About

Dr. S. Ansar Ahmed, BVSc, PhD, is a Professor of Immunology at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech. His primary research focuses on understanding why the immune system launches misdirected attacks on self-tissues, leading to chronic autoimmune diseases such as lupus. His laboratory employs various in vivo wildtype, gene knockout, and transgenic lupus murine models to delineate pathogenic autoimmune mechanisms. A significant aspect of his work investigates the female predominance in autoimmune disorders, exploring how hormonal factors, including estrogens and environmental estrogens, influence signaling pathways, transcription factors, and gene activation involved in inflammatory cytokine induction. Additionally, Dr. Ahmed's research addresses the role of epigenetics, such as microRNA, methylation, and acetylation, in lupus inflammation, with a focus on identifying signature microRNA expression profiles that could serve prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his contributions to this field. Dr. Ahmed also directs the DVM summer program at Virginia Tech, providing research experience opportunities for veterinary students. His extensive administrative roles include serving as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies since 2017, Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology from 2008 to 2017, and Director of the Summer Veterinary Scholars Research Program. His career includes significant contributions to research, education, and program development aimed at advancing understanding and treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Research topics

• Biology
• Microbiology
• Chemistry
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Electrochemical corrosion assisted exfoliation of active materials and Al foil current collectors for efficient recovery of spent lithium-ion batteries

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• In situ one-step formation of flexible porous polymerized ionic liquids membranes for efficient CO2 capture

  Journal of Membrane Science · 2026-04-21

  article
  PublisherDOI

• 200: DIETARY PEDIOCOCCUS AND ENTEROCOCCUS REDUCE GUT INFLAMMATION AND TISSUE COLONIZATION BY POTENTIALLY PATHOGENIC BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM FISTULOUS MICROLESIONS IN CROHN’S DISEASE

  Gastroenterology · 2025-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Comparative Outcomes of Inpatient and Outpatient Lung Transplantation: Insights from the UNOS STAR Database

  The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation · 2025-04-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Role of Lysosomal Two-Pore Channels in Ischemia Induced Cell Death

  Free Radical Biology and Medicine · 2025-10-30

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Black bone MRI morphometry for mandibular cortical bone measurement in head and neck cancer patients: prospective method comparison with CT

  Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology · 2025-12-29

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Clonal <i>Parabacteroides</i> from Gut Microfistulous Tracts as Transmissible Cytotoxic Succinate-Commensal Model of Crohn’s Disease Complications

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-01-10 · 4 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Crohn’s disease (CD) has been traditionally viewed as a chronic inflammatory disease that cause gut wall thickening and complications, including fistulas, by mechanisms not understood. By focusing on Parabacteroides distasonis (presumed modern succinate-producing commensal probiotic), recovered from intestinal microfistulous tracts (cavernous fistulous micropathologies CavFT proposed as intermediate between ‘mucosal fissures’ and ‘fistulas’) in two patients that required surgery to remove CD-damaged ilea, we demonstrate that such isolates exert pathogenic/pathobiont roles in mouse models of CD. Our isolates are clonally-related; potentially emerging as transmissible in the community and mice; proinflammatory and adapted to the ileum of germ-free mice prone to CD-like ileitis (SAMP1/YitFc) but not healthy mice (C57BL/6J), and cytotoxic/ATP-depleting to HoxB8-immortalized bone marrow derived myeloid cells from SAMP1/YitFc mice when concurrently exposed to succinate and extracts from CavFT-derived E. coli , but not to cells from healthy mice. With unique genomic features supporting recent genetic exchange with Bacteroides fragilis -BGF539, evidence of international presence in primarily human metagenome databases, these CavFT Pdis isolates could represent to a new opportunistic Parabacteroides species, or subspecies (‘ cavitamuralis’ ) adapted to microfistulous niches in CD.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mixed matrix membrane for hydrogen separation enhanced by Oxacalix[4]arene-Containing porous organic polymers

  Separation and Purification Technology · 2024-08-23 · 5 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Immunomodulatory Properties of Multi-Strain Postbiotics on Human CD14+ Monocytes

  Life · 2024-12-17 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  The ability of probiotics, comprising live microbiota, to modulate the composition of intestinal microbiomes has been connected to modulation of the central nervous system (Gut–Brain axis), neuroendocrine system (Gut–Skin axis), and immune response (Gut–Immune axis). Less information is known regarding the ability of postbiotics (cell wall components and secreted metabolites derived from live organisms) to regulate host immunity. In the present study, we tested postbiotics comprising single strains of bacteria and yeast (Lactobacillus acidophilus 16axg, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus 18fx, Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii 16mxg) as well as combinations of multiple strains for their ability to stimulate cytokine production by human CD14+ monocytes. We quantified cytokine gene and protein expression levels in monocytes following stimulation with postbiotics. Both heat-killed L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus stimulated naïve monocytes without significant differences between them. Heat-killed S. boulardii stimulated less cytokine production compared to postbiotic bacteria at the same concentration. Interestingly, the addition of heat-killed yeast to heat-killed L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus resulted in an enhancement of immune stimulation. Thus, heat-killed postbiotics have immune-modulating potential, particularly when bacteria and yeast are combined. This approach may hold promise for developing targeted interventions that can be fine-tuned to modulate host immune response with beneficial health impact.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Role of Levobupivacaine and Fentanyl in Second Stage of Labour: An Observational Study

  Bangladesh Journal of Pain. · 2024-12-31

  articleOpen access

  Background: To achieve adequate analgesia with a possible non-significant motor block, the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) recommended using a minimal concentration of local anaesthetics for labour epidurals. However, the concentration of local anaesthetics needs to increase to achieve effective analgesia in the second stage, as more recruitment of A-δ fibre occurs. This study compared the effects of the epidural bolus of Levobupivacaine-Fentanyl and Bupivacaine- Fentanyl in the second stage of labour.Methods: This study was carried out from April 2023 to March 2024 at the labour suit of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) and Mohammadpur Fertility Services and Training Centre (MFSTC), Dhaka, under the supervision of the Department of Anaesthesia, Analgesia, and Intensive Care Medicine, BMU. Parturient requestinglabour analgesia, satisfying the inclusion criteria were randomly divided equally into Groups LF (Levobupivacaine and Fentanyl) and BF (Bupivacaine and Fentanyl). Epidural was performed at the first stage of labour (cervical dilatation ≥4 cm) and an epidural dose of 6 ml of 0.1% levobupivacaine with fentanyl 2μg/ml through the epidural catheter was administered. Degree of analgesia by VAS, motor block by Bromage scale, foetal heart rate, and blood pressure were assessed at 5, 15, and 30 minutes after epidural dosage and then hourly till delivery. At the late second stage of labour, an epidural bolus dose of 12 ml of 0.1% Bupivacaine-Fentanyl solution in group BF and 12 ml of 0.1% Levobupivacaine-Fentanyl solution in group LF was administered. After bolus, the duration of the second stage of labour, mode of delivery, and maternal satisfaction by Likert scale were measured.Results: The study involved 44 participants who were statistically matched for age, BMI and gestational age. Pain intensity was measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the baseline VAS scores before the bolus had a slightly lower score in the BF group (P = 0.426) and after the bolus administration, the LF group showed a significantly lower VAS score than the BF group (P = 0.001). The LF group had a notably shorter second stage (22.75±9.97) compared to the BF group (52.67±17.19) (p&lt;0.05). Maternal satisfaction favoured LF and superior analgesic effectiveness (p&lt;0.005).Conclusion: The study demonstrates that epidural administration of levobupivacaine-fentanyl in the second stage achieved better analgesia, significantly shorter duration, and remarkable maternal satisfaction in comparison to bupivacaine-fentanyl.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AI051880

  NIH · $1.4M · 2009

• NIH Grant R01ES008043

  NIH · $563k · 2002

Frequent coauthors

• Rujuan Dai

  Virginia Tech

  38 shared

• Ran Lu

  Virginia Tech

  22 shared

• Xin Luo

  20 shared

• Zhuang Wang

  Northwestern Polytechnical University

  20 shared

• Alexander Rodriguez‐Palacios

  University School

  18 shared

• Ebru Karpuzoglu

  Emory University

  14 shared

• Christopher M. Reilly

  14 shared

• Arsalan Zaidi

  14 shared

Education

• Other, Not specified in the provided HTML

  Not specified in the provided HTML

• Ph.D., Not specified in the provided HTML

  Not specified in the provided HTML

Awards & honors

• Leukemia Foundation of America Fellow, 1985–1987