Muhammad Ali

Education & Training

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• Ph.D.: University of Luxembourg, 2019
• M.S.: Universität des Saarlandes, 2014
• M.S.: Government College University, Faisalabad, 2013
• B.S.: Government College University, Faisalabad, 2010

Major Awards

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• EURON Mobility Grant, 2019
• Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease (JPND) Doctoral Fellowship, 2015

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Research Interests

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Dr. Muhammad Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WashU). His research focuses on identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). His work leverages large-scale, multi-platform proteomic datasets to uncover disease-specific and shared molecular signatures across tissues (cerebrospinal fluid and plasma) and disease stages.

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Recent Publications

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• GWAS meta-analysis of cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer’s biomarkers reveals loci regulating lipids, brain volume and autophagy

  Timsina, J., Jiang, C., McCartney, D. L., Tao, F., Dalmasso, M. C., Najar, J., Anastasi, F., Ohlei, O., Puerta Fuentes, R., Yang, C., Bradley, J., Western, D., Ali, M., Wang, C., Yang, C., Wu, Y., Liu, M., Budde, J., Williams, J. & Mahoney, R. & 135 others, Castillo Morales, A., Hohman, T. J., Dumitrescu, L., Wang, T. C., Tesi, N., Kern, S., Waern, M., Skoog, I., van Harten, A., Pijnenburg, Y. A. L., van der Flier, W. M., Sánchez-Juan, P., Rodriguez-Rodriguez, E., Kleineidam, L., Peters, O., Schneider, A., Küçükali, F., Bellenguez, C., Grenier-Boley, B., Heikkinen, S., de Rojas, I., Rujescu, D., Scherbaum, N., Hausner, L., Düzel, E., Grimmer, T., Wiltfang, J., Vandenberghe, R., Engelborghs, S., Heilmann-Heimbach, S., Schmid, M., Tegos, T., Scarmeas, N., Dols-Icardo, O., Moreno, F., Pérez-Tur, J., Bullido, M. J., Sánchez-Valle, R., Álvarez, V., García-González, P., Mir, P., Real, L. M., Piñol-Ripoll, G., García-Alberca, J. M., Seelaar, H., Ramakers, I., Papma, J., Hulsman, M., Laske, C., Teipel, S., Priller, J., Perneczky, R., Buerger, K., Nöthen, M. M., Lewczuk, P., Kornhuber, J., Hampel, H., Giegling, I., Goldhardt, O., Diehl-Schmid, J., Andrade, V., Heneka, M. M. T., Frölich, L., Vogelgsang, J., Graff, C., Thonberg, H., Ullgren, A., Papenberg, G., Deleuze, J. F., Dufouil, C., Wagner, M., Jessen, F., Holstege, H., van Duijn, C., Lebouvier, T., Hannon, O., Leinonen, V., Soininen, H., Herukka, S. K., Giedraitis, V., Löwenmark, M., Kilander, L., Genius, P., Rodríguez, B., Luckett, E. S., Navarro, A., Cano, A., Marquié, M., Blennow, K., Zetterberg, H., Lleo, A., Boada, M., Ruiz, A., Lee, V. M. Y., Van Deerlin, V. M., Deming, Y., Johnson, S. C., Engelman, C. D., Pastor, P., Alvarez, I., Peskind, E. R., Heslegrave, A. J., Saykin, A. J., Nho, K., Schindler, S. E., Morris, J. C., Holtzman, D. M., McDade, E., Renton, A. E., Goate, A., Ibanez, L., Riemenschneider, M., Albert, M. S., Laws, S. M., Porter, T., O’Brien, E. K., Shaw, L. M., Tijms, B. M., Ingelsson, M., Visser, P. J., Hiltunen, M., Sleegers, K., Ritchie, C. W., Sims, R., Belloy, M., Lambert, J. C., Vilor-Tejedor, N., Fernández, M. V., Li, Q. S., Nagle, M. W., Marioni, R. E., Ramirez, A., Bertram, L., van der Lee, S. J. & Cruchaga, C., Dec 2026, In: Nature communications. 17, 1, 7385.

• Data-driven clinical decision support tool for diagnosing mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease

  NCER-PD Consortium, Dec 2026, In: npj Parkinson’s Disease. 12, 1, 15.

• OMG! A proteomic determinant of neurodegenerative resiliency

  Duggan, M. R., Oh, H. S. H., Frank, P., Gomez, G. T., Zweibaum, D., Cui, Y., Chen, J., Surapaneni, A., Blew, C. O., Dark, H. E., Joynes, C. M., Kandala, S., Bilgel, M., Farinas, A., Erus, G., Tian, Q., Candia, J., Pucha, K. A., Landman, B. A. & Dumitrescu, L. & 36 others, Hohman, T. J., Lewis, A., Moghekar, A., Siavoshi, F., Ali, M., Liu, M., Xu, Y., Western, D., Kaneko, N., Kato, S., Furuichi, M., Shibayama, M., Katsuno, M., Nishita, Y., Otsuka, R., Gottesman, R. F., Dammer, E. B., Seyfried, N. T., Levey, A. I., Erik, E. C., Mormino, E., Wagner, A. D., Poston, K. L., Kapogiannis, D., Grams, M. E., Bhargava, P., Waga, I., Davatzikos, C., Resnick, S. M., Ferrucci, L., Bennett, D. A., Cruchaga, C., Wyss-Coray, T., Kivimäki, M., Coresh, J. & Walker, K. A., Dec 2026, In: Molecular neurodegeneration. 21, 1, 9.

• A plasma-based protein signature combining NPTXR, ACHE, and p-tau217 predicts progression to symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease

  Liu, M., Gong, K., Chen, Y., Heo, G., Xu, Y., Timsina, J., Western, D., Budde, J., Morris, J., Marco, G., Holtzman, D., Hinson, J., Levin, S., Ashton, N., Denkinger, M., Schindler, S., Das, K., Ali, M. & Cruchaga, C., Aug 2026, In: Alzheimer’s and Dementia. 22, 8, e71748.

• Large-scale CSF and plasma proteomics reveal immune, synaptic, and extracellular matrix disruptions across neurodegenerative diseases

  Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center (Knight ADRC), Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Fundació ACE Alzheimer Center Barcelona (FACE), Barcelona-1, Stanford Alzheimer Disease Research Center (Stanford ADRC) & The Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium (GNPC), Jul 15 2026, In: Neuron. 114, 14, p. 2549-2565.e7

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