Alireza Mashaghi

Alireza Mashaghi is a biophysicist and medical scientist at Leiden University.[1] He is known for his contributions to single-molecule analysis of chaperone assisted protein folding, molecular topology and medical systems biophysics.

Alireza Mashaghi
Alma materHarvard University, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich
Known forSingle-molecule analysis of protein folding
Circuit topology
Statistical physics of medical diagnostics
AwardsDiscoverer of the Year 2018, Muscular Dystrophy Association Award 2019
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, Medicine
InstitutionsLeiden University, Harvard University

Mashaghi made the first observation of direct chaperone involvement during folding of a protein. This work which has been published in Nature solved a long-standing puzzle in biology.[2] In 2017, he reported a new model for chaperone DnaK function and made a discovery that, according to Ans Hekkenberg, "overturns the decades-old textbook model of action for a protein that is central for many processes in living cells".[3] He and his co-workers found that chaperone DnaK can recognise natively folded protein parts and stabilise them. Inspired by single-molecule analysis of biopolymers, Mashaghi and his team developed a new topology framework, termed as circuit topology for studying folding of linear chains.[4] Mashaghi also contributed to others areas in biophysics and biotechnology including membrane biophysics and membrane sensing,[5] nanoparticle technology,[6][7] and organ-on-a-chip technology. In particular, the Mashaghi team was one of the first to introduce Organ Chip technology to the field of virology.[8] For example, his team engineered the first chip-based disease model for Ebola hemorrhagic shock syndrome.[9]

Mashaghi is also active in interdisciplinary research in ophthalmology and clinical medicine. In 2017, he and his co-workers at Harvard developed an immunotherapy strategy to improve survival of cornea grafts.[10] The work which gained significant media attention, provides hope for patients with inflamed cornea bed, typically suffering from high graft rejection rates. Together with his co-workers, he contributed to the use of stem cell technology, omics technology, and systems biophysics approaches in ophthalmology. Furthermore, in their research, Alireza Mashaghi and his team are linking statistical physics and medical diagnostics; this unprecedented link between physics and medicine may allow for early and efficient diagnosis of certain diseases.[11]

During his academic career, Mashaghi has been affiliated with various institutions including Harvard University, Leiden University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich, Max Planck Institutes, and AMOLF. Mashaghi has published more that 90 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals including several papers in Nature and Nature specialty journals. He worked and co-authored with Cees Dekker, Anthony A. Hyman, Reza Dana, Colin Adams, Donald E. Ingber, Huib Bakker and Petra Schwille.[12][13][14] He serves on editorial board of several journals including Nano Research and Scientific Reports.

In 2018, Mashaghi has been named as "Discoverer of the Year" by Leiden University.[15] He is the recipient of several awards including an honorarium from American Chemical Society.

References
  1. The Mashaghi group, LACDR, Leiden University
  2. "A Rubik's cube at the nanoscale: proteins puzzle with amino acid chains". Archived from the original on 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
  3. Universal clamping protein stabilizes folded proteins: New insight into how the chaperone protein Hsp70 works
  4. Mashaghi A et al. Circuit topology of Proteins and nucleic acids, Structure 22(9):1227-1237 (2014)
  5. Conformation Activity Relationships: Why Do Molecules Change Shape?
  6. Esther Amstad et al. Surface Functionalization of Single Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Targeted Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Small 5(11):1334-42 (2009)
  7. Mashaghi et al. Lipid nanotechnology. Int J Mol Sci. 14(2): 4242–4282 (2013)
  8. H. Tang et al. Human organs-on-chips for virology. Trends in Microbiology 28(11):934-946 (2020)[DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.06.005]
  9. A. Junaid et al. Ebola hemorrhagic shock syndrome-on-a-chip. iScience 23(1) 100765 (2020)
  10. Preventing graft rejection in high-risk corneal transplant patients
  11. Diagnosing patients with the help of statistical physics (2018)
  12. Mashaghi A et al. Biophysical Journal 95 (11), p5476–5486 (2008)
  13. Mashaghi A. et al. Cornea 36(4):491-496 (2017)
  14. Nanoscale. Mashaghi A. et al. Nanoscale 21;7(7):3205-16 (2015)
  15. Our Talents & Discoveries 2017 - Universiteit Leiden
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