Dr Manir Ali
- Position: Senior Research Fellow
- Areas of expertise: vision research; genetics; family studies; ophthalmology; neuroscience; molecular biology; next generation sequencing
- Email: M.Ali@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 8420
- Location: 8.14 Wellcome Trust Brenner Building
Profile
I read Biological Sciences specialising in Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BSc honours degree in 1990. I then moved to Cambridge as a postgraduate research assistant in the Department of Medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital with Professor Tim Cox, where I studied for a PhD at the University of Cambridge on the molecular biology of hereditary fructose intolerance.
I moved to the St. James’s University Hospital campus in Leeds in 1996 to work with Professor John Isaacs as a post-doc researching gene expression in anergic T-cells and synovial biopsies from rheumatoid arthritis patients. This work involved spending time at GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage and I was awarded the British Society of Rheumatology Young Investigator award in 2000. Back in Leeds, in 2002, I worked with Professor Yanick Crow as a research fellow on the molecular genetics of the neurodevelopmental condition, Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome, and in 2004, I worked with Professor Chris Inglehearn in collaboration with the Roslin Institute, on the genetics of blind chickens.
I became an independent academic fellow following a New Investigator Award from the Medical Research Council in 2006 and was tenured in 2009 as a Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader in the Section of Ophthalmology & Neuroscience which is now part of the Division of Molecular Medicine.
Responsibilities
- Group Leader
Research interests
My research aims to find the genetic cause and molecular basis of inherited eye disease to aid diagnosis and search for better treatments for these conditions. I am a member of the Leeds Vision Research Group, the Leeds Psychosis Research Group, the UK Inherited Retinal Disease Consortium and the European Retinal Disease Consortium.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Cambridge
- BSc Honours, University of Edinburgh
Professional memberships
- UK Eye Genetics Group (EGG)
- Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Student education
I teach on the MBChB programme and am Personal Tutor to undergraduate medical students in years 1 and 2. I also teach on the MSc in Precision Medicine.
Research groups and institutes
- Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's
- Genetics and genomics