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Zahra Khedri

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

links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahra-khedri-154aba27

zkhedri2012@gmail.com
 https://www.facebook.com/zahra.khedri.9/about
 https://plus.google.com/105189169076197681153/about

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

February 2015 – 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

July 2012 – October 2014 (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

October 2007 – June 2012 (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

June 2011 – September 2011 (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

January 2006 – August 2007 (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.

September 2003 – August 2005 (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

2007 – 2012

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

2006 – 2007

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

 

Publications

One-pot multi-enzyme (OPME) chemoenzymatic synthesis of sialyl-Tn-MUC1 and sialyl-T-MUC1 glycopeptides containing natural or non-natural sialic acid(Link)

Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry

March 7, 2013

Synthesis of selective inhibitors against V. cholerae sialidase and human cytosolic sialidase NEU2(Link)

Organic Biomolecular Chemistry

May 8, 2012

Probe sialidase substrate specificity using chemoenzymatically synthesized sialosides containing C9-modified sialic acids(Link)

Chemical Communications

February 9, 2012

Decreasing the sialidase activity of multifunctional Pasteurella multocida alpha2-3-sialyltransferase 1 (PmST1) by site-directed mutagenesis(Link)

Molecular Biosystems

August 19, 2011

Sequential two-step multienzyme synthesis of tumor-associated sialyl T-antigens and derivates(Link)

Organic Biomolecular Chemistry

March 1, 2011

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of GD3 oligosaccharides and other disialyl glycans containing natural and non-natural sialic acids(Link)

Journal of the American Chemical Society

November 30, 2009

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

Zahra Khedri, Postdoctoral Fellow
zkhedri@ucsd.edu

Zahra Khedri  Graduate Student  Chemistry 275 530-752-8983 zkhedri at ucdavis.edu

• Zahra Khedri, PhD
• zkhedri@ucsd.edu

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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