Using cells to improve health
Did you know that researchers can treat diseases by changing the behaviour of human cells? Believe it or not, cells can also be given new abilities that they didn’t have before. Conducted with a strong ethical foundation, these developments can improve health — imagine cell therapies that could restore lost functions caused by diabetes or spinal cord injury. Award-winning UBC stem cell engineer and synthetic biologist Dr. Nika Shakiba leads a biomedical engineering lab that’s investigating this innovative area of research. Attend this session to learn more about the promising future of cell therapies, regenerative medicine, and our health.
Want a preview? Watch Dr. Nika Shakiba’s talk at the THINK FORWARD event held on September 24, 2022.
Speaker
Dr. Nika Shakiba (she/her/hers) — Assistant Professor, UBC School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Applied Science
Thursday, May 11, 2023
12:00–1:00PM PT
Online
Open to all UBC alumni and friends. Registration is required.
REGISTER NOWQuestions? Please contact alumni.events@ubc.ca.
Speaker Biography
Dr. Nika Shakiba
Nika Shakiba is an assistant professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at UBC. Her research program is interested in understanding the social lives of stem cells. Her lab applies genetic engineering and computational modelling tools to understand when stem cells bully each other, and how to control this. Prior to joining SBME, Nika was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT and completed her PhD in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. Dr. Shakiba is a big believer in outreach and mentorship. Beyond her research and teaching, she is passionate about providing equity in mentorship and advice access through her latest project, Advice to a Scientist.
We acknowledge that UBC’s campuses are situated within the traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wu7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and in the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples.
THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE PRESENTING PARTNERS OF FORWARD: THE CAMPAIGN FOR UBC
THE ALUMNI UBC PILLAR PARTNERS
