Department of Neurosurgery

Omar Chohan, M.D.

Education and Training

Undergraduate/Medicine: Aga Khan University (Pakistan)

Internship: University of New Mexico Hospital (current)

Additional training: New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities: Fellow in Basic and Translational Neuroscience

Clinical and Research Interests

Endovascular, neurobiology of stem cell stimulation, cell based therapies for neurosurgical disorders and CNS tumor stem cells

Awards

Invited “Guest Editor” for a special issue entitled “Novel Approaches to Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutics” for the Journal of Alzheimer Disease (2008)

World Association of Alzheimer Disease Scientists (WAADS) Award (2005)

Publications

Chohan, MO, Blanchard, J., Li, B., Iqbal, K., Grundke-Iqbal, I. Enhancement of adult hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial recall by a CNTF-based tetrapeptide (in preparation)

Chen S, Chohan MO, Grundke-Iqbal I, Iqbal K. I2pp2a affects tau phosphorylation via association with the catalytic subunit of Protein Phosphatase 2A (in preparation)

Chohan, MO., Li, B., Blanchard, J., Tung, Y.C., Heaney, A.T., Rabe, A., Iqbal, K., Grundke-Iqbal, I. Enhancement of dentate gyrus neurogenesis and memory by a neurotrophic peptide (in review)

Shi, J., Zhang, T., Zhao, C., Chohan, MO., Zhao, J., Wegiel, J., Gu, X., Iqbal, K., Grundke-Iqbal, I., Gong, C.,Liu, F. Phosphorylation of ASF/SF2 by Dyrk1A interrupts its role in inclusion of tau exon 10. J Biol Chem. 2008; in press (doi:10.1074/jbc)

Khawaja MR , Taj F, Saleheen D, Ahmad U, Chohan MO, Jafar T, Frossard PM. Association study of two interleukin-1 gene loci with essential hypertension in a Pakistani Pathan population. Journal of Human Hypertension. 2008;22(1):60-2

Li B, Chohan MO, Liu F, Grundke-Iqbal I, Iqbal K. Disruption of microtubule network by Alzheimer abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau. Acta Neuropathologica. 2007; 113(5): 501-11)

Chohan MO, Khatoon S, Grundke-Iqbal I, Iqbal K. Involvement of I2PP2a in the Abnormal Hyperphosphorylation of Tau and its Reversal by Memantine. FEBS Lett. 2006; 580(16):3973-9

Chohan MO, Haque N, Alonso A, El-Akkad E, Grundke-Iqbal I, Grover A, Iqbal K. Hyperphosphorylation-induced self assembly of murine tau: a comparison with human tau. J Neural Transm. 2005; 112(8):1035-47

Extra-curricular:

Reading Quran, contemporary literature, music and spending time with his wife and lovely daughter