Fellow

Prof. Dr. Hasan Mahmud Reza

(Fellow, 2021)

Prof. Hasan Mahmud Reza completed his BPharm and MPharm from the Department of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka. He obtained his PhD in Biological Sciences from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) with a scholarship from the Japanese government (MONBUSHO). His doctoral studies revealed important roles of several transcription factor genes such as Pax6, Sox2 and L-Maf in embryonic development of lens and retina. He did extensive work with different cell lines and animal models like mice and chicks and learned unique experimental techniques. He received the Dean's Award and Best Researcher Award from North South University (NSU) for his research excellence.

Dr. Reza started his career as a Product Officer in Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd., however, ended it shortly to join Khulna University as a Lecturer in the Pharmacy discipline in 1997. In 1998, he moved to Japan and obtained his PhD in 2002. Then he worked as a CoE-Postdoctoral fellow to further advance his research at NAIST. He joined the Faculty of Biological Sciences at NAIST as an Assistant Professor and continued his service for 3 years. In 2007, Dr. Reza joined NSU in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and served one and a half years. He then moved to Singapore to acquire knowledge, develop new skills, and gain further experience in adult stem cell biology and their applications in humans. He played his role as a Research Scientist at Singapore Eye Research Institute under the National University of Singapore and mastered in tissue engineering (regenerative medicine). Dr. Reza gained a bench to bedside experience where he cultured human limbal, oral and conjunctival epithelial cells in vitro and engineered tissues for clinical applications. He also characterized a novel umbilical tissue-derived epithelial stem cell which was shown to reconstruct cornea in an experimental rabbit model.

Dr. Reza has received a good number of research grants from different agencies in Japan and Bangladesh such as MEXT (Japan), NAIST-Bio-COE (Japan), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) NSU-UIU and NSU.

Dr. Reza has published over 120 articles in renowned peer-reviewed journals including the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Science, Scientific Reports, Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia, Plos one, Heliyon, Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, and Antioxidants. His publications primarily focused on areas including molecular and developmental aspects of the eye, adult stem cell biology and engineering, pharmacology of natural products, pharmaceutical technology, neuroscience, antimicrobial resistance and public health. He has written 2 book chapters on embryonic development of the chick eye and stem cells of the human eye. He has more than 100 proceedings in different international conferences at home and abroad. He presented keynotes in several international conferences in the USA, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Bangladesh. He is one of the editors of the national ‘Guidelines for Regulatory Approvals of Stem Cell and Cell Based Products (SCCPs) (2020).

Dr. Reza has co-supervised PhD students, over 50 Master’s thesis and over 150 undergraduate research projects. He has played the role of a convener or external member of the PhD thesis committee (Dhaka University), external examiner of the PhD & M Phil thesis of Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University and Khulna University. Dr. Reza is also conducting collaborative research with researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Nottingham University, University of London (Royal Holloway), King Saud University, NAIST and several local universities.

Dr. Reza is currently acting as an Associate Editor of the journal Frontiers in Public Health while as an editorial board member of Oncology Research, Academia Biology and Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal. He has been serving as a member of the National Research Ethics Committee (NREC) since 2019. He is the Founding President of the Bangladesh Neuroscience Society (BNSS). He is a member of more than 10 different professional/social groups. He is also serving as an external member of different academic/research committees (PhD thesis, M Phil, B Pharm etc.) at different universities.