About
I am passionate about addressing major challenges and unmet clinical needs in oncology to improve patient outcomes. I help research projects deliver meaningful, actionable insights at the intersection of cancer biology, bioinformatics, and machine learning. I lead and advise on study design and execution, provide comprehensive data analysis, and interpret results clearly. I organize and facilitate collaboration among biologists, clinicians, and bioinformaticians, emphasizing efficiency and high-quality deliverables on time. I communicate key findings to stakeholders and diverse external audiences through clear presentations and concise reports that highlight the essentials.
Research scope
In metastatic cancers, tumors spread and evolve as heterogeneous cell populations with distinct molecular programs. This heterogeneity drives mixed treatment responses and creates resistant niches that survive therapy. My work focuses on connecting tumor evolution, transcriptomic states, and clinically actionable response patterns in patient-centered models.
Research interests
- Molecular tumor heterogeneity and clonal dynamics in metastatic cancers
- Metastatic development and evolutionary selection under treatment pressure
- Patient-derived organoid modeling for treatment response and biomarker discovery
Projects
- Translational oncology workstreams for biomarker-guided treatment modeling
- Reproducible transcriptomics and multi-modal integration pipelines
- Publication-ready analytics and collaborative reporting workflows
Work experience
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oslo
- Led translational oncology analyses integrating molecular and clinical datasets.
- Developed reproducible pipelines for transcriptomics and biomarker discovery.
- Coordinated interdisciplinary collaborations with clinicians and bioinformatics teams.
Doctoral Researcher, University of Oslo
- Investigated metastatic tumor heterogeneity and treatment-response mechanisms.
- Performed high-dimensional statistical analyses and publication-grade reporting.
- Mentored junior researchers and supported project planning and execution.
Profile
Domain Expertise
- 7+ years experience in translational cancer research
- Molecular biology of metastatic solid tumors including Colorectal, Breast, and soft-tissue sarcomas cancers
- Biomarker discovery and molecular tumor phenotyping
- Applied machine learning and biostatistics
- Multimodal biological and clinical data integration
- Exploratory data analysis
Research skills
- Study design and research question conceptualization
- Adept at summarizing and conveying complex findings to diverse audiences
- Strong critical-thinking and problem-solving capability
- Adept in evaluating evidence and handling multi-faceted challenges
- Flexibility in pivoting research direction and timely implemention of new methodologies
Collaboration & Communication skills
- Team player within cross-disciplinary teams
- Strong networking, presentation and public engagement skills
- Project management and meeting milestones in research projects
- Experience in teaching and mentoring junior researchers
Data & Tool Proficiencies
- Data wrangling, preprocessing, and exploratory data analyses skills in R, Python, and bash
- Proficiency in data visualization (R ggplot2 ecosystem) and presentation
- Proficiency with bioinformatic resources (Bioconductor, GALAXY, Ensembl) and public resources
- Familiarity in working with high-performance computing environments
- Experiance with establishing workflows for next-gen sequencing data preprocessing
- Familiarity with version control tools
- Familiarity with data-base management tools
- Broad proficiency in IT and software tools (MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe)
Skills
Machine Learning & Deep Learning
- Caret, tidymodels, TensorFlow, Keras
- Classification methods (NMF, PCA, t-SNE, UMAP, K-means, ICA)
- Regression techniques (Lasso, Ridge, Elastic Net, GLM, Cox models)
Bioinformatics Analyses
- Transcriptomic analysis (Limma, EdgeR, DESeq2)
- Pathway enrichment (GSEA, GSVA, clusterProfiler)
- Gene regulatory network inference (WGCNA, multiWGCNA)
- Single-cell RNA-seq (Seurat, Scanpy)
Software & Visualization
- R ggplot2 ecosystem; Jupyter Lab; RMarkdown; R Shiny
- PowerPoint; Python scripting
Workflow & Tools
- High-performance computing environments; Nextflow; nf-core
- Bioconductor; Ensembl VEP; CNVkit; Docker/Singularity
Wet Lab Methodologies
- Microarray-based tumor profiling
- RNA/DNA-Seq library preparation; PCR, qPCR
- Tissue cryo-sectioning for H&E staining
Education
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Ph.D., Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway (Oct 2016-May 2023).
Thesis: Transcriptomic and Pharmacological Tumor Heterogeneity of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer -
M.Sc., Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway (Aug 2014-June 2016).
Thesis: A Non-Invasive Insight into Soft-Tissue Sarcomas - B.Sc., Faculty of Biology, Azad University, Tehran, Iran (Sept 2009-Feb 2013)