Mohammad Zafar Imam

Dr Mohammad Zafar Imam is a Research Officer at the Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development (CIPDD), University of Queensland, working within the School of Biomedical Sciences. His research focuses on preclinical drug development, specializing in rodent disease models, behavioral pharmacological readouts, and toxicity studies.

• Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) and MS in Pharmaceutical Science from Jahangirnagar University
• Recipient of International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and UQ Centennial Scholarship
• PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from The University of Queensland (2019)

Research Interests include:

• Analgesic efficacy of natural products
• Side effects profiling of novel opioids
• Rodent model development for human diseases
• Toxicity studies in pain therapeutics

His 15 most recent publications (2024-2015) demonstrate expertise in:

• Assessing novel opioid compounds for diabetic neuropathy and bone cancer pain
• Investigating biased opioid receptor ligands with reduced side effects
• Comparative metabolic stability studies of endomorphin analogs
• Exploring multitargeted opioid ligand discovery
• Validating traditional medicinal plants for pharmacological properties

Current Supervision includes associate advisement of PhD candidates evaluating novel analgesics for Ross River Virus-induced chronic pain, collaborating with:

• Professor Kate Schroder
• Dr Andy Kuo
• Emeritus Professor Maree Smith

Laboratory & Team: Works within the CIPDD infrastructure at University of Queensland, focusing on preclinical testing pipelines for drug candidates.