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Nika Shakiba is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. Her research program focuses on understanding the social lives of stem cells, employing a combined systems and synthetic biology approach to reverse- and forward-engineer competitive interactions within developmental systems. Before joining UBC, Nika was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned her PhD from the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. She is a strong advocate for outreach and mentorship, dedicated to promoting equitable access to scientific mentorship and advice through initiatives such as Advice to a Scientist. Her lab work revolves around engineering fitness in stem cell derivatives and creating synthetic genetic circuits that use feedback and feedforward motifs to regulate key fitness gene expression. The Shakiba Lab is focused on developing a novel class of engineered stem cells that can be customized for competition potential, aiming to improve the efficiency of cell therapy manufacturing and enhancing the clinical efficacy of engineered tissues.
University of British Columbia • Vancouver, BC
Teaching and conducting research in the field of Biomedical Engineering with a focus on stem cells and synthetic biology.
Offers course-only and thesis routes. Focus areas include philosophy of science, mind, ethics, and Asian philosophy.