Seemaab Ali

Area of Study: Neuroscience
Hometown: Little Rock, AR

Academics

Research interests

• Aging
• Metabolism
• Hypothalamic Inflammation
• Neurodegeneration
• Environmental Enrichment

Publications

• Ali S, Mansour AG, Huang W, Queen NJ, Mo X, Anderson JM, Hassan II QN, Patel RS, Wilkins RK, Caligiuri MA, Cao L. (2020). CSF1R inhibitor PLX5622 and environmental enrichment additively improve metabolic outcomes in middle-aged female mice. Aging (Albany NY), 12(3):2101-2122. doi.org/10.18632/aging.102724
• Huang W, Queen NJ, McMurphy TB, Ali S, Cao L. (2019). Adipose PTEN regulates adult adipose tissue homeostasis and redistribution via a PTEN-leptin-sympathetic loop. Molecular Metabolism, 30:48-60. doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2019.09.008
• Ali S, Liu X, Queen NJ, Patel RS, Wilkins RK, Mo X, Cao L. (2019) Long-term environmental enrichment affects microglial morphology in middle age mice. Aging (Albany NY), 11(8):2388-2402. doi.org/10.18632/aging.101923
• McMurphy T, Huang W, Queen NJ, Ali S, Widstrom KJ, Liu X, Xiao R, Siu JJ, Cao L. (2018). Implementation of environmental enrichment after middle age promotes healthy aging. Aging (Albany NY), 10(7):1698-1721. doi.org/10.18632/aging.101502
• Xiao R, Bergin SM, Huang W, Mansour AG, Liu X, Judd RT, Widstrom KJ, Queen NJ, Wilkins RK, Siu JJ, Ali S, Caligiuri MA, Cao L. (2018). Enriched environment regulates thymocyte development and alleviates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 75:137-148. doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2018.09.028

Awards

• Outstanding Poster Presentation & Travel Award, 2019 Oklahoma Geroscience Symposium
• OMRF Travel Award, 2019
• University Fellowship, 2016-2017

Long term goals/aspirations

• Working to understand age-related changes in the brain
• Continuing to discover what it means to live a good life

Post MSTP Training dream job

Neuropathologist and PI of a lab working on aging and neurodegeneration

Fun Facts

What you enjoy outside of school

Spending time with my wife, planning for our new baby, thinking about things, and learning about things

A talent you have always wanted

To be able to whistle well

Favorite book

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, by Robert Sapolsky

Favorite quote

I don't really like quotes. You can only save so much of an idea in a quote.

Can’t live without…

My wife and my family

If you weren’t in the MSTP, what would you be doing now?

If not the MSTP, I’d either be getting my MD or working on a PhD in one of many possible biomedical fields. One way or another, I would be working my way through more schooling.