Nikta Fakhri

Last updated
Nikta Fakhri
Born
Alma mater Sharif University of Technology
Rice University
Scientific career
Institutions Georg-August-Universität
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Dynamics Simple and Complex Media
Website Fakhri lab

Nikta Fakhri is an Iranian-American physicist who is the Thomas D. & Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Associate Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research considers non-equilibrium physics in living systems. [1] She was awarded the 2022 American Physical Society Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research.

Contents

Early life and education

Fakhri grew up in Tehran. [2] She was an undergraduate student at the Sharif University of Technology. After completing her bachelor's degree, Fakhri moved to Rice University, where she studied carbon nanotube dynamics in complex media. [3] Her doctoral research considered the dynamics of single walled carbon nanotubes in water. [3] Specifically, Fakhri has proposed the use of near-infrared fluorescence of carbon nanotubes as independent reporters of cellular systems. [4] Fakhri joined the Georg-August-Universität as a postdoctoral researcher.[ citation needed ]

Research and career

In 2015, Fakhri joined the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she works in the physics of living systems group. In particular, Fakhri studies the processes in living and non-living matter that create non-equilibrium materials. [5] These materials can display anomalous fluctuations, non-equilibrium phase transitions and unusual rheological properties. [6] For example, Fakhri studied the concentrations of Rho-GTP on the cell membrane of Patiria miniata . By labelling the Rho-GTP in egg cells with a fluorescent protein, Fakhri could study the cell dynamics under the microscope. She showed that protein concentration varied in waves across the protein, forming patterns with two different types of swirling vortices. [7]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

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References

  1. "Starfish Whisperer Develops a Physical Language of Life". Quanta Magazine. 2023-01-11.
  2. "Nikta Fakhri". The Tech. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  3. 1 2 Fakhri, Nikta (2011). Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Dynamics Simple and Complex Media (Thesis). Rice University. hdl:1911/64432. OCLC   1031100026.
  4. Fakhri, Nikta (2016). "Life out of equilibrium" (PDF).
  5. November 23, 2020: Nikta Fakhri , retrieved 2022-05-06
  6. "Nikta Fakhri » MIT Physics". MIT Physics. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  7. "How a starfish egg is like a quantum system". Nature. 580 (7801): 11. 2020-03-26. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-00881-0 . S2CID   214679634.
  8. "The 2016 HFSP Career Development Awards". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  9. "Seven MIT researchers win 2017 Sloan Research Fellowships". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  10. "Twelve School of Science faculty members appointed to named professorships". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  11. C6, C6 (2021-02-03). "C6: Awards - IUPAP: The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics" . Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  12. "NSF Award Search: Award # 1848247 - CAREER: Symmetry and Geometry in Biological Active Matter". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  13. "Nikta Fakhri". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  14. "Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2022-05-06.