I am interested in modelling and understanding the developmental biology of cardiac development in health and disease. My focus is on inherited cardiovascular diseases and discovering new therapeutic potentials using a systems physiology perspective. Using an integrated platform of in silico computational modelling of the genome to in vitro hIPSC models to genome editing technology all technologies are applied to define possibilities in personalised medicine.

Always happy to consider enthusiastic and curious students interested in understanding on the mechanistic underpinnings of disease. The major areas of interest are:

1) Cardiogenesis in health & disease using Human IPSc

2) Evolution of cardiogenesis across species

3)Morphogenesis

4)Novel therapies for inherited cardiomyopathies

5) Novel markers for Cardiovascular disease

6) Rare disease mechanisms of action

7) Clinical application of Precision Medicine

8) Systems biology in health and disease

Prof  Rameen Shakur MD Ph.D. is an academic clinician-scientist and molecular biologist by training specializing in molecular mechanisms of regeneration and applications of precision medicine for cardiovascular disease at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston USA. Prof Shakur undertook his undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, UK where he completed his MPhil in Immunology, and completed his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh. He completed his clinical training at the John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, UK. He undertook his general medical and cardiology training in London at St Bartholomew's Hospital, The London Chest Hospital, and Cardiac imaging at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He was awarded the Winston Churchill fellowship at Harvard medical school where he undertook work in Prof Peter Libby's lab and also at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester at Prof Mike Ackerman's lab. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge at the Wellcome Trust Sanger centre and regenerative medicine laboratory. During his Ph.D., he was awarded the Isabelle Buohon award to undertake work on genome editing in human IPS cells at Prof George Church's lab at Harvard. He undertook his post-doctoral work at Prof Bob Langer's lab as the inaugural Janson fellow at the Koch institute for integrative cancer research at MIT. His work centers upon the delineation of the mechanism of action of inflammation and modulation of connexins and therapies for drug discovery in cardiovascular disease. He is also been instrumental in a number of important papers on novel models for the phenotype-genotype disparities in inherited cardiomyopathies.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward

My teaching philosophy is built on knowledge, critical thinking, and curiosity. It has always been my aim as an educator to enhance the active learning experience for students. As the tutor for St. Johns College, the University of Cambridge UK I have experience in instilling an appreciation and continual learning style using case-based and demonstration of practicals to synergize with key components from general concept lectures. I ran an interactive teaching programme that combined some core biological and physiological principles of the cardiovascular system. I enhanced my teaching practice through the Kaufmann teaching programme at MIT in 2018.

 I know how to develop from didactic lectures to inquiry-based or expeditionary learning methods and create a positive impact this has on student comprehension and also an appreciation of the subject. I believe in an active, immersive teaching style, for topics pertaining to biology and developmental biology.

Assessment of student learning:

I develop my beliefs in the classroom by using a combination of lectures, classroom interactions, applications of concepts to real-world situations, and visual and tactile components. I stimulate interest and motivate students to learn by being engaging and illustrating the value and importance of the presented material. This is accomplished by utilizing a friendly tone when discussing information in class, by encouraging my student's participation in classroom discussions, and by demonstrating the relevance of course topics to students’ work experiences.  There is both a summative and a reflective piece at the end of the class.

Classroom Environment:

 In my classroom, I promote an interactive learning environment by allowing my students to raise their hands and ask questions at any time and by asking for student input regularly during PowerPoint presentations and classroom discussions. In addition to contributing to an interactive learning environment, case studies and group work are used to improve students problem solving, reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. I facilitate student learning by allowing the pace of the class to be dictated by the student's ability to understand and apply the material uncovered in class. I also do this by administering one-minute papers to my students to obtain anonymous feedback that I will use in adapting my curriculum to better meet the needs of my students. Lastly, I facilitate learning by being available to my students inside and outside of class and by incorporating assignments that meet the needs of students of various learning styles.

Structure, rhetoric, and language:

To summarize, I feel that in order to achieve the ultimate goal of reflecting and engaging students, this can only be achieved through enhancing their learning experience through a combination of teaching methods and to make the classroom environment as stimulating and interactive as possible. This will ultimately help students learn and apply the course content to their future careers.

Founder and Chair of a number of med tech, Digitech and health care, life science companies. Developed a number of US patents granted in Ai and diagnosis through unsupervised learning and technology development to support real-world clinical care. Strong quality and regulatory experience in the health sector and awareness of how to make technology safe and appropriate for real-world health delivery for all in the community.