About

I am a senior lecturer of Biomedical Science, within the School of Human Sciences. I am also the Employability lead for the Biomedical Science Human Biology. In these programs, student-focused curricula are taught with a specific emphasis to enhance graduate employability.

I have a Ph.D in Neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh followed by postdocs from Bristol, Cardiff and Sheffield Universities working on projects on learning and memory, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. I joined the University of Derby in 2023 as a Lecturer.

My role as a Lecturer and Employability lead at the University is focussed on providing core knowledge and skills as well as market preparedness of students at the end of their degrees.   

Teaching responsibilities

I have experience in teaching at multiple universities including Bristol, Cardiff and Kashmir University (India) at undergraduate and postgraduate levels

I lead module at level 5, level 6, and level 7 (MSc). I lead and teach Clinical Immunology, Research Project, Research methods and Data interpretation in addition to other modules such as Special topics and Current Issues in Biomedical Sciences and Concepts of.

My Teaching Philosophy involves a mix of Constructivism and Progressivism where students are part of teaching. In addition to the essentialism where teaching is led by the a structured curriculum I use enquiry based, blended learning activities to help students develop skills such as exploration and synthesis. I also use team building exercises to help students develop skills in organisation and teamwork.

In my teaching, I focus on blended learning activities using the enquiry-based learning, including yet not limited to, problem-based, and team-based learning to nurture students’ problem-solving skills, and teamworking.   

Research interests

My main research interest is to understand the genetic and cellular mechanisms of brain function in health and Disease. I am especially interested in mechanisms of Neurodegenerative (AD,PD) and Neurodevelopmental diseases such as autism, how we can prolong healthy ageing.

In my lab, we use Drosophila as a model system to characterise and identify these mechanisms. We employ a range of techniques including behavioural studies (memory measurement, anxiety and social behaviour), Immunohistochemistry, live imaging, molecular cloning, biochemistry and confocal imaging.

A small and yet developing interest is to use computation to explore and analyse human patient data to understand the risk and trends. This is in collaboration with colleagues in Suffolk University.

Membership of professional bodies

• Genetic Society, UK
• British Neuroscience Association, UK
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Qualifications

• PhD in Neuroscience, The University of Edinburgh, UK
• MSc in Biochemistry (First), Department of Biochemistry, The University of Kashmir, India
• Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh), Panjab University, India

International experience

I have experience of Teaching at Kashmir University in India where I taught on Microbiology courses.

In the media

2013: School of Physiology and Pharmacology | News and features | University of Bristol

Recent publications

• Trinca TM, Malik BR. Irradiation of Drosophila melanogaster Leads to Increased Autophagy in Multiple Adult Tissues. J Exp Neurol. 2024;5(4):167-171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33696/Neurol.5.099

• Maddison, D.C., Malik B., Amadio L., Bis-Brewer, D., Zuchner, S., Peters, O.M., Smith, G.A. COPI-regulated mitochondria-ER contact site formation maintains axonal integrity. Cell Rep, 2023. 42(8): p. 112883. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112883 
• Samuel Deutsch and Bilal Malik*. Impact of sleep on autophagy in neurodegenerative disease: Sleeping your mind clear. (Archives of Molecular Biology and Genetics) (2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.33696/genetics.1.007 (*Corresponding author).

• Abdul-Basit Booley, Faheema Kimmie-Dhansay, Tina Roberts, Haly Holmes, Bilal Malik, Wayne Selting, Rawieyah Mollagee, and Haajir Booley. Essential laser dose parameters required for decontamination of titanium dental implant surfaces affected by Peri-implant Disease: A Systematic review and meta-analysis. OSF Registries (2021) Doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/XZV8E
• Bilal R. Malik, Daniel Maddison, Gaynor A. Smith, Owen M. Peters. Autophagic and endo-lysosomal dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease. (Review) Molecular Brain (2019).
• James Philip Higham*, Bilal Rashid Malik*, Edgar Buhl, Jenny Dawson, Anna Sayoko Ogier, Katie Lunnon, James John Llewellyn Hodge. Overexpression of the Alzheimer’s disease-associated gene Ankyrin reverses the effect of Tau on neurodegeneration and memory loss in Drosophila. Front Cell Neurosci. (2019).  https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2019.00260 (* Equal contribution)

• Malik BR, Godena VK, Whitworth AJ. VPS35 pathogenic mutations confer no dominant toxicity but partial loss of function in Drosophila and genetically interact with parkin. Hum Mol Genet. (2015)
• Bilal R. Malik and James J.L. Hodge. Drosophila associative memory. Journal of visual experimentation. (90), e50107, doi:10.3791/50107 (2014).
• Bilal R. Malik and James J.L. Hodge. CASK and CaMKII function in memory. Neurosci. (2014).
• Sonia Cavaliere, John M. Gillespie, Bilal R. Malik and James J.L. Hodge. KCNQ channels show conserved ethanol block and function in ethanol behaviour and age-related memory impairment. PLoSONE, vol 8.(2013)
• Bilal R. Malik, John Michael Gillespie and James J. L. Hodge. CASK and CaMKII function in the mushroom body α’/ß’ neurons during Drosophila memory formation: CASK and CaMKII in memory. Neurosci. (2013).
• Richard Emes, et al. Evolutionary expansion and anatomical specialization of synapse proteome complexity. Nat. Neurosci. (2008).