Ayaz Najafov, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor Schools Medical School | Graduate School Departments Internal Medicine | Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern Graduate Programs Cancer Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology Biography Ayaz Najafov, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases. He has a secondary appointment in the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern. Dr. Najafov holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in molecular biology and genetics from Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey. He earned his doctoral degree at the University of Dundee in Scotland. He then completed postdoctoral training in cell biology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Najafov joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2021. Dr. Najafov is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Research Interest Anti-tumor immunity Cancer metabolism Immunogenic cell death Immunotherapy Necroptosis Publications Featured Publications SIGLEC12 mediates plasma membrane rupture during necroptotic cell death. Noh H, Hashem Z, Boms E, Najafov A, Nature 2025 Nov RIPK1 Promotes Energy Sensing by the mTORC1 Pathway. Najafov A, Luu HS, Mookhtiar AK, Mifflin L, Xia HG, Amin PP, Ordureau A, Wang H, Yuan J, Mol Cell 2021 01 81 2 370-385.e7 TAM Kinases Promote Necroptosis by Regulating Oligomerization of MLKL. Najafov A, Mookhtiar AK, Luu HS, Ordureau A, Pan H, Amin PP, Li Y, Lu Q, Yuan J, Mol Cell 2019 08 75 3 457-468.e4 GECO: gene expression correlation analysis after genetic algorithm-driven deconvolution. Najafov J, Najafov A, Bioinformatics 2019 01 35 1 156-159 BRAF and AXL oncogenes drive RIPK3 expression loss in cancer. Najafov A, Zervantonakis IK, Mookhtiar AK, Greninger P, March RJ, Egan RK, Luu HS, Stover DG, Matulonis UA, Benes CH, Yuan J, PLoS Biol 2018 08 16 8 e2005756 CrossCheck: an open-source web tool for high-throughput screen data analysis. Najafov J, Najafov A, Sci Rep 2017 07 7 1 5855 Necroptosis and Cancer. Najafov A, Chen H, Yuan J, Trends Cancer 2017 04 3 4 294-301 ARIH1 signaling promotes anti-tumor immunity by targeting PD-L1 for proteasomal degradation. Wu Y, Zhang C, Liu X, He Z, Shan B, Zeng Q, Zhao Q, Zhu H, Liao H, Cen X, Xu X, Zhang M, Hou T, Wang Z, Yan H, Yang S, Sun Y, Chen Y, Wu R, Xie T, Chen W, Najafov A, Ying S, Xia H, Nat Commun 2021 04 12 1 2346 Pharmacological targeting of MCL-1 promotes mitophagy and improves disease pathologies in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model. Cen X, Chen Y, Xu X, Wu R, He F, Zhao Q, Sun Q, Yi C, Wu J, Najafov A, Xia H, Nat Commun 2020 11 11 1 5731 Modulating TRADD to restore cellular homeostasis and inhibit apoptosis. Xu D, Zhao H, Jin M, Zhu H, Shan B, Geng J, Dziedzic SA, Amin P, Mifflin L, Naito MG, Najafov A, Xing J, Yan L, Liu J, Qin Y, Hu X, Wang H, Zhang M, Manuel VJ, Tan L, He Z, Sun ZJ, Lee VMY, Wagner G, Yuan J, Nature 2020 11 587 7832 133-138 Results 1-10 of 33 1 2 3 4 Next Last Books Featured Books PCR Guru: An Ultimate Benchtop Reference for Molecular Biologists Najafov A, Hoxhaj G (2016). Elsevier, Academic Press Western Blotting Guru Najafov A, Hoxhaj G (2017). Elsevier, Academic Press Honors & Awards R35 Equipment Supplement Award (NIH, NIGMS) (2024) Translational Pilot Award (Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern) (2023) R35 Maximizing Investigators Research Award (NIH, NIGMS) (2022) Science Signaling Editor's Choice (Najafov et al., 2019, Mol Cell) (2019) Innovator of the Year Award, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK (2012) Selection of work by the Faculty of 1000 (Najafov et al., 2012, Biochem J) (2011) Best Poster, EMBO Young Scientist Forum (2008) Discovery PhD Scholarship, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK (2008) Graduated with MSc High Honors (Summa Cum Laude) (2008) Graduated with BSc Honors (Magna Cum Laude) (2006) Bronze Medal, 11th International Biology Olympiad (2000) Gold Medal, Regional Biology Olympiad, Azerbaijan (1999) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (2019) American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) (2015)
