Mandana Amiri, PhD, CRA

Senior Scientist @ Quest Diagnostics

About

• More than 15 years of wet lab experience doing research in a broad range of scientific areas including molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, neurosciences/neurology, cell motility, oncology, miRNA, mitochondria and stem cell research. • Worked as a postdoc in the Ataxia Telangiectasia Center (UCLA), an internationally recognized lab with a fast-paced environment, and produced high quality data some of which were published in the Journal of Nature Communications. • Designed and conducted scientific experiments as an independent researcher while collaborating well with other scientists from different background and nationalities. • Processed, analyzed, and communicated data effectively with other researchers through presentations and written publications. • Reviewed papers, wrote proposals and applied for grants. • Trained students in the lab and taught large pre-med classes as a part of my PhD training and through that developed great communication and interpersonal skills.

Country

United States

City

Los Angeles

Industry

Biotechnology

Skill

Transfection, Immunofluorescence, Cell, Western Blotting, Fluorescence Microscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Cell Culture, Cell Biology, Confocal Microscopy, ELISA, qPCR, RT-PCR, Molecular Biology, Protein Purification, Protein Expression, Assay Development, Biochemistry, PCR, Protein Chemistry, SDS-PAGE

Experience

Senior Scientist

Quest Diagnostics

2016-10 - Present · 10 yrs

Staff Scientist

Celprogen

2014-11 - 2016 · 1 yr

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

UCLA

2011-9 - 2013-10 · 2 yrs 2 mos

Involved in multiple projects including: • Ionizing radiation-induces ATM-dependent miRNA pathways which regulate G2/M checkpoint and DNA repair. • Studying mitochondrial defects in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells generated from patients with different neurodegenerative diseases including Ataxia Telangiectasia. • SMRT compounds abrogate cellular phenotypes of Ataxia-Telangiectasia in neural derivatives of patient-specific hiPSCs. • MiR-513b-mediated mitochondrial dysfunctions contribute to radiation sensitivity in Ataxia Ocular Motor Apraxia Type I patients.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

UCLA Health

2009-4 - 2010-6 · 1 yr 3 mos

Involved in multiple projects including: • Inducible proteolytic inactivation of OPA1 mediated by the OMA1 protease in mammalian cells. • Constitutive degradation of OMA1 by Lon protease.

PhD Student

Purdue University

2004-3 - 2008-7 · 4 yrs 5 mos

PhD Thesis: Mitochondrial Biogenesis in the Axons of Vertebrate Peripheral Neurons. • Provided evidence suggesting that neuronal mitochondrial biogenesis is not limited to the cell bodies, as previously claimed, but can occur autonomously in distal axons as well. Several elements of mitochondrial biogenesis, including mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication, fission, and fusion were detected in the axons of peripheral neurons. The rate of mtDNA turnover was estimated and the result implied that many neuronal mitochondria exiting cell body cannot even reach the synapse before replicating their DNA locally in the axons.

Research Associate

University of California, Santa Cruz

2002-12 - 2003-3 · 4 mos

• Participated in a research guided by Dr. Todd Lowe on identification of the unique genes expressed in hyperthermophiles using microarray technology

Master Student

San José State University

2001-1 - 2002-8 · 1 yr 8 mos

M.S thesis: The Effect of Human Semaphorin SEMA7A on the Migration of T Cells. • Studied the role of human semaphorin SEMA7A in modulating the immune response. The results suggested that the secreted form of SEMA7A acts as a chemoattractant for migrating human T cells. In addition, upregulation of cytokine IL-8 release from monocytes was observed in the presence of SEMA7A. Therefore, SEMA7A was involved in activation and migration of different lymphocytes.

Research Associate

San José State University

2001-6 - 2001-8 · 3 mos

• Participated in a research conducted by Dr. Brooke Lustig in the Department of Chemistry at SJSU on developing a multiple sequence alignment algorithm using thermodynamic parameters.

Summer Intern

Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center

2000-6 - 2000-8 · 3 mos

• Performed immunohistochemistry on the brain sections of humans who had Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and of mouse PD models. • Used molecular techniques including ELISA and Northern analysis to investigate the changes in the concentration of IL-6, TNF-a, and IL-1B in the brain of PD mice. • Cultured microglia and astrocytes and studied the effect of the toxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) on cellular morphology.