Dr. Ahmad Khundakar is Head of Integrated Science and Associate Professor of Pharmacy at Teesside University. His responsibilities include strategic planning, academic leadership, curriculum design, research development and stakeholder engagement, including with the General Pharmaceutical Council, alongside mentoring academic staff and students.

Dr. Khundakar has a broad foundation in biomedical science and neuroscience and has published and presented extensively in the fields of neuropharmacology and neuropathology. His research primarily focuses on the pathological basis and societal implications of dementia-causing illnesses.

He is currently Principal Investigator at the National Horizons Centre, leading innovative projects that utilise Raman spectroscopy and machine/deep learning technologies to develop diagnostic tools for analysing biofluids from patients with Lewy body dementia.

In public health, Dr. Khundakar leads projects investigating the impact of delirium on dementia in care home settings. He co-leads the Dementia Research Partnership Network with Dr. Kamar Ameen-Ali, which fosters collaboration between academics and clinicians, while involving people living with dementia and their families as research partners to ensure research efforts address the needs of those most affected.

Previously, Dr. Khundakar studied the neurological mechanisms behind hallucinations in dementia with Lewy bodies, as well as the role of the cingulate cortex in depression and executive dysfunction in the same condition. He has also conducted research on post-mortem brain tissue from patients with late-life depression, identifying changes in regions related to emotional regulation that may signal an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment and subsequent dementia.

His PhD research focused on neurotrophic factors and their role in antidepressant efficacy within the hippocampus. His findings demonstrated that chronic administration of antidepressants and electroconvulsive therapy significantly increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), highlighting its central role in the treatment of depression.

• Course Leader: 

• • BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science (2018–2024)

• Former Module Leader:

• • The Pathobiology of Neurological Diseases (Postgraduate)
  • Diagnostic and Experimental Pathology (Undergraduate)
  • Clinical Pharmacology (Undergraduate)
  • Human Ageing and Disease (Undergraduate)
  • Experimental Methods in Life Science (Foundation)

• Former Lecturer: 

• • Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics (Postgraduate)

PhD Supervision 

• Alaa Gouda Abdelmoneim Mohamed 

PhD Completions

• Dr Nathan Coles (SHLS, Teesside University)
• Dr Agathe Quesnel (SHLS, Teesside University)
• Dr Daniel Erskine (Newcastle University)
• Dr Lina Patterson (Newcastle University)

PhD Examinations 

• Dr Lautaro Baro (Teesside University)
• Dr Rachael Odunmbaku (University of Portsmouth)

• PI: 2023. 'Label-free Raman spectral analysis of α-synuclein aggregation using a modified RT-QuIC assay in post-mortem cerebrospinal tissue in Lewy body dementia'. Alzheimer’s Research UK Network Centre Pump-priming grant. £4292.
• Co-I: 2023. 'Novel approaches for the identification of alpha-synuclein modifications as potential biomarkers in melanoma'. Biochemical Society. £5000. 
• PI: 2022. 'An examination of phosphoproteome patterns in alpha synuclein using LC-MS/MS'. Alzheimer’s Research UK Network Centre Pump-priming grant. £4327.
• Co-I: 2021-2024. 'Determining the impact of multiple pathologies in Lewy body dementia'. Alzheimer’s Research UK. £207,416. 
• Co-I: 2015–2019. ‘Understanding the basis and interaction of non-cognitive and cognitive symptoms in dementia with Lewy bodies’. Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre Grant. £350,000. 
• PI: 2014. ‘The role of the thalamic lateral pulvinar nucleus in visual hallucinations in the LBD’. Society for Biology Undergraduate Research Bursaries. £1440.
• PI/DoS: 2013–2017. 'The role of visual components of the thalamus in visual hallucinations in the LBD’. NIHR Yvonne Mairy PhD studentship. £177,000.
• Co-I: 2013–2016. ‘Molecular mechanisms underlying visual hallucinations in LBD. Alzheimer’s Society. £178,419.
• PI: 2012–2013. ‘Investigating the biochemical basis of visual hallucinations in LBD’. NIHR Newcastle BRU Award. £41,000. 

• Centre for SHLS Biodiscovery Disease Analytics cluster lead. 
• Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Network member.
• Lewy Body Dementia Association 'Prodromal' and 'Trial Methods' ISTAART Working Groups member.
• Deep Dementia Phenotyping (DEMON) Network member
• NovoPath Seminar Group member.
• Neurodegenerative Pathology Research Group member at Newcastle University. https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ndprg/.

• Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science.
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
• Co-lead of the Dementia Research Partnership Network.
• Member of the Alzheimer's Research UK Network Pump Panel Award Panel.
• Member of the Alzheimer's Association.
• Member of International Movement Disorder and Parkinson's Society.
• Member of The British Society of Gerontology.
• Associate member of Fuse Centre for Translational Research in Public Health.
• Trustee of Neuro Key.
• Member of the Teesside Dementia Steering Group.
• Review Editor in Aging Psychiatry for Frontiers in Psychiatry.
• Review Editor in Dementia pathology and Co-morbidities for Frontiers in Dementia.
• Grant reviewer for EPSRC, Alzheimer’s Society and BRACE - Alzheimer's Research.
• Manuscript reviewer for British Journal of Psychiatry, Psychopharmacology, Current Drug Targets, Pharmacogenetics and Genomics, Journal of Affective Disorders, Psychiatry Research, Current Molecular Medicine, Neurobiology of Aging, Neurobiology of Disease, and Frontiers in Psychiatry.
• Proofreader/Copy Editor.