Sarvenaz Sarabipour, Ph.D. 2015
What sparked your interest in materials science?
I was attracted to the interdisciplinary nature of Materials Science. Researchers at the materials science and engineering department at Johns Hopkins combine tools from science and engineering to find structural and functional mechanisms for how materials, extreme materials, and biomaterials interact with their environment. The plasma membrane of mammalian cells is a soft material which contains cell signaling biomolecules. I was interested in investigating how proteins embedded in this type of membrane interact with each other to initiate signaling.
Why did you choose Hopkins?
Johns Hopkins hosts world leaders in a wide spectrum of biomedical research and application of engineering in Medicine. It is home to many fundamental discoveries in biophysics and biomedical engineering. I wished to join this fantastic environment and to gain the tools needed to answer the questions that I had in receptor mediated cellular signaling. Dr. Kalina Hristova’s lab at DMSE provided this fantastic opportunity for me.
What did your research focus on?
My Ph.D. work involved investigating mechanism of receptor dimerization and signal transduction for fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) families of receptor tyrosine kinases. These are cell membrane proteins responsible for aberrant signaling pathways in a wide range of diseases including cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. I utilized a quantitative imaging FRET method to understand how membrane proteins dimerize and what the functional implications of receptor complexes are.
What would you consider your biggest accomplishment as a researcher so far?
Gaining expertise in the field and finding a way of thinking through each project has been great. I also think that the experience of critical thinking and synthesizing data and decision making in scientific research has been an invaluable tool for me.
Do you have any plans after graduation?
I am extremely excited about my impending postdoctoral position at Institute for Computational Medicine at Hopkins. I will be joining Dr. Feilim Mac Gabhann’s efforts at the Department of Biomedical Engineering on computational modeling of receptor networks.
What will be your favorite memory from your time at Hopkins?
I favorably remember many moments of discovery during my scientific work, but also plenty of fun moments of collaboration and interaction with my fellow researchers in the field. What I will remember is an environment that nurtured my enthusiasm for my work and for the field and made many exciting discoveries in membrane biophysics and signaling possible.