Ahmad Salahuddin
Ahmad Salahuddin (7 July 1937 – 26 November 1996) was an Indian biochemist who served as a professor of biochemistry and department chairman (1984-1996) at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Aligarh, India. He was a Founder Director of Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit at AMU in 1984. Early life 
Salahuddin was born on 7 July 1937 in Jairajpur, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Fazlul Bari, was a teacher at the Shibli National College, Azamgarh where he received his early education, and he later completed his undergraduate and master's degrees in 1955 and 1957 in chemistry from the Aligarh Muslim University. Initially as a research student, he took interest in physical chemistry, obtaining his PhD degree in chemistry from AMU Aligarh (1962). Career 
Starting in 1962, Salahuddin worked as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at AMU. With a Fulbright Fellowship by the U.S. Educational Foundation, he joined the laboratory of Charles Tanford at Duke University in 1964. He studied protein folding and focussed his career on the folding thermodynamics and kinetics, properties of the native and the unfolded proteins. His early collaborative work in uncovering residual native protein structure, experimentally, following treatment with heat, acid (low pH) in a number of model proteins in his lab was published in 1967. Later in 1964, he changed successfully his status into a Ph.D. Program in Biochemistry at the Duke University. He actually performed equilibrium unfolding studies on ribonuclease protein in guanidine hydrochloride, completing Ph.D. degree in biochemistry (1968). Salahuddin returned to AMU and joined the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, J.N. Medical College in 1968 as a reader. Salahuddin was present at the foundation ceremony of the new IBU Building on 15 January 1986. The event was inaugurated by Abdus Salam. He performed a critical role toward the establishment of the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Institute for Modern Biological and Biotechnological Education at Aligarh along with the AMU administration in 1984. Research
Egg white ovalbumin: The unfolding of ovalbumin, a 45 kDa protein, as a function of guanidine hydrochloride (0-6M) occurred reversibly in one step. The protein fractions in native (N) and the denatured states (D) were characterized by UV spectrometry and viscosity measurements at defined temperatures in buffer pH 7.0. The thermodynamics of folding and possibly kinetics followed a two state transition (N->D). The data were consistent with the fact that the native state was stabilized by hydrophobic effect in aqueous solution; this effect was diminished by introducing Guanidine hydrochloride to protein solution with concomitant transition to denatured state, random coil conformation similar to a nascent polypeptide chain. Egg white Ovomucoid: The unfolding of ovomucoid (N), a domain containing 28 kDa protein, by guanidine hydrochloride did not proceed in a single step but occurred in two steps; the transition at low denaturant was associated with an intermediate, native like, structure (X), and at high denaturant, protein existed in random coil structure (D). The reversible unfolding at each step (N->X->D) followed a two state transition pattern, albeit with somewhat different folding rates for  the intermediate and native structures (1978). The studies in his lab indicated that in vivo protein folding may not be explained by the amino acid sequence alone. Independently, the molecular biology of chaperones succeeded in the identification of additional folding factors in 1989.The latter studies, in fact, marked the beginning of modern protein folding with manipulation in human health. Awards and honours
Salahuddin was President of Society of Biological Chemists SBC (India) from 1989–1990; a Member of the editorial board of Indian Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics(1985-1988); Visiting Associate Professor, University of Maryland 1975; Member of Protein Society, Bethesda, USA(1995-1997); Member of the New York Academy of Science, New York(1995-1996); Member of the executive committee of the Society of Biological Chemists, India(1974-1975); Member of the executive committee of Indian Biophysical Society, India (1991-1993); Member of the Guha Research Conference, India (1987-1992); and Member of Sigma Xi (USA). Death
Salahuddin died on 29 November 1996 at the age of 59 after a difficult illness. His passing away saddened his family and his students. Eulogies by his former students were read at the Annual meeting of the Aligarh Alumni Association Washington DC;
by others at a session at AMU Aligarh on 3 Jan 2019. At his death he was survived by his wife and two daughters. Selected publications

References

External links
Ahmad Salahuddin's pubmed publications

Academic staff of Aligarh Muslim University
Scientists from Uttar Pradesh
1937 births
1996 deaths
20th-century Indian biologists
20th-century Indian chemists
People from Azamgarh
People from Azamgarh district
Aligarh Muslim University alumni
20th-century Indian Muslims
People from Aligarh
Indian biochemists
Indian scientific authors
Indian immunologists
Indian medical researchers
Duke University alumni
Biochemists