Samrina Rehman

Dr Samrina Rehman, FRSB, MRSC

PhD, EMBA, Dr

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4754-9247

Personal profile

Biography

Samrina graduated from The University of Manchester with an MChem in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry followed by an MSc in Cheminformatics. After her masters, she joined Inpharmatica, contributing to the creation of novel in silico chemogenomic drug-discovery tools now integrated into ChEMBL. She earned a PhD in Systems Biology from the University of Manchester, under the directorship/supervision of Professor Hans Westerhoff, where she applied systems biology methods to investigate Dupuytren's disease biology. Her postdoctoral research focused on stressed networks in liver disease and involved patient-derived iPSCs. Concurrently, she developed mathematical models to understand chronic myeloid leukemia, and urothelial cancer. This work earned her a prestigious Unilever fellowship to study the metabolome of the human scalp, which was further expanded to include the transcriptomes and lipidomes integrated with systems biology methods.

At Evotec UK, Samrina applied systems biology and computational expertise to expand the drug discovery services, including projects on Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. In 2019, she joined Medicines Discovery Catapult, providing bioinformatics support to the UK life sciences and drug discovery SME community. Her role involved biomarker discovery for translational research, supporting projects in immuno-oncology, healthy ageing, neuropathic pain, and psychiatry. She also led external informatics collaborations on motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis.

Her current research focuses on applying innovative methods to evaluate heterogeneity and disparities in brain tissue affected by primary progressive multiple sclerosis, comparing normal-appearing white matter. Additionally, through her external affiliation, she advises startups and SMBs on business development, strategy, leadership and market analysis. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, serves on the American Dupuytren’s Foundation research committee, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

Qualifications

Executive MBA, Quantic School of Business and Technology

PhD Systems Biology, University of Manchester

MSc Cheminformatics, UMIST/University of Manchester

MChem Hons. Chemistry, University of Manchester

Research interests

Application of informatics, modelling and systems biology tools and techniques to help unravel the complexity of human physiology and address challenges in a range of clinical conditions and human disease. Projects span across several medical areas including connective tissue disease, plastic & reconstructive surgery research, liver disease, neurodegenerative disease (motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis), neuropathic pain, mental illness (antidepressant response), psychiatry conditions and also healthy ageing.

  • Medical systems biology
  • Biomarker and drug discovery
  • Clinical metabolomics
  • Cancer and stem cell research
  • Informatics, machine learning, multivariate data analysis, biostatistics.

Other research

Regulation, Science Policy, Market Research

Teaching

  • MSc Precision Medicine Course Module: Transcriptomics and Functional Genomics BIOL 72021 - Translational Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

Opportunities

For collaborations please contact: [email protected]

Impact

Awards, Grants and Prizes

  • SheFi Web3 Scholarship (USD 799), Jul 2025
  • Royal Society of Chemistry Interest in Chemistry grant (GBP 225), Jun 2025
  • Powell Scholarship awarded to high potential Global Business Leaders, (USD 4,900), Sept 2023
  • Strada Leadership Scholarship. This award recognises exceptional academic merit and career achievement, Quantic School of Business & Technology, (USD 3,500), Aug 2023
  • Global Challenges Research Fund Institutional Sponsorship (£salary)(Prof. A Masters, (total value GBP 5,400), Feb 2017 
  • Unilever Sponsorships awarded (£salary) - Multiple sponsorships in collaboration with Prof. HV Westerhoff, (total amount GBP 235,000), Nov 2013 and Dec 2014    
  • Biocrates Life Sciences award - best poster at the 2nd Metabolomics & Systems Biology conference, Chicago, USA, Apr 2013
  • Scoping Project funds (with Prof. HV Westerhoff), Unilever UK & Ireland, (total amount GBP 20,472), Oct 2012  and Mar 2013   
  • Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Biosciences, (GBP 500), May 2012
  • Keystone Symposia Future of Science scholarship (USD 1,200), Apr 2011
  • Federation of European Biochemical Societies YTF Award (EUR 980), Feb 2011
  • Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund (GBP 500), Feb 2011
  • Invitrogen award to present at University of California, Irvine, USA (USD 1,000), May 2010
  • Biochemical Society to present at ICSB 2009, Stanford, USA (GBP 400), Sep 2009 

News

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

  • Fellow, Royal Society of Biology, 2024-
  • American Medical Informatics Association, 2024-
  • OBN (UK), 2024-
  • Applied Microbiology International, 2023-
  • British Society for Research on Ageing, 2022-
  • Data Science Foundation, 2020-
  • British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2019-
  • Duypuytren Research Committee, 2017-
  • Biochemical Society (a FEBS constituent society), 2007-
  • Royal Society of Chemistry, 2006-

My collaborations

Please see Samrina's publications for indications of her extensive international collaboration network.

Academia

  • AMBER, King's College London, UK
  • Free radicals in human biosamples - EPR Spectroscopy - Liverpool John Moores University, UK
  • Lipidomics, Northumbria University, UK
  • Institut d'Économie Scientifique et de Gestion, School of Management, FR
  • Storywriter/Scripting for mass communication, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, ZA

Not for profit

  • Dupuytrens Research Foundation, USA

Industry

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, A Systems approach to understand Dupuytren's disease

1 Jan 2007 → 10 Jun 2011

Award Date: 13 Dec 2011

External positions

Business Strategy Consultant

Jan 2025 → …

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Digital Futures
  • Cancer
  • Institute for Data Science and AI

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  • 2 Membership of professional association