Zubair's research focus is on understanding the fundamental biology of the failure of CNS neurons to regenerate their axons after injury and disease. Current projects in the lab include: strategies to promote axon regeneration and dissolution of the scar tissue after a chronic spinal cord injury; analysis of the angiogenic response after spinal cord injury; investigating the role of novel genes in CNS axon regeneration; the role of DNA damage after CNS injury; the role of epidermal growth factor receptor in CNS axon regeneration; neuroprotection in the eye and topical drug delivery agents to treat posterior eye disease; quality of life outcomes after trauma and the use of medicinal cannabis to treat neuropsychiatric conditions.

Through these approaches, he and his colleagues have identified several molecules that are neuroprotective such as pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and combinations of neurotrophic factors. He has also demonstrated that inhibition of caspase-2, once thought to be an initiator caspase, protects both retinal and spinal neurons from apoptosis.