Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, PhD

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Principal Investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, and Freeman Hrabowski Scholar at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Ishmail earned his B.S. in animal science from North Carolina A&T State University in 2006 and his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. He completed postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell and University of Pennsylvania in 2018. He joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in the Biology Department in 2018 as the Mitchell and Margo Blutt Presidential Assistant Professor. He was recruited to Columbia University in 2021, promoted to Associate Professor in 2023, and awarded tenure in 2025.

His lab is integrating the peripheral and central nervous systems, seeking to uncover genes and neural circuits for touch and pain from the skin and other organs to interconnected networks across the brain. They are elucidating body-brain physiology – taking a wholistic approach that combines high-resolution behavioral mapping, brain and peripheral neuron imaging, and neural circuit manipulations. His work has been published in the field’s leading journals include Cell, Nature, and Neuron and his work has been covered in the Washington Post, NPR, and other media outlets. He is a recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience, Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Pew Biomedical Scholar, Rita Allen Fellow, McKnight Scholar, Kavli-Grossman Scholar, One Mind Rising Star Award, Chan Zuckerberg SDL Award, NIH New Innovator Award and NIH Pioneer Award. He is also a recipient of the Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award, one of the highest honors for faculty at Columbia University.

Q and A interview of Ishmail (Quanta Magazine, 2024)
Q and A interview of Ishmail. 50 Scientists that Inspire, 50th Year Anniversary Issue. (Cell, 2024)
Q and A interview of Ishmail (Neuron, 2021)