Dr Zakia Sultana is a Mid-Career Researcher within the Mother and Babies Research Program at the University of Newcastle and HMRI. She earned her PhD in Reproductive Medicine from the University of Newcastle in 2018, following a Bachelor and Master of Pharmacy from Rajshahi University, Bangladesh.
Zakia’s PhD research focused on identifying biomarkers for oxidative damage and aging in placentas during pathologic pregnancies. She developed in vitro models using human placental tissues to explore these mechanisms and identified potential therapeutic targets for high-risk pregnancies. Her findings, published in prestigious journals, earned her an Early Career Research (ECR) fellowship.
Currently, Dr Sultana’s research extends to aging-related disorders, where she leverages her expertise in molecular biology and medical biochemistry to uncover molecular mechanisms of aging and identify therapeutic targets.
She leads projects on placental aging, UV radiation and skin damage, and oxidative damage in brain aging, and co-supervises two PhD students.
Dr Sultana possesses a comprehensive research skillset in cell biology and medical biochemistry, with proficiency in cell and tissue culture, Real-time qPCR, CRISPR-Cas9, siRNA gene silencing, protein analysis, immunohistochemistry, western blotting, ELISA, confocal and optical microscopy, and animal studies.
