Dr. M. S. Atefi Biography
I have always been interested in improving diagnostic tests and in finding ways to intervene in the biological mechanisms for the purpose of curing and healing diseases. That is why I studied Medical Laboratory Sciences and obtained a doctorate degree in this field. Moreover, I continued with further education by studying mechanisms of drugs effects on cancer cells and their responses the treatments. These investigations culminated in obtaining a PhD degree at University of California, Los Angeles. In general, my fields of expertise are in molecular biology, cell signaling, cancer biology, immunotherapy, cellular response to drug treatment and developing and improving diagnostic tests. Fortunately, my involvement in these fields have given me the best training to conduct projects in all aspects of biomedical sciences.
For my PhD program at UCLA, I joined the Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics department and obtained my degree under the supervision of Dr. Dennis Slamon. He is a prominent figure in the field of cancer treatment and one of the main founders of targeted therapy for cancer. My project in his lab was mainly focused on investigating the mechanism of resistance to endocrine therapy in estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer cell lines. During that time, I gained a great deal of practical and theoretical knowledge in the field of cell and molecular biology, cell signaling and cancer biology. Moreover, I learned how to employ the best experimental approaches to achieve the scientific goals. I gained experience in fine tuning the protocols and methods, providing scientific feedback, collaborating with experts, and finally designing and conducting research projects in the mentioned fields.
Later on, as a postdoctoral fellow, I joined Dr. Antoni Ribas’ laboratory at UCLA. Dr. Ribas is one of the leading investigators in the field of melanoma. My studies in his lab were related to cell signaling, the effect of drugs on cellular behavior, and immunotherapy for cancer treatment. I have had a pivotal role in characterization of a large panel of melanoma cell lines and in investigating mechanisms of their responses to targeted therapy drugs including blockers of RAF, MEK and ERK1/2. Moreover, I have conducted several immunotherapy related projects and utilized a variety of immunotherapy techniques. Those projects provided important insights in the field of melanoma and culminated in several publications and many presentations as well as new opportunities for the future studies.
As part of the academia, during my graduate school, postdoctoral fellowship and my part time faculty position at CSULA and UCLA Extension, I have actively participated in teaching, training and supervising students. My mentorship has helped students to be successful in their schooling and research and to produce important data which have been presented as posters, talks and publications.
Currently, I have been focusing my efforts and expertise on the progress of projects at Analytomix. We have established an atmosphere of comradeship and looking for the most resourceful and effective ways to succeed in our projects. Our moto is to fight cancer by improving the life and survivorship of cancer patients. For this purpose, my colleagues and I are striving to devise smart molecules for diagnostic tests and state of the art cancer treatment.