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Thursday, 5 May 2016

Zahra Khedri

Zahra Khedri.

Zahra Khedri

Postdoc Fellow at UC San Diego-Glycobiology Research and Training Center
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summary

 Chemoselective modification of proteins
 Small molecule, polymer, peptide and carbohydrate synthesis, isolation and characterization
 Protein expression in bacteria and yeast
 Protein purification: affinity (protein G, A, Ni-NTA), RP-HPLC, ion exchange (IEX), hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC)
 Antibody characterization: UV, SDS-PAGE, LC/MS, fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (iCE or cIEF)
 Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) analysis: capillary gel electrophoresis (reducing and non-reducing), cIEF, SEC-HPLC
 Glycan analysis: CE, GC/MS, LC/MS, MALDI, HPLC, NMR, IR
 DNA cloning and PCR
 Analytical test (QC) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) development
 Knowledge of industry guidelines: ASTM, USP, BP, safety regulations
 Supervising and mentoring junior chemists and students

Experience



Postdoctoral Fellow

University of California, San Diego
 – Present (1 year 4 months)Greater San Diego Area
Postdoc. in Prof. Ajit Varki's group working on several projects in glycobiology field.


Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Kansas
 –  (2 years 4 months)Lawrence, Kansas Area
 Antibody-peptide and antibody-polymer conjugation (APC): Sortase Mediated Ligation and Native Chemical Ligation
 Antibody fragments (IgG-Fc) expression in yeast
 Antibody purification: affinity (protein G, A, Ni-NTA), IEX and HIC
 Antibody characterization: SDS-PAGE, UV-Vis, RP-HPLC, LC/MS, fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and cIEF
 Peptide synthesis using solid phase and fusion protein
 HPLC method development for separation and analysis of peptides and proteins
 RAFT and ATRP polymerization and characterization: NMR and GPC (SEC)


Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant

UC Davis
 –  (4 years 9 months)Davis, CA
 Multi-step chemical and chemo-enzymatic synthesis of complex carbohydrates (sialosides)
 Preparative separations: silica gel, charcoal, ion exchange, SEC, distillation, crystallization
 Carbohydrate analysis and characterization: CE, HPLC, LC/MS, MALDI, NMR, IR, polarimeter
 Glycoprotein glycan analysis
 Enzymes assay development, high-throughput substrate specificity and binding studies
 Training and supervising undergraduate students



Summer Intern

Pfizer
 –  (4 months)Pearl River, NY
 GC/MS analysis of glycans in vaccines: Alditol Acetate and Trimethylsilyl methyl methods
 Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) analysis: capillary gel electrophoresis (reducing and non-reducing), cIEF, SEC-HPLC



Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
 –  (1 year 8 months)Edwardsville, IL
 C-C coupling reactions under green chemistry conditions using cyclodextrins
 Preparative separations: silica gel and crystallization
 Products characterization: NMR, IR, UV-Vis, polarimeter
 Mechanistic studies of the reactions
(Open)1 honor or award


R&D Project Manager

ChitoTech Advanced Wound Care and Hemostat Mfg. Co.
 –  (2 years)
 Biodegradable (polysaccharide-based) medical wound dressings formulation
 Analysis (QC) of raw material and final products using wet chemistry
 Development, qualification and validation of new analytical methods
 Regulatory filing preparations
 Training research associates

Honors & Awards

American Chemical Society (ACS) Travel Award

American Chemical Society
August 2011

Outstanding Graduate Student Award

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE)
March 2007

Languages

  1. Persian

  2. English

Education



University of California, Davis

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Organic Chemistry with Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology

I was in Professor Xi Chen's group in the Department of Chemistry. My research was concentrated on carbohydrate synthesis, purification, characterization, and study their biological activities.


Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

M.Sc., Organic Chemistry

I was in Professor Yun Lu's lab in the Department of Chemistry.

 

Publications



Chemoenzymatic synthesis of sialosides containing C7-modified sialic acids and their application in sialidase substrate specificity studies

Carbohydrate Research
February 15, 2014


Broad and direct interaction between TLR and Siglec families of pattern recognition receptors and its regulation by Neu1

eLife
August 2014



Photo of Zahra Khedri of Varki Lab
Zahra Khedri, Postdoctoral Fellow
zkhedri@ucsd.edu
Zahra Khedri 
Graduate Student 
Chemistry 275
530-752-8983
zkhedri at ucdavis.edu
Zahra Peg

Project Title

Binding studies of sialic acid containing glycans and sialic acid binding proteins using microarray technology

Project Description

My projects focus on studying interactions between sialic acids containing glycans and their binding proteins by glycan microarray, as well as roles of these interactions in human health and disease processes. Sialic acid-recognizing proteins from novel plants, vertebrates and microbes are obtained from various sources, including collaborations with colleagues from UCSF, University at Buffalo and several other universities in the world. One class of these proteins, the serine-rich repeat (SRR) glycoproteins, for example, are a diverse family of adhesins found in Gram-positive bacteria. My other two major projects are related to two new anti-glycan antibodies found in human. I am investigating their evolution and effect in human health.

Techniques

HPLC, glycan microarray printing and screening, binding assays, ELISA, Tissue culture, flow cytometry, other basic molecular biology techniques.


 

 
 
 
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