, Ikele L, Woods CR, Conley SM, Acharya G, Naash MI, Al-Ubaidi MR. Effective intravitreal gene delivery to retinal pigment epithelium with hyaluronic acid nanospheres. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2024 May 20;35(2):102222. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2024.102222. eCollection 2024 Jun 11. PMID: 38868364
- Ikelle L, Naash MI, Al-Ubaidi MR. Modulation of SOD3 Levels Is Detrimental to Retinal Homeostasis Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Oct 12;10(10):1595. doi: 10.3390/antiox10101595. PMID: 3467972