Ambreen Sayed
Education
M.S., Biotechnology
Biosketch
I am currently a second year GSBSE student and pre-doctoral candidate at the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor. I am competing my dissertation project under the mentorship of Dr. Gregory Cox at the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor.
I have also completed rotation projects with Dr. Kevin Mills (Jax), Dr. Roger Sher (UMaine) and Dr. Jennifer Trowbridge (Jax).
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My research interests are focused on the study of Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD) and in particular how dysregulation in the biosynthesis and maintenance of membrane lipid leads to CMD and in particular rostrocaudal muscular dystrophy (rmd). Here I will be focusing on Choline kinase Beta (Chkb) gene which codes for the choline kinase beta enzyme (CHKB). The CHKB enzymes catalyzes the conversion of Choline to Phosphocholine, an important membrane constituent. Mutations in the Chkb gene have been shown to have implications in human congenital muscular dystrophy with megaconial myopathy (MDMC). I aim to study the effects of alteration in membrane lipid component on mitochondrial fusion and will also test some therapeutic strategies to rescue the MDMC phenotype.
Dissertation Mentor
