Manager Engineer
Resume:
**** *********** ***** *******, *** Diego, CA ****7 858-***-**** ***********@*****.***
Newsha Sahaf
Vivarium Operations Manager and Associate Scientist with 19 years of experience in life science
OBJECTIVE
I have a master’s degree in Medical Biology with a major in immunology. My strong background in In-Vivo biology and immunology is supplemented with 19 years of experience as Manager/Associate Scientist in the fields of immunology, molecular and cell biology and In-Vivo pharmacology. I have experience in In-Vivo and In-Vitro analysis of NK- and T cells with emphasis on NK cell cytotoxicity, survival, and effector functional.
I have many years of experience in coaching and managing teams of research associates and students.
I have worked in biotech companies, medical clinics, hospitals and academic institutes in countries such as Sweden, Singapore and USA.
EDUCATION
M.Sc. Medical Biology 1996-2000
Main courses: Cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, human body anatomy and physiology, pathology and statistics.
Major: Immunology
Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden
Chemical Engineer 1994-1996
Main courses: General chemistry, Organic chemistry, Biochemistry, Synthetic chemistry mathematics and statistics.
Major: Biochemistry
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
IACUC Chair and Vivarium Operations Manager, Fate Therapeutics Inc. San Diego, June 2017- Present
Approving IACUC protocol and amendments also organizing IACUC meetings twice a year.
Managing and supervising a team of research associates with their daily tasks. Managing the vivarium operations and the vivarium staff. Humanizing different strains of immunocompromised mice for different tumor model studies.
Coaching/training all in-vivo personnel with technical In-Vivo and In-Vitro skills such as cell cultures.
Associate Scientist, Fate Therapeutics Inc. San Diego, January 2016 – June 2017 Most of my time is dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immuno- therapeutic for cancer and immune disorders. The Company's cell-based product pipeline is comprised of off-the-shelf immuno-oncology therapeutics, including NK- and T-cell-based candidates derived from induced pluripotent cells, and immuno-regulatory therapeutics, including hematopoietic cell-based candidates for protecting the immune system of patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation and for suppressing auto-reactive T cells of patients with auto-immune disorders. Its adoptive cell therapy candidates are based on the Company's novelex vivo cell programming approach, which it applies to modulate the therapeutic function and direct the fate of immune cells. My job mainly running T-cell and NK-cell based assays and in vivo testing of the product. I am also the senior in vivo person in house and am in charge of teaching and competency testing of all in-vivo personnel. Managing and supervising a team of research associates with their daily tasks.
Humanizing different strains of immunocompromised mice for different tumor model studies. Research Associate III, Fate Therapeutics Inc. San Diego, April 2014 – December 2015
Established the in vivo aGvHD in-vivo model and could determine that the ex-vivo modulation with
In house small molecule drug can prevent aGvHD in an BMT. We cleared the important milestone with FDA and the clinical investigation of ProTmune was initiated in 2016 for prevention of life-threatening complications that often compromise the curative potential of HCT.
Research Assistant III, The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, June 2013 – April 2014
My project in this lab was to determine the Biological and Clinical Significance of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) isolated from the blood of cancer patients. There are multiple ongoing clinical trials to investigate the clinical utility of CTCs. The CTCs are occult by standard methods of investigation such as microscopic examination of routinely stained cyto/histology slides. Research Associate/lab manager, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Jan 2010 –July 2012
Protein production using baculovirus as well as E.coli expression systems. Performing molecular biological methods (cloning, mutations etc.), membrane protein expression screening, large-scale protein production. Laboratory manager, to maintain the standards of a Good Laboratory Practice throughout the laboratory, supervising students and other technical staff. Research Engineer, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Aug 2009 – Dec 2009 Performing molecular biological methods (cloning, mutations etc.), membrane protein expression screening.
Laboratory Engineer, Biovitrum AB, Sweden, Mar 2003 – Jul 2009 Taking blood samples from mice, injection of mice, analyzing food, energy and oxygen consumption by mice, operation and installation of pumps in to small rodents, dissection, analyzing insulin levels in blood serum from mice. Reporting of analysis and results.
Cell culture, optimization of growth process, Western blotting, various molecular biology techniques.
Insulin ELISA, Eater Meter (food consumption), calorimeters, computer analysis using ACREM
Microbiological analysis of various media and raw materials for quality control; writing SOPs, writing reports, documentation, reporting deviations. Filtration, in vitro analysis of endotoxin concentration in samples, identification of bacteria using different microbiological analysis and gas chromatography, microscope usage. All practical according to GMP.
Research Associate, Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, Apr
2002 – Dec 2002
Taking blood samples from mice, injection of mice, analyzing insulin content in blood serum fusing ELISA.
Method development for ELISA analysis, measuring ECG on mice after injection with immunosuppressants.
ELISA (EIA), ECG measurements, FACS.
Research Associate, The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, Jan 2002 – Mar 2002 Cell growth (cancer cells), cloning, Western blotting, screening of monoclonal antibodies, general laboratory work.
Laboratory Engineer, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden, Feb 2000 – Jul 2001 Essential immunological analysis to find suitable organs (liver, kidney, heart, lung and bone marrow) for patients in need of organ transplantation. To analyze CD4/CD8 ratio on T-cells from HIV-infected patients and other patients with suppressed immune system.
MAJOR SKILLS
In-Vivo skills:
Routes of injection in mice: Gavage, SQ, IV tail, RO and IP injections in mice and rats. Necropsy
Other skills:
Preparation of cyto/histology slides from human blood Ab-Staining and scanning of cyto/histology slides to find CTCs Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting, Flow cytometry (FACS) Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
Confocal microscopy
HLA Cross-matching (X-test)
HLA-typing (Class I & II)
PCR
ELISA
DNA/RNA isolation/purification
Cell culture
Agarose Gel Electrophoresis
T-Cell assays
Southern Blotting
Northern Blotting
Western Blotting
SDS-PAGE
Gas Chromatography (GC)
In-Vivo technical skills (mice, rabbits and rats)
Monoclonal antibody purification
Molecular Biology (cloning, mutagenesis etc.)
ECG on mice
Computer skills (Excel, word, power point, registration of samples and data collection) Eater-Meter technology (in-vivo)
Calorimetry (in-vivo)
Protein production using baculovirus as well as E.coli expression systems Lab manager/General laboratory work
LANGUAGES
1. Swedish
2. English
3. Persian
4. French
PUBLICATIONS
Nordin, N., Guskov, A., Phua, T., Sahaf, N., Xia, Y., Lu, S., Eshaghi, H., Eshaghi, S. Exploring The structure and function of Thermotoga maritima Corp reveals the mechanism of gating and ionselectivity in Co2+/Mg2+ transport. Biochem J (2013) 451(3):365-374
Xia Y, Lundbäck A-K., Sahaf, N., Nordlund, G., Brzezinski, P., Eshaghi, S. Co2+ Selectivity of Thermotoga maritima CorA and its inability to regulate Mg2+ homeostasis presents a new class of CorA proteins. J Biol Chem (2011) 286:165**-*****
Alberts P, Rönquist-Nii Y, Larsson C, Klingström G, Engblom L, Edling N, Lidell V, Berg I,EdlundPO,Ashkzari M, Sahaf N, Norling S, Berggren V, Bergdahl K, Forsgren M, AbrahmsénL.
Effect of highfatdiet on KKAy and ob/ob mouse liver and adipose tissue corticosterone and11dehydrocorticosteroneconcentrations. Horm Metab Res (2005) 37:402-407
Protmune Reduces the Incidence and Severity of Acute Gvhd by Transiently Dampening T-Cell Signaling Article Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation 24(3):S199-S200 · March 2018
Ex Vivo Programming of Donor Cells Prior to Allo-HCT Reduces Gvhd without Compromising GVL Article Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation · March 2016
REFERENCES
LISA GUERRETTAZ
Senior Research Investigator, Genomics Institute of The Novartis Research Foundation North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037
***********@*****.***
Said Eshaghi
Assistant Professor Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology The Scripps Research Institute 10550 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037
****.*******@*****.***
Associate Professor School of Biological Sciences Nanyang Technological University 61 Biopolis Drive Singapore,138673
Anne-Louise Lund
Manager QC-Microbiology Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ) SE-112 76 Stockholm, Sweden
**********.****@*********.***
Phone: +46 8 697 2239
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