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Neda Bagheri

Faculty Photo

Washington Research Foundation Distinguished Investigator

Senior Advisor of Modeling, Dissemination and Alliances, Allen Institute for Cell Science

Associate Professor
Chemical Engineering

Associate Professor
Biology

  • nbagheri@uw.edu

Biography

Neda Bagheri earned her doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of California in Santa Barbara. Her focus on control theory and dynamics piqued her interest in biology. Bagheri believes that engineering principles can be employed to better understand, predict, and control complex biological functions, and that these principles need to be informed by biology.

After completing a postdoc in Biological Engineering at MIT, she joined the Chemical & Biological Engineering faculty at Northwestern University where she founded the Modeling Dynamic Life Systems (MoDyLS) Lab. In 2019, she was recruited to the University of Washington where she has a joint appointment in Biology and Chemical Engineering, as well as a position at the Allen Institute for Cell Science. In recognition for her research accomplishments and vision, Bagheri was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2017), and was honored as a Distinguished Speaker for the Accelerated Discovery Forum at IBM Research-Almaden (2018), the Mindlin Foundation (2019), and the Allen Frontiers Group (2019). She serves on multiple scientific advisory and editorial boards, paving the way for impactful multidisciplinary research.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, 2007
  • B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, 2002

Previous appointments

  • Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University; 2012-2019. Secondary appointment in Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2008-2012

Research Statement

Neda Bagheri comes to the UW from Northwestern University, where she founded and directed the Modeling Dynamic Life Systems (MoDyLS) Lab. Her lab integrates experimental data with computational methods to uncover fundamental properties governing intracellular dynamics and intercellular regulation. Her interdisciplinary team of engineers and scientists employs machine learning, dynamical systems, and/or agent-based modeling strategies to explain unique biological observations across several fields of study, including cancer, immune, and circadian biology. Bagheri’s background in control theory drives her lab’s mission to identify and design interventions that promote specific cellular decisions and cell population outcomes, particularly in the context of disease.

Honors & awards

  • NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering, 2017-2021
  • Keynote Speaker, Foundations of Systems Biology in Engineering; 2019
  • Allen Frontiers Modeling Symposium Speaker; 2019
  • Distinguished Speaker, Accelerated Discovery Forum at IBM Research-Almaden, 2018
  • Keynote Speaker, 15th International Conference on Molecular Systems Biology (ICMSB), Raitenhaslach, Germany, 2017
  • Cornew Innovation Award, Chemistry of Life Processes, 2014-2017

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