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Contact information


simeen.tabassimofrad@psych.ox.ac.uk


+44 (0)1865 618195


ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7324-6680

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Simeen Tabassi Morfrad

BA (Hons) First Class MA (Dist) PhD PhD

Research Fellow, Co-Chair of Oxford Research Staff Society

Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Neuropathology, Neuroimmunology

Dr Simeen Tabassi Mofrad is a Research Fellow in the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford and a Research Member of the Common Room at Wolfson College. She is Co-Chair of the Oxford Research Staff Society and serves on the Executive Committee of the Eye as a Biomarker for Alzheimer's Disease Professional Interest Area of the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART), part of the Alzheimer's Association.

Her research focuses on identifying diagnostic biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases by investigating the neuroinflammatory, genetic, and lifestyle-related factors that influence brain structure and function. Integrating interdisciplinary neuroscience, large-scale neuroimaging, population-scale biomedical datasets, and advanced computational approaches, she seeks to elucidate the mechanisms underlying brain ageing and neurodegeneration. Recent research includes establishing normative, sex-specific benchmarks of age-related volumetric changes in subcortical brain regions using neuroimaging data from 46,111 UK Biobank participants, providing reference trajectories that distinguish healthy ageing from pathological neurodegeneration. She has also identified sex-specific patterns of subcortical brain ageing associated with alcohol consumption in 9,866 UK Biobank participants, revealing differential signatures of neurodegenerative vulnerability and highlighting the importance of considering biological sex and modifiable lifestyle factors in studies of brain ageing.

These normative reference trajectories provide a framework for identifying brain regions most vulnerable to ageing, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration, with applications in biomarker discovery, disease monitoring, and therapeutic development. By bridging interdisciplinary neuroscience with clinical translation, her research aims to advance precision approaches for the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, delay cognitive decline and dementia, and inform the development of targeted interventions.

Dr Tabassi Mofrad welcomes applications from prospective MSc and DPhil students with a strong interest in ageing and neurodegeneration, particularly those interested in integrating neuroimaging, genomic, and inflammatory data within large-scale population studies.

Sources of Funding  

Alzheimer's Research UK, Travel Award (2026)

Guarantors of Brain, Travel Award (2025)

Lockey Fund, Travel Award (2025)

Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), Rubicon Fellowship - Ranked First Nationally (2024 - 2027)

Leiden University Fund, Research Grant (2020 - 2021)  

Recent publications

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