Rate My Professor Sahar Tavakoli

Sahar Tavakoli, Ph.D., serves as Associate Teaching Professor in Biology and Director of the Master of Science in Cell and Gene Therapies program at Northeastern University since 2023. Her academic journey began with a B.S. in Animal Science and an M.S. in Genetics and Animal Breeding from Isfahan University of Technology in 2005 and 2008, respectively. She obtained her Ph.D. in Stem Cell and Developmental Biology from the National University of Singapore in 2014, where her thesis focused on the spatiotemporal study of zebrafish intestinal epithelium renewal under Dr. Paul Matsudaira. Post-Ph.D., she conducted postdoctoral research at the Centre for BioImaging Sciences and Department of Biological Sciences at NUS from 2014 to 2015, characterizing zebrafish intestinal myofibroblasts. From 2015 to 2023, she was a Joint Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital, supervised by Dr. Amy Wagers and Dr. Leonard Zon, investigating integrative therapeutics for muscle disease.

Dr. Tavakoli's research interests encompass stem cell and regenerative biology, zebrafish models for human diseases, cell and gene therapy, muscle stem cell engraftment, and intestinal stem cells in zebrafish. She discovered two compounds, LPA and NFA, that promote muscle progenitor cells engraftment in vivo. Her influential publications include "Zebrafish biomolecular screen uncovers inducers of skeletal muscle engraftment across species" (Cell Reports, 2023), "Cell clusters containing intestinal stem cells line the zebrafish intestine intervillus pocket" (iScience, 2022), "Directed evolution of a family of AAV capsid variants enabling potent muscle-directed gene delivery across species" (Cell, 2021), "Strain maps characterize the symmetry of convergence and extension patterns during zebrafish gastrulation" (Scientific Reports, 2021), and "Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder predisposes to metabolic abnormalities in adulthood" (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2020). Additionally, she co-authored the book chapter "Zebrafish as a Model for Human Diseases" (eLS, 2017) and holds a patent titled "Small molecules that enhance the muscle stem cell engraftment" (U.S. Serial No.: 62/618,055). Awards include the full Singapore International Graduate Award scholarship (2009-2013) and travel awards such as GEM4 2012. At Northeastern, she developed and teaches courses such as Cell and Gene Therapy and Regulatory Landscape of Cell and Gene Therapy. Previously, she taught General Biology, Developmental Biology, and Biochemistry at NUS.