Profile
Regenerative Medicine Scientist, Stem Cell Researcher and Educator
Dr. Azra Mehmood completed her BSc (Hons) in Animal Husbandry from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, joining CEMB in 2004 as an MPhil research scholar before receiving her PhD in 2011 under an indigenous HEC scholarship. Her doctoral research on endothelial progenitor cells in diabetic heart failure established the first rat models of diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy in Pakistan. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Cincinnati's Stem Cells Research Group.
She and her PhD researchers were the first in Pakistan to optimise culture conditions for human cord tissue-derived stem cells, skin keratinocytes, fibroblasts, chondrocytes, lipoaspirate-derived cells, and skin fibroblast-derived iPSCs, developing disease models for burns, oxidative stress and hyperglycaemia. She now leads the Stem Cells Therapeutics and Regenerative Medicine group as Associate Professor.
She has developed constructs combining stem cells with chitosan, PRP gel and amniotic-membrane scaffolds for wound healing, and since 2018 has engaged in clinical trials of autologous lipoaspirate stem cells for skin regeneration. She has produced nine PhD students, several trained at institutions including Johns Hopkins, Harvard Medical School and the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.
Selected contributions
Science translated into capability
First-in-Pakistan cell culture protocols
Optimised culture conditions for cord tissue, keratinocyte, fibroblast, chondrocyte and iPSC-derived stem cells for the first time in Pakistan.
Clinical translation
Leading clinical trials of autologous lipoaspirate stem cells for skin regeneration since 2018.
International society membership
Member of the American Heart Association, Wound Healing Society and TERMIS.
Awards
PCST Research Productivity Award (2016-17), Wound Healing Society travel grant (2017), and multiple Punjab University Performance Evaluation Awards.