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Research Advising Contact Us

Research is an exciting and integral component of your education in the life sciences. Email Undergraduate Science Research Advisor Dr. Anna Babakhanyan (BioLabs Room 5010, 16 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA; use Divinity Ave entrance and first elevator on the right) to schedule an appointment to discuss your interests and options, including but not limited to:

  • finding a lab for basic science, pre-clinical and clinical research at Harvard and affiliated hospitals/institutes
  • contacting professor (resume feedback, interview guidance, choosing a lab)
  • strategy for applying and receiving research funding, proposal feedback 
  • finding research opportunities for summer at Harvard, US-based institutions (including your home state), international research institutes, global health research 
  • when problems arise in the lab

Undergraduate Science Research Workshop

Part 1: Identifying interest & right time to do research, Finding a Lab, Science Resume

Dr. Anna Babakhanyan, Undergraduate Research Advisor, will help Harvard students learn about science research landscape at Harvard. You will learn about what kind of research is available at Harvard, how to find lab that fits, when one should start research, how to contact labs and more.

We encouraged students attend the Oct/Nov Research Workshop Part 2, which will provide strategies for students to prepare for the Annual HUROS Research Fair, interviewing, summer funding strategies and more.

Registration (use Harvard College email; registrations with private email addresses will not be approved):
[workshops are identical, attend one]

–Fri Sep 10, 2021 3-4pm EST, zoom
https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gy6Y7lBRSQ-Wns8RDm3RjA 


–Mon Sep 13, 2021 5-6pm EST, zoom
https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J2Wc7uusSV2P2CB92PLr4A 


–Mon Sep 20, 2021 5-6pm EST, zoom
https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L3Z7U0I8QB-M2DIkVHDSZQ 


–Tue Sep 28, 2021 12-1pm EST, zoom https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ovlFb3wWSKiLQEzPPn64KQ

- Tue Oct 5, 2021 12-1pm EST, zoom https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1yrRTlgURraphQUrZQlZbQ

- Fri Oct 8, 2021 3-4pm EST, zoom https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9OKHgxK3S52p-ZqCOdI1rg

  • Anna (Anushka) Babakhanyan, Ph.D., MBT

    Undergraduate Science Research Advisor
    Anna Babakhanyan

    Dr. Babakhanyan received Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the San Jose State University and Ph.D. in Tropical Medicine from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Babakhanyan worked at the biotech companies in California, where she applied cutting-edge biochemical and microbiological strategies to increase biofuel production. In addition, she received training in stem cell research at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, where she optimized nuclear reprogramming of human somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells using cell permeant peptides for use in pre-clinical regenerative therapy studies. Dr. Babakhanyan’s dissertation was focused on defining immunological correlates of protection from pregnancy-associated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Cameroonian women. As an NIH Fogarty Global Health Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Babakhanyan designed and lead field-based research study in Cameroon for 13 months, that defined influence of maternal HIV on transplacental transfer of antibodies to malaria. Subsequently, she joined the Center for Global Health and Diseases at the Case Western Reserve University and received the R. Kirschstein Postdoctoral National Research Award to study humoral immune responses to pregnancy-associated malaria in HIV-infected women. In 2015 Dr. Babakhanyan was honored with the ASTMH Centennial Travel Award, which has enabled her to work for six months at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kisumu, Kenya. In addition, Dr. Babakhanyan taught immunology at the University of Yaounde I, Cameroon and served as a reviewer for the Nature Scientific Reports, Malaria Journal and the Journal of Infectious Disease. Dr. Babakhanyan lead a multi-institution collaborative grant writing for “Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenges” and served as a consultant for a global health study sponsored by the AIDS Society. 

    PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
    Anna Babakhanyan, Gabriel L. Ekali, John Tamo, Barriere Yetgang, Emile Yuosembom, Livo Esemu, Arlene Dent, James Kazura, Diane W. Taylor, Rose G.F. Leke. Maternal HIV-associated hypergammaglobulinemia reduces transplacental transfer of immunoglobulin G to Plasmodium falciparum in Cameroonian neonates. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, in press.
     
    Anna Babakhanyan, Rui Fang, Andrew Wey, Ali Salanti, Grace Sama, Canisia Efundem, Robert J.I. Leke, John J. Chen, Rose G.F. Leke, Diane Wallace Taylor. Antibodies to VAR2CSA in Cameroonian multigravidae living in low malaria transmission area: a retrospective case-control study. Malaria Journal 2015. PMID: 26626275
     
    Anna Babakhanyan, Yeung L. Tutterrow, Naveen Bobbili, Joseph D. Smith, Marion Avril, Ali Salanti, Josephine Fogako, Robert J. Leke, Rose G.F. Leke, and Diane W. Taylor. Influence of intermittent preventive treatment and insecticide-treated bednets on antibodies to VAR2CSA in pregnant Cameroonian women. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2016. PMID: 26711513.
     
    Anna Babakhanyan, Naveen Bobbili, Ali Salanti, John J. Chen, Rose G.F. Leke, Philomina Gwanmesia, Robert J.I. Leke, and Diane Wallace Taylor. The antibody response of pregnant Cameroonian women to VAR2CSA ID1-ID2A, a small recombinant protein containing the CSA-binding site. PLoSOne 2014. PMID: 24505415.
     
    Ngan F. Huang, Janet Okogbaa, Anna Babakhanyan, John P. Cooke. Bioluminescence Imaging of Stem Cell-Based Therapeutics for Vascular Regeneration. Theranostics. 2012; 2(4):346-354. PMCID: PMC3326722. 

    Contact Information

    16 Divinity Avenue, Room 5010
    Cambridge, MA 02138
    ababakhanyan@fas.harvard.edu
    p: (617) 495-7912

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