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Omar S. Akbari, Postdoctoral Scholar in Biology
California Institute of Technology, MC156-29, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125

(A) Education and training
University of Nevada, Reno, NV. Ph.D. 2008, Cell and Molecular Biology GPA 3.94
University of Nevada, Reno, NV. B.A., M.S. 2005, Biotechnology

(B) Appointments
2009-present Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Biology, Caltech..
2008-2009 Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, UNR.

(C) Fellowships and awards
First Place Paper, UNR-GSA Paper Competition, Reno, Nevada, April 2008
Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award, UNR-GSA Research Award, Reno, Nevada, April 2008
Second Place Poster Presentation, UNR-College of Science Poster Award, Reno, Nevada, April 2008
First Place Presentation, UNR-Cell and Molecular Biology Retreat, Tahoe City, NV, October 2007
First Place Presentation, UNR-Biotechnology Symposium, Reno, NV, May 2005
Grass Roots Award, American Mosquito Control Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 2005

(D) Conferences Attended
Caltech Annual Biology Retreat, Santa Barbara CA, October 2010
Bill Gates Foundation Meeting, Irvine CA, June 2009
49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, San Diego, CA, March 2008.
UNR CMB Granlibakken Retreat, Tahoe City, NV, October 2007.
48th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 2007.
47th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, Houston, Texas, March 2006.
UNR CMB Granlibakken Retreat, Tahoe City, NV, October 2005.
AMCA, American Mosquito Control Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 2005.
UNR CMB Granlibakken Retreat, Tahoe City, NV, October 2004.

(E) Teaching Experience
Microbiology lab instructor, UNR. 2007.

(F) Publications
Omar S. Akbari, Igor Antoshechkin, Henry Amrhein, Brian Williams, Jeremy Sandler, Race Diloreto, Anna Buchman and Bruce A. Hay. The Developmental Transcriptome of the Mosquito Aedes aegypti, an invasive species and disease vector. In press. 2012

Omar S. Akbari, Chun-Hong Chen, Haixia Huang, Igor Antoshechkin and Bruce Hay. Engineering Synthetic Genetic Systems. In press. 2012

Ho MCW, Schiller BJ, Akbari OS, Bae E, Drewell RA. Plos One. 2011. Vol. 6 Disruption of the Abdominal-B Promoter Tethering Element Results in a Loss of Long-Range Enhancer-Directed Hox Gene Expression in Drosophila.

Oliver D., Sheehan B, South H., Akbari OS, Pai CY. BMC Cell Biology. December 2010, Vol 11. The chromosomal association/dissociation of the chromatin insulator protein CP190 of Drosophila melanogaster is mediated by the BTB/POZ domain and two acidic regions.

Ho MC, Schiller BJ, Akbari OS, Bae E, Drewell RA. Developmental Biology, July 2009, vol:331 issue:435-436. Promoter-enhancer tethering is critical for long-range regulatory interactions in the bithorax complex of Drosophila.

Omar S. Akbari, Daniel Oliver and Chi-Yun Pai. BMC Cell Biology, January 2009
(in press. An Entry/Gateway® cloning system for general expression of genes with molecular tags in Drosophila melanogaster.

Akbari OS, Bae E, Johnsen H, Villaluz A, Wong D, Drewell RA. . Development, January 2008, 10. A novel promoter-tethering element regulates enhancer-driven gene expression at the bithorax complex in the Drosophila embryo.

Omar S. Akbari, Ben J. Schiller, Sara E. Goetz, Margaret C.W. Ho, Esther Bae and Robert Drewell. Landes Bioscience-FLY, November 2007, 6. The Abdominal-B Promoter Tethering Element Mediates Promoter-Enhancer Specificity at the Drosophila Bithorax Complex.

Akbari OS, Bousum A, Bae E, Drewell RA. . Developmental Biology, May 2006, 8. Unraveling cisregulatory mechanisms at the abdominal-A and Abdominal-B genes in the Drosophila bithorax complex.

Non-refereed publications relevant to proposal from last 4 years
(none)