Mohammed Umar

I am a faculty member in the Department of Human Anatomy at Yobe State University, Nigeria, Acting Unit Head of Fly Biology at the Biomedical Research, Science and Training Centre (BioRTC), and a founding doctoral candidate in the newly established BioRTC Neuroscience Graduate Programme at the University of Maiduguri.
A graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, my M.Sc. work (2024) examined neuroprotection and Parkinson’s-like neurodegeneration in Drosophila models using behavioural assays, confocal immunofluorescence imaging, and quantitative image analysis. This foundation in disease modelling and neuronal function informs my current doctoral research, supervised by Prof. Mahmoud Bukar Maina and supported by his Wellcome Trust Career Development Award, investigates APOE4-related changes in spontaneous cortical network activity in African-ancestry iPSC-derived neurons using MEA electrophysiology and computational modelling.
As part of my doctoral training, I interned across Prof. Jordi Soriano's lab (University of Barcelona) and the Brain Circuits and Behavior Lab (IDIBAPS), gaining experience in primary neuronal cultures and activity recordings, network activity analysis, and computational modelling.