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Dr Jamal Nasir

I am interested in the link between genetics in behaviour and in the molecular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders.I am specifically interested in the dopamine signalling pathway in the brain and the role of protein-protein interactions in this important signal transduction pathway which is involved in both cognitive and motor aspects of brain function.Failure to regulate this pathway can lead to a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, including ADHD, Tourette syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and addiction.

Using a modified yeast two-hybrid methodology, we identified eleven novel dopamine receptor interacting proteins (DRIPs).We are using genetic, functional genomics, cell biology and other approaches to investigate the role of these proteins in schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and other dopamine related disorders.

We have recently detected an association between schizophrenia and SNPs in three DRIP genes in a case-control study using DNA samples of Danish origin.We are currently replicating this study in samples of Norwegian and Swedish origin.We are also comparing DRIP expression levels between cases and controls in postmortem brain samples.

I am involved in a number of other collaborative projects on dystonia, Rett syndrome, polyglutamine diseases and specific language impairment (SLI).

Recent publications:
Edmond Y. W. Chan, Jamal Nasir, Claire-Anne Gutekunst, Sarah Coleman, Alan Maclean, Alex Maas, Martina Metzler, Marina Gertsenstein, Christopher A. Ross, Andr?s Nagy and Michael R. Hayden (2002). Targeted disruption of Huntingtin-associated protein-1 (Hap1) results in postnatal death due to depressed feeding behavior.Human Molecular Genetics 11 (8), 945-959.

Liu, Jamal Nasir and Dale E. Bredesen (2004). Paraptosis: mediation by MAP kinases and inhibition by AIP-1/Alix. Cell Death and Differentiation 11 (10), 1066-1075

Jamal Nasir, Nafsika Frima, Ben Pickard, M. Pat Malloy, Lingping Zhan and Richard Gr?newald (2006) Unbalanced whole arm translocation resulting in loss of 18p in dystonia Movement disorders 21 (6);859-963.

Xinsheng Nan, Jianghui Hou, Alan Maclean, Jamal Nasir, Maria Jose Lafuente, Xinhua Shu, Skirmantas Kriaucionis and Adrian Bird (2007)
Interaction between chromatin proteins MeCP2 and ATRX is disrupted by mutations that cause inherited mental retardation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104 (8), 2709-14.

Ann Clark, Anne O’Hare, Jocelynne Watson, Wendy Cohen, Hilary Cowie, Jamal Nasir, Jonathan Seckl, Rob Elton (2007). Receptive Language Disorder in Childhood:Familial aspects and long term outcomes:Results from a Scottish study.Arch Dis Child 92(7), 614-9.

N Frima, J. Nasir and R.A.Grunewald (2007). The Inheritance of abnormal Vibration-Induced Illusion of Movement in dystonia. Mov Disord 21(6), 859-863.

Dr Jamal Nasir

Senior Lecturer in Functional Genetics

Section of Medical Genetics
Division of Clinical
Developmental Sciences
St George’s University of London
Cranmer Terrace
London SW17 0RE

Tel (+44)208 725 5967
Fax (+44)208 725 1039
Email: jnasir@sgul.ac.uk