Dr. Golnar Kolahgar

Biography

Golnar Kolahgar is a researcher at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute focusing on the roles of extracellular factors and adhesion proteins in cell-fate decisions. She obtained her Master of Science in Biochemistry from the University Paris 6 in France and began her research career as an assistant in Alfonso Martinez-Arias' lab, where she developed an interest in developmental biology. Kolahgar completed her PhD in Jean-Paul Vincent’s lab at the MRC National Institute of Medical Research in London, studying the apoptosis of embryonic epithelial cells and their loss of contact with neighboring cells. She subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Eugenia Piddini's lab at the WT/CRUK Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, where she investigated how variations in cellular fitness influence cell-fate decisions essential for tissue homeostasis. In 2017, she established her own research group under the PDN Sir Henry Dale Fellowship, jointly funded by the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust. Her current research explores how the intestinal epithelium constantly regenerates through stem cells that adjust their behavior in response to changing physiological conditions, like diet, thus affecting proliferation rates and tissue dynamics. Her work with Drosophila allows for advanced genetic manipulations and insights into human disease due to the conservation of DNA related to disease genes.

Research Interests

Experience