Dr Hafiz Ahmed is the Editor in Chief of Glycobiology Insights and Organic Chemistry Insights . He recently issued calls for papers for Glycobiology Insights and Organic Chemistry Insights .

In this interview Dr Ahmed discusses his research, recently published articles and his views on open access publishing.

What is the primary focus of your research?

The overall goal of my research is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms and the structural basis of protein-carbohydrate interactions that modulate cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions, which, in turn, mediate various biological processes such as cell activation, growth regulation, cancer metastasis, and apoptosis. Particularly, my laboratory focuses on basic and translational research of galectins (a family of beta-galactoside-binding proteins), their epigenetic modifications in tumor development, and application of these methylated galectins for diagnosis of cancers. The use of galectin-nanoparticle conjugates to target cancer cells for diagnosis and therapeutic interventions and the application of natural carbohydrate inhibitors of galectins for the prevention of cancer metastasis are also the primary focuses of my research work.

What are the most exciting developments arising from current research in your area?

Glycosylation is the most common form of post-translational modification in proteins. Glycoproteins and glycolipids are major components of the outer surface of mammalian cells and thus they represent key structures not only for the interactions between cells or between cells and ECM, but also for nonself interactions with toxins, viruses, bacteria, and micro-organisms. Up until a few years ago, the glycobiology research has been very slow probably due to the complex nature of the carbohydrate structure. Thanks to the current protein and molecular biology technologies such as gene knock-out, protein array, carbohydrate array, and mass spectrometry which facilitate the glycobiology research. Role of protein-carbohydrate interactions in growth development, immune functions, apoptosis, and cancer metastasis has now been established.

Who are your main collaborators? Please describe your work with them.

I am enjoying strong collaboration with many eminent researchers from several institutes in USA and abroad such as Johns Hopkins University(Professor Daniel Chan, Dr. Mohammad O. Hoque, and Dr. Mario A. Bianchet), Harvard School of Public Health (Dr. Jarvis T. Chen), Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Center (Dr. Thambi Dorai), Georgetown University (Dr. Radoslav Goldman, Dr. Partha P. Banerjee), Center for Biosystems Research of UMBI (Dr. Silvia Muro) and Univeristy of Palermo, Italy (Dr. Francesco Cappello). Drs. Chan, Hoque, Chen, Dorai, Goldman, Banerjee, and Cappello are involved in my prostate cancer diagnosis project. Dr. Bianchet is engaged in the elucidation of 3-D structure of galectins. Dr. Muro is helping in the preparation of lectin-nanoparticle conjugates.

How did you come to be working in your research area?

I studied Carbohydrate Chemistry while obtaining my masters degree in Organic Chemistry. It was that connection for which I decided to work on lectins for my Ph.D. Since then, I have been working on lectins and glycobiology. First few years, my research was focused on the structure-function aspects of the lectins, especially galectins from several organisms of vertebrates, amphibians, and invertebrates. My translational research on galectins is relatively new.

What do you think about the development of open access publishing? Have you published in an open access journal? What motivated you to do so?

Open access publishing allows scholarly work is not only freely and openly accessible online without any licensing, copyright, or subscription restrictions, but also available immediately upon acceptance. In this respect, open access publishing has a very good future ahead. But, the quality of the articles must be maintained through peer-review in order to be successful and sustainable. I have not published any research paper yet in any open access journal, except the two introductory editorials for Organic Chemistry Insights and Glycobiology Insights , but I am definitely looking forward to publishing very soon.

What articles and/or books have you published recently?

Peer-reviewed articles:

1. Ahmed, H., Cappello, F., Rodolico, V., and Vasta, G.R. 2009. Evidence of heavy methylation in the galectin-3 promoter in early stages of prostate adenocarcinoma: Development and validation of a methylated marker for early diagnosis of prostate cancer. Translational Oncology (In press).

2. Ahmed, H., Du, S.J., and Vasta, G.R. 2009. Knockdown of a galectin-1-like protein in zebrafish (Danio rerio) causes defects in skeletal muscle development. Glycoconjugate J. 26, 277-283.

3. Ahmed, H. and Vasta, G.R. 2008. Unlike mammalian GRIFIN, the zebrafish homologue (DrGRIFIN) represents a functional carbohydrate-binding galectin. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 371, 350-355.

Book:

I recently co-edited a book entitled “Animal lectins: a functional view” (Eds. G.R. Vasta and H. Ahmed, Taylor and Francis, 2008. [ Amazon.com ]

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