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.