Gibco Cell Culture Heroes

Amal Hassan Ali

Postdoctoral researcher
The Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

My name is Amal, I am currently a Postdoc at the Protein X-ray Crystallography and Signal Transduction, in Charite' Berlin, Germany. I am investigating the signaling activity of Adhesion G protein- coupled receptors (aGPCRs), one of the 5 main families in the GPCR superfamily with atypical characteristics.These receptors are important in cell-cell adhesion and interaction with extracellular matrix proteins. my main aim is to understand their molecular mechanism of signaling by structural and functional studies. I have a bachelor & master’s degree in industrial biotechnology, where I was studying the application of stem cells in regenerative medicinal applications (mainly cardiovascular diseases). This sparked my interest in science research and I continued my studies for a doctoral degree in cellular and molecular biology in Milan, Italy. I did my PhD in part at the Membrane protein Lab in Oxford, UK and in part at the University of Milan. My main interests are protein structural biology and drug discovery, using X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, bio-chemical and physical methods for studying protein complexes in human physiological and pathological conditions. In particular, during my Ph.D I focused on the characterization of membrane proteins and nanobodies complexes to understand their pathological mechanism in diseases such as neurodisorders including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, ictus and genetic rare diseases. Therefore, by deciphering the impact of the pathological protein's function and structure, it would be possible to propose and rationally develop therapeutic approaches. I am inspired by scientists or people who made an impact in our history. for example, Steve Jobs and his iconic quote “the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Is motivating me a lot. I hope my current study will further advance our understanding of the mechanistic of rare, complicated diseases in which aGPCRs are involved.

Felipe Galvez Cancino, PhD

University of Cardiff, Wales, UK

 Connect with Felipe

My area of expertise is tumor immunology, particularly T cell biology and the generation of memory T cells in non-lymphoid tissues. I did my Ph.D. in Chile at Fundacion Ciencia & Vida studying the role of skin-resident memory CD8 T cells in the immunity against melanoma. My work was one of the first to show the role of tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells in the immunity against tumors. During my Ph.D., I also became interested on skin dendritic cells and their role on T cell memory, an area I explored during an internship at Stanford University in the United States. After my Ph.D., I moved to the United Kingdom and started my postdoctoral research at UCL mentored by Professor Sergio Quezada. The question I am currently pursuing is why tumors escape immune surveillance and develop even in the presence of an ongoing immune response. Given that T cells are key players of tumor immunity, whether these cells become dysfunctional losing their ability to destroy cancer cells could be one of the main mechanisms of tumor escape. In this context, glioblastoma appears as a unique opportunity to study T cell dysfunction given its immunosuppressive environment. I am convinced that studying the mechanisms by which glioblastoma makes T cells dysfunctional will give us a clue of unknown regulators of this process that could be used to develop novel immunotherapies.

Mayda Arshad

PhD candidate
University College London, UK

 Connect with Mayda

Mayda is a final year PhD student developing smart bone composite for repairing fractured bone in osteoporotic patients. The team Mayda works with have developed successful smart dental composites used for dental fillings with patents with progression in clinical trials. She is using the same principle of healing teeth with the material for its application in bone. She was awarded her PhD in Medical Technology Entrepreneurship after achieving a distinction in her Masters in Research. Her initial project focused on assessing the chemical and physical properties of the material and her passion and background in basic cell work has allowed her to expand her PhD.

Brooke Schuster

PhD candidate
University of Chicago, USA

 Connect with Brooke

Brooke completed a BS in Integrative Biology Honors and Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2014, graduating with high distinction and honors. During her undergraduate career, Brooke's first experience with cell culture was working with equine (horse) stem cells at University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine. She even assisted the veterinarians in the tissue and cell collection process. Through this research, she developed her undergraduate honors thesis examining the molecular mechanisms behind osteogenic differentiation for regenerative medicinal applications, leading to her first research publication in Tissue Engineering. Brooke finished her undergraduate career as a member of Dr. Marty Burke's research group, a chemical biology-focused laboratory, and studied the use of certain small molecules as potential synthetic membrane transporters in the context of cystic fibrosis.

After graduation, Brooke spent time away from academia and worked two years in the medical field, primarily as a clinical research assistant for a medical device start-up company. She traveled the country working with various physicians and medical staff overseeing one of the largest clinical trials for cervical cancer.

In Fall 2016, Brooke began graduate school as a PhD candidate at The University of Chicago. Soon after, she joined the multidisciplinary team in Dr. Savas Tay's laboratory in The University of Chicago's Institute of Molecular Engineering. Brooke's project focused on the development of a microfluidic-based 3D cell culture platform, such as patient-derived cancer organoids, with automated and high-throughput capabilities. She continues to use and develop this integrated platform in hopes to advance the capabilities of research on cancer organoid models, screen and mirror real-life patient chemotherapy treatments and, ultimately, one day facilitate treatment decisions for the development of personalized cancer therapies.

Sandra Hammer, PhD

Michigan State University, USA

 Connect with Sandra

Sandra is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Busik Laboratory at Michigan State University. Prior to being at MSU, she attended Vanderbilt University where she obtained her PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology under the mentorship of John Penn. Prior to this, she got my BS degree from the University of Miami.

Scientifically, Sandra is interested in the role that cholesterol metabolism and inflammation play in progression of microvascular disease. She’s specifically interested in diabetes-induced retinal diseases. Sandra currently works on elucidating the role that the SIRT1/LXR signaling pathway plays in retinopathy progression. She has discovered the novel involvement of this pathway in preventing disease progression and is very interested in strategies that increase SIRT1/LXR signaling. Her long-term goals are to develop an energetic and productive independent research program well suited to investigate lipid dysregulation in microvascular complications.