The Master of Science Seminar and Examination of Mahfuzul Islam

Biography

Mahfuzul Islam is final-year Master’s student in the Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences program at Virginia Tech. He completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy at Daffodil International University in Bangladesh. Then he interned at Globe Pharmaceuticals Limited in Bangladesh before briefly enrolling at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Saudi Arabia. Since 2023, he has served as a teaching assistant in vet pharmacology/toxicology courses to assist DVM students. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, traveling and exploring diverse cultures and cuisines.

Funded by

• VMCVM Office of Research and Graduate Studies
• One Health Grant

Awards and Academic Achievements

• Outstanding Master’s student 2024-25, college of vet-med, VT.
• Omicron, Delta, Kappa honor membership through VT cycle
• The best project award (Iran Ministry of Science Research & Technology), 2021
• Nasser’s Fellowship in Egypt (Ministry of Youth & Sports), 2022
• United Nations Human Rights best delegates award in 2022.

Lay Language Abstract 

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), commonly known as lupus, is a chronic autoimmune disease. In lupus, the body's immune system, which usually defends against infections, becomes overactive and mistakenly attacks its healthy tissues and organs. This misguided attack leads to the production of harmful antibodies called autoantibodies. These autoantibodies target the body's cells, resulting in widespread inflammation and tissue damage. Lupus can affect multiple parts of the body, including the skin, joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain. This widespread involvement can manifest as symptoms, including fatigue, joint pain, rash, and fever. The clinical severity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is highly variable, ranging from mild, intermittent symptoms in some patients to severe, potentially life-threatening organ complications in others. Lupus afflicts not only humans but also a wide range of domesticated species. Many excellent spontaneous murine models of lupus are available for studying the disease process and developing innovative therapies. While the exact cause of lupus is unknown, it is believed to involve a combination of genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors. There is currently no cure for lupus; Current treatments often involve the use of immunosuppressive drugs, which can have significant side effects as they suppress the entire immune system. Therefore, there is a need for more targeted therapies that can specifically block the production of autoantibodies, and inflammatory cytokines, the root cause of tissue damage in lupus, without suppressing the immune system broadly. The lifelong and incapacitating nature of lupus incurs enormous healthcare costs, reduces the quality of life, increases the risk of losing the ability to work, and can be fatal. While there have been notable advances in the understanding and clinical management of lupus, there is still an urgent need for a deeper understanding of the disease process and the design of newer therapeutic approaches.

In his MS research, he focused on an Early Growth Response Protein 2 (EGR2), which has been previously shown by others to be integral for the nervous system. Recent studies reported that EGR2 also regulates the immune system. There is a limited knowledge on the role of EGR2 on B cells of lupus, which is the main focus of my research. In this study, by using a unique conditional EGR2 knock out lupus-prone mice, a novel finding is that EGR2 regulates late B cell differentiation in lupus-prone mice. These studies suggest that EGR2 may serve as a promising therapeutic target; however, further clinical research in humans is necessary to evaluate its efficacy and potential for treatment.

Publications

Phytochemical-screening-and-pharmacological-evaluation-of-methanol-extract-ofamaranthus-tricolor-l-stem IJARR, 6(9), 2021; 01-06

The mental health impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Dhaka, Academia Letters, Article 2538. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2538

Stem Cell Transplantation Therapy and Neurological Disorders: Current Status and Future Perspectives, Biology 2022, 11, 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11010147

Recent advancements of nanoparticles application in cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy, 153 (2022) 113305, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2022.113305

The impact of mucormycosis (black fungus) on SARS-CoV-2-infected patients (2022) Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:69341–69366, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22204-8

Presentations

The role of EGR2 in B cell development in systemic lupus erythematosus, seminar, May 2025

Development of new bioactive molecules to treat breast and lung cancer with natural myricetin and its derivatives: A computational and SAR approach, KFUPM seminar May 2023

The mental health impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Dhaka, COVID Awareness seminar 2022

Examination Graduate Committee

Major Advisor/Chair:

S. Ansar Ahmed, BVSc, PhD
Professor of Immunology
Director, Summer Veterinary Scholars Research Program,
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology

Graduate Advising Committee Members:

Xin M. Luo, PhD
Assistant Department Head for Graduate and Postgraduate Studies Professor
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology

Rujuan Dai, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology

Christopher M. Reilly, PhD
Tenured Professor and Chairman for Biomedical Sciences Via Virginia College of
Osteopathic Medicine
Research Associate Professor
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine