Jamil Saad

Jamil Saad is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). His primary affiliation is with the Academic Joint Departments, and he holds secondary appointments in the College of Arts and Sciences (Chemistry) and multiple centers within the School of Medicine, including the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Center for AIDS Research.

Dr. Saad earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Birzeit University (1996), an M.S. in Bioinorganic Chemistry from Bergen University (1998), and a Ph.D. in Bioinorganic Chemistry from Emory University (2002). His postdoctoral work at the HHMI/UMBC under Dr. Michael Summers focused on retroviral assembly mechanisms. He joined UAB in 2007, advancing to Professor in Microbiology.

His research integrates structural biology and virology, with a focus on HIV-1 and HTLV-1 assembly, pneumococcal capsule biology, and bacterial pathogenesis. Techniques include NMR spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, and biochemical assays. Key projects include understanding Gag-membrane interactions in HIV/HTLV assembly and structural basis for HIV-1 Tat secretion.

He has received numerous awards, including the UAB Outstanding Teaching Award (2019), and maintains active grants from NIH (e.g., Structural Basis for HIV-1 Gag Interactions). His Saad Lab collaborates widely and focuses on translational research to combat infectious diseases.

Notable contributions include characterizing novel pneumococcal capsule types (e.g., 36A/B, 33E, 10D) and elucidating mechanisms of viral assembly and immune evasion. His work bridges basic science and clinical applications, with implications for vaccine design and antiviral therapies.