By Farzana Begum, Roshan Mathews, and Mahamudun Bhuiyan
Farzana Begum, B.S.
Graduate Student
farzana.begum@einsteinmed.edu
Farzana Begum graduated from Manhattan College in 2020 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. Following graduation, she began working at Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories as a chemist where she worked on developing lipid nanoparticle formulations for various mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. In 2021, Farzana joined the Viral Vaccines department of Pfizer as an associate scientist to work on propagating, characterizing, and quantifying various viruses for vaccine development. After her time as an associate scientist, Farzana entered the Ph.D. program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2022. Thus far, she has rotated in Dr. David Fooksman's lab where she studied the role of CD138 in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus. She then rotated in Dr. XingXing Zang's lab where she studied and characterized the effectiveness of various bispecific antibodies targeting NK and T cells for cancer treatment. Farzana is now rotating in the Maryanovich lab, and working with Randall to investigate the effect of ROS levels on cytotoxic T cell responses in the leukemic niche.
Roshan Mathews, M.S.
Graduate Student
roshan.mathews@einsteinmed.edu
Roshan Samuel Mathews received his bachelor's in microbiology from Madras Christian College, Chennai. He then completed his master's degree at the University of Hyderabad, India with an MS in molecular microbiology, in 2020. His master’s thesis focused on the potential of compounds derived from Withania somnifera in ameliorating amyloid beta fibrillation. After graduating, he worked as a research technician at Aditum Life Sciences, a startup based in Hyderabad, India. Roshan entered the Ph.D. program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2022. His first rotation was with Dr. Ganjam Kalpana, where he explored the role of the host factor INI1, a member of the SWI/SNF complex in HIV-1 replication. His second rotation was in the lab of Dr. David Fooksman, where he explored the role of CD93, an adhesion molecule in maintaining, and helping the survival of long-lived plasma cells in the bone marrow. At the Maryanovich lab, he is currently characterizing the differences in metabolism, ROS production, and differentiation capacity of aged mesenchymal stem cells compared to young mesenchymal stem cells.