Prof. Ashur Saleh Khalifa Jemil

I have dedicated myself to the lipid research field since 1984, when I joined the Prostaglandins Research Lab as a PhD student, at the Marvell house, Biochemistry Department, University College Dublin, Belfield, the place where the micro-diffusion method was invented by the great Irish scientist, Edward J Conway (1994-1968). There we examined the effects of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids on platelet aggregation stimulated by adenosine triphosphate (ADP), collagen and thrombin with OR without aspirin or pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PLP) or both. We demonstrated reduced platelet aggregation isolated from animals fed PUFA and decreased thromboxane B2 production. We have ALSO measured platelet aggregation by aggregometer, and the released platelet content, using different techniques, including: radioimmune assay for prostaglandin estimation, thin layer chromatography (TLC), for major lipid separation and high performance liquid chromatography for the separation of fatty acid content. We observed platelet organelles before and after aggregation by the electron microscope. The work has been presented in several seminars, and parts of it have been published in international journals and in the form of a PhD thesis. Early in 1989, I joined the team of Biochemistry department at the Medical Faculty, University of Tripoli in Libya, there with help of colleagues I started the lipid research laboratory, where complete serum lipid profile can be done, using gel electrophoresis and enzymatic methods. This work was extended in the laboratories of Salahudin teaching hospital and Tripoli Medical Center, with the cooperation of numerous clinicians. The fruit of our collaboration has been presented at international conferences and meetings and published in local and international journals. Because of the great advantages of a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to lipid research, and I look forward to continuing my work through a wider range of collaborations.