Saba Ahferom Berhane

Affiliation

Bachelors degree
Honours in Biomedical Science with Co-op
Email: sahfe052@uottawa.ca

Research interests

Toxicology
Methylmercury
Protein Expression
Biology
Health

Bio

I am very interested in learning how toxicology studies are conducted and how certain chemicals can affect the human health.  Joining Dr. Chan’s lab was an ideal choice for me because it has allowed me to learn the advanced techniques that would further my studies in the area of toxicology. Most importantly, this Honors project has given me the necessary tools and opportunities to learn how to design and conduct a toxicology study.

Research project

Verification of the Expression of Proteins from a Proteomic study in Dopaminergic Neuron Cells

Currently the mechanism of methylmercury (MeHg) toxicity is still unclear. Dr. Chan’s group is using proteomic techniques to study the changes of protein profiles in dMN9D cells (differentiated dopaminergic neuron cells) exposed to MeHg. My project is divided into two sections. The first part is to verify the proteins identified from the previous proteomics results in the dMN9D cell line. The second part is to do a preliminary downstream functional analysis for one or two of our candidate proteins.