dr. Sina Safaei (PhD)
Postdoctoral researcher - IBiTech-BioMMedA research group, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture - UGent
Principal investigator: prof. An Ghysels (PhD)
Research focus
My research focuses on developing and implementing computational tools to understand the mechanisms and transport characteristics of permeants such as small molecules or peptide-like drugs through membranes and transporters. These computational tools rely on Molecular Dynamics, a powerful method for calculating parameters such as binding energy, residence time, and rate constants. This deeper comprehension of protein-drug kinetics at this detailed scale, which may not be achievable in experimental setups, can significantly enhance our ability to predict the efficacy of drugs in cancer treatment.
Biography
Dr. Sina earned his Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2015, specializing in the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials. He pursued a Master's degree in Nanotechnology at the same institution, concentrating on molecular dynamics simulations of 2D nanomaterials, which he completed successfully in 2017. He was awarded a PhD scholarship from The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology to pursue his Doctorate in Physics at the University of Auckland, which he obtained in 2021. During his doctoral studies, he specialized in molecular dynamics simulations of amphiphilic soft matter in fluid flow at the molecular level.
In 2021, he received the Callaghan research and development career grant, enabling eligible postgraduate students to transition academic skills into tangible employment opportunities and gain work experience in commercial environments. Dr. Safaei then continued his research journey as a Research Fellow at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), University of Auckland in 2022. In this role, he focused on molecular dynamics simulations of glucose transporters in the human body. He joined the BioMMedA group at UGent in 2024 as a postdoctoral researcher, concentrating on developing novel models for the kinetics of transportation through membranes and proteins.