Dr Md Nazmul Islam is a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at the School of Health & Life Sciences. He is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) and Institute of Biomedical Science (FIBMS). Prior to starting his academic career at Teesside, Nazmul was a Postdoctoral research associate at the Dept. of Bioengineering, Imperial College London between 2018 and 2020. At Imperial, Nazmul worked on a cancer research UK grant to develop screening tools for prostate cancer based on electrochemical detection of miRNA biomarkers. Previously, he completed his PhD in analytical biochemistry at Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Australia. His research interest lies in the development of biosensor- based novel diagnostic technologies for detecting clinically relevant disease biomarkers.  

Dr Islam has a track record with a total of 28 articles published in leading scientific journals including Small, Nanoscale, Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Communications, Lab on a Chip,  Biosensors and Bioelectronics, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Small Methods, etc. These articles have been cited more than 3000 times leading to an h-index of 26.

Nazmul's research publications can be found on google scholar.

• Nazmul’s laboratory has won £100’000 funding for the project entitled 'Enriched eXosomal signatures for PANcreatic Cancer early Detection (EXPAND)' at a sandpit arranged by Cancer Research UK (CRUK), EPSRC, and Pancreatic Cancer UK (PCUK) in collaboration with colleagues from Imperial College London (Dr Piers Boshier), University College London (Dr Pilar Nunez), and Deep Science Venture (Dr Pedro Sampaio). 
• Nazmul received the Royal Society of Chemistry Research Fund (£3980) for the project entitled 'Enhancing specificity in electrochemical exosome sensor'

Dr Islam's research focuses on developing novel biosensor-based platforms for personalised diagnostics of diseases.  Briefly, this includes the following areas:

• Low-cost diagnostics for exosomes and other circulating biomarkers 
• Paper-based liquid biopsy test for diseases
• Lab-on-a-chip platform integrated with smart detection methods (e.g., electrochemical and optical readouts) and bioassays (e.g., immunoassays, nucleic acid analysis, cytometry).
• Wearable/flexible electrochemical sensors

Dr Islam is currently teaching various modules spanning both disciplines of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences:

• Trends in Biochemistry  (Yr3), Module leader
• Structural and Molecular Biochemistry (Yr2), Module leader
• Biochemistry & Chemical Science (Yr1, tutor)
• Clinical Biochemistry (Yr3, tutor)
• Clinical Pharmacology (Yr3, tutor)
• Clinical Biochemistry & Diagnostic Techniques (MSc, tutor)
• Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics (MSc, tutor)

If you’re interested in applying for an external scholarship (e.g, commonwealth scholarship) and you are looking for a host, please contact Nazmul via email.

• Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA)
• Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science  (FIBMS)
• Member of Royal Society of Chemistry, MRSC
• Associate Member of the American Association for Cancer Research, AACR
• Member of the Electrochemical Society (ECS)