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Lab Members
Valadkhan lab was officially founded in May 2004, in the Center for RNA Molecular Biology.
Below is a list of current and former lab members, in the order of appearance in the lab.
Current members: |
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Principal Investigator |
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Saba Valadkhan |
Assistant Professor
Center for RNA Molecular Biology
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Avenue
Wood RT 100-8
Cleveland, OH 44106
Office phone: (216) 368 1068
Fax: (216) 368 2010
saba.valadkhan@case.edu
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Saba Valadkhan was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She attended medical school at the Iran University of Medical Sciences from 1989 to 1996 and in 1993 placed fourth in the country in the nationwide Basic Sciences Medical Board Exam. She moved to the United States in 1996 to attend graduate school at Columbia University, New York. There she studied the role of small nuclear
RNAs in the human spliceosome under the supervision of Prof. James Manley. While at Columbia University she received awards for both teaching and research. Her thesis was recognized with
a Harold Weintraub award from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. In 2004 she joined the RNA Center in Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, as an assistant professor and was named
a Searle Scholar the same year. In 2005, she was selected by the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) as the recepient of the 2004 Young Scientist Award grand prize.
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Postdoctoral Research Associate |
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Fereshteh Jahaniani Kenari |
W 133. (216) 368 0371
fereshteh.kenari@case.ede
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Fereshteh obtained her Pharm.D. from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) in 1999 and her PhD in Pharmacology from Iran University of Medical Science (Tehran, Iran) in 2005. She joined Valadkhan Lab in Oct 2005 as a research associate. She is interested in studying of function of large non-coding RNAs in mammalian cells. She is also really interested in learning more about non-coding RNA, Cancer and apoptosis. |
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Graduate Student |
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Caroline Lee |
W133. (216) 368 0371
caroline.lee@case.edu
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Caroline was born in State College, PA, but lived and schooled in Seoul, S. Korea until she turned 15. She lived in Seattle, WA before she came to Cleveland, where she obtained her Bachelor's degree from Case Western Reserve University, majoring in Biochemistry. She joined Valadkhan lab in Summer of 2006 as an undergraduate and continued on as a graduate student. Caroline works on defining the differences between human and yeast splicing machinery. Comparison of the catalytic ability of protein-free human and yeast snRNAs has begun to provide clues on the sites and base-pairing interactions that significantly affect their function. Caroline was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Research Grant for this project in December 2006. |
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Postdoctoral Research Associate |
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Yasaman Jaladat |
RT 100. (216) 368 0371
yasaman.jaladat@case.edu
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Yasaman was born in Yazd, the world's largest adobe town, but raised and schooled in Tehran, Iran. She attended medical school at Shahid Beheshty University of Medical Sciences (which was called National University of Iran formerly) in Tehran from 1995 to 2002. From 2002 to 2004 she was doing her social work in villages of Iran (Ghayesh and Damagh), and finally in 2004 she obtained her MD degree. Afterwards she returned to Tehran and was appointed to several research positions in addition to continuing her clinical practice. Finally, she ended up in Valadkhan Lab in April 2007 to pursue her research interests. Yasaman mostly works on further characterizing a minimal splicing system, and defining the functional elements required for its catalytic activity in mammalian cells. She is really interested in the role of splicing defects in cancers and autoimmune diseases. Her future goals are making use of RNAs, these hilarious molecules-she believes, to cure her patients.
Publications: Coming Soon
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Research Scientist |
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Afshin Bidari |
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Afshin was born and raised in Iran. He obtained an M.D. degree from the National University of Iran (Shahid Beheshti), and is currently in his second year of residency in internal medicine in the Case Medical Center/University Hospitals. Afshin is involved in a research project in Valadkhan Lab on the catalytic mechanism of a newly developed minimal splicing system. |
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Graduate Student |
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Bing Zhang |
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Bing obtained his Bachelor's degree from Shandong University (Jinan, China) in 2007, majoring in Biotechnology. He attended CWRU for graduate study in Fall 2007 and joined Valadkhan lab as a graduate student majoring in Biochemistry in Jan 2008. Bing works on the function and mechanism of large non-coding RNAs in mammalian cells. |
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Undergraduate Research Assistant |
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Justin Pruttivarasin |
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Justin was born in Glendale, California, but lived in Thailand for twelve years. He is currently an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Justin works on the cellular function of large non-protein-coding RNAs and also helps other lab members by making polyacrylamide gels and preparing solutions for laboratory experiments. |
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Undergraduate Research Assistant |
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Aaron T. Kim |
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Aaron was born in Topeka, Kansas, but lived in S. Korea for thirteen
years. At age 16, he came to the U.S. and went to a high school in Corvallis, Oregon. He is currently an undergraduate student at Case
Western Reserve University majoring Biochemistry and minoring Japanese.
He joined Valadkhan lab in Spring of 2007. |
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Former Members |
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Research Assistant
August 2004 to June 2005 |
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Catherine Tran |
CEO of a fortune 500 company (soon to be)
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Catherine was a research assistant in the lab and helped shape the lab and get it going. We were happy to have her and wish her luck in her career! |
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Laboratory Assistant
June 2004 to Jan. 2007 |
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Nash Yusuf |
Accenture Consulting and Management
nasrulridza@case.edu |
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Nasrulridza (Nash) grew up in Sarawak, Malaysia, which is located in a tropical island of Borneo before he was offered a scholarship to study in Case Western Reserve University. He finished his studies majoring in Systems and Control Engineering with concentration in Signal Processing and Communication and minor in Sociology. While in Valadkhan Lab, Nash’s responsibilities included general laboratory tasks such as preparing solutions, mediums and polyacrylamide gels for experiments in the lab. |
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Research Associate
November 2004 - February 2007 |
| Afshin Mohammadi |
Medical Resident, Huron Hospital
afshin.mohammadi@case.edu |
Afshin obtained his M.D. from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, in Shiraz, where the famous wine takes its name from, in Iran. He joined the Valadkhan lab in November 2004. His main research interest is defining the role of spliceosomal RNAs in the splicing reaction, in particular, if two of these RNAs, U6 and U2, can perform the splicing reaction without the help of proteins. Afshin’s recent data indicates that these RNAs can perform both steps of splicing, and thus, eukaryotic splicing machines might in fact be RNA-based enzymes.
Publications:
Valadkhan S., Mohammadi A., Wachtel C., Manley J.L. (2007) Protein-free spliceosomal snRNAs catalyze a reaction that resembles the first step of splicing. RNA.13: 2300-11. |
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Research Assistant
August 2006-July 2007 |
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Armin Sharifi |
Medical Student in Erie
armin.sharifi@gmail.com
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Armin obtained his B.A. degree from NEOCOM in Ohio and being interested in research, joined Valadkhan Lab in August 2006. He worked on characterization of a minimal splicing system and developed the basic kinetic framework for its function. |
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Research Assistant
September 2006-May 2007 |
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Mastooreh Chamanian |
Graduate Student, CWRU
Mastooreh@yahoo.com
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Mastooreh was born and raised in Iran. She obtained a B.Sc. degree from the National University of Iran (Shahid Beheshti) in marine biology. She joined Valadkhan Lab in September 2006 and was involved in a project related to modulation of splicing decisions in mammalian cells. |
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Research Assistant
May 2004- June 2007 |
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Sarah Geisler |
Graduate Student, CWRU
Sarah.geisler@case.edu |
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Growing up in Canfield, OH and Brownsburg, IN, Sarah joined the Valadkhan Lab in the Spring of 2004 as a part-time research associate. After she graduated from Case Western Reserve University with majors in Chemistry and Art History and minor in Anthropology, she started working full time in the Valadkhan Lab. While in Valadkhan lab, she worked on characterizing the proposed spliceosomal active site within the complex of U6 and U2 snRNAs. Her research was awarded a Presidential Research Initiative Grant from Case Western.
Publication list forthcoming. |
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Valadkhan Lab is located in the Center for Molecular Biology, Case Western Reserve University,
10900 Euclid Avenue, Wood RT 100-8, Cleveland, OH 44106-4973. Phone: (216) 368-1068. Fax: (216) 368-2010
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Last updated April 8, 2008 |
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