Faeze Keshavarz
Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD)
Understanding cellular pathways modifications in cancer using the transcriptome
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At UBC Science, outstanding scientists and students strive to unravel the principles that underlie our universe - from the subatomic to the macroscopic, from pure mathematics to biotechnology, from ecosystems to galactic systems. Through the breadth and depth of our academic endeavours and the calibre of the people who make up our community, we take pride in discovering new scientific knowledge and preparing Canada’s and the world’s next generation of scientists.
A diverse range of highly ranked programs
With access to master’s and doctoral degrees through nine departments and 350 research groups, our graduate students work with world-class faculty to explore the basic sciences, and to pursue interdisciplinary and applied research across departments and units. UBC’s research excellence in environmental science, math, physics, plant and animal science, computer science, geology and biology is consistently rated best in Canada by international and national ranking agencies.
Committed to outstanding graduate training
UBC Science houses a wide range of prestigious NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience and related industry programs: from atmospheric aerosols to high-throughput biology, from biodiversity research and ecosystems services to plant cell wall biosynthesis, from quantum science and new materials to applied geochemistry. The options for enriched graduate training in industry related fields are almost endless.
World-class research infrastructure
Our affiliated institutes and centres include UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories, Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, Biodiversity Research Centre, Life Sciences Institute, Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, Mineral Deposit Research Unit, and TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics.
Top research talent
UBC Science boasts more than 50 Canada Research Chairs, 12 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and has been home to two Nobel Laureates. Our graduate students have won 15 prestigious Vanier Scholarships.
A diverse, supportive community of scholars
UBC Science is committed to excellence, collaboration and inclusion. Women account for 41 per cent of the Faculty's graduate enrollments, and the percentage of international students has increased to 50 per cent over the past decade.
Mission
To nurture an exceptional scientific learning and research environment for the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.
Research Centres
Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology
- Biodiversity Research Centre
- Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
- Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution
Computational Sciences and Mathematics
- Data Science Institute
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Institute of Applied Mathematics
- Statistical Consulting and Research Laboratory
- Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
- Geophysical Inversion Facility
- Lithoprobe: Canada's National Geoscience Project
- Mineral Deposit Research Unit
- Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research
- Seismic Laboratory for Imaging and Modeling
Genomics and Biological Sciences
- Centre for High-Throughput Biology
- Geomatics for Informed Decisions Network
- Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics
- Michael Smith Laboratories
Human-Computer Interaction
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Vancouver Institute for Visual Analytics
Life Sciences
- Centre for Blood Research
- Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
- International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries
- Life Sciences Institute
- Michael Smith Laboratories
- Neglected Global Diseased Initiative
Chemistry and Materials Science
- Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory
- Max Planck-UBC Centre for Quantum Materials
- Quantum Devices Group
- Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute
Physics
- Antihydrogen Trapping and Spectroscopy at CERN
- Pacific Institute for Theoretical Physics
- TRIUMF: Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics
- UBC ATLAS Project at Large Hadron Collider
Sustainability
Research Facilities
Designed to inspire collaboration and creativity across disciplines, the new Earth Sciences Building (ESB) lies at the heart of the science precinct on UBC’s Vancouver Campus. The $75 million facility is home to Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Statistics, the Pacific Institute of the Mathematical Sciences, and the dean’s office of the Faculty of Science. ESB’s updated teaching facilities will help Canada meet the challenges of a transforming and growing resource sector. Just as importantly, the researchers and students working and learning in the new facility will offer a valuable flow of well-trained talent, new ideas, and fresh professional perspectives to industry.
Research Highlights
Receiving more than $120 million in annual research funding, UBC Science faculty members conduct top-tier research in the life, physical, earth and computational sciences. Their discoveries help build our understanding of natural laws—driving insights into sustainability, biodiversity, human health, nanoscience and new materials, probability, artificial intelligence, exoplanets and a wide range of other areas.
UBC Science boasts 50 Canada Research Chairs and 10 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and has been home to two Nobel Laureates.
Schools / Departments
Graduate Degree Programs
Research Supervisors in Faculty
or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Hauert, Christoph | Department of Mathematics | Mathematics and statistics; Modelization and Simulation; Evolution and Phylogenesis; Biological Behavior; dynamical systems; evolution; game theory; social dilemmas; stochastic processes |
| Haynes, Charles | Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering | Protein purification, recombinant proteins, molecular thermodynamics, biocompatible polymers |
| Heagy, Lindsey | Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences | Geoelectrics and geoelectromagnetics; Magnetism and paleomagnetism; Gravimetry; Environmental monitoring; Numerical computation; Machine learning; Geophysics; Inverse theory; data science; Machine Learning; Electromagnetics; Carbon sequestration; Groundwater; Environmental geophysics; Resource exploration |
| Hearty, Christopher | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Particle physics, experimental; Experimental Particle Physics; e+e- collider; Physics beyond the Standard Model; Dark sector; dark matter |
| Hein, Jason | Department of Chemistry | discovery, design and study of new organometallic and organocatalytic reactions; investigating complex systems where multiple pathways compete, partitioning the active catalyst among many possible pathways |
| Hepburn, John | Department of Chemistry | Chemical physics |
| Hermon, Jonathan | Department of Mathematics | probability theory; Markov chains and the cutoff phenomenon; particle systems; percolation |
| Heyl, Jeremy | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Astronomical and space sciences; Physical sciences; Astrophysics; Black Holes; Neutron Stars; quantum phenomena; Quantum-Field Theory; Stellar; Stellar Physics |
| Hickey, Kenneth | Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences | understand the processes involved in the genesis of mineral deposits from a multidisciplinary perspective; Post-mineralization weathering, denudation and subsequent burial of Carlin-type Au-mineralization at the Cortez Hills deposit: Implications for finding Au-deposits in bedrock under cover. |
| Hickson, Paul | Department of Physics & Astronomy | cosmology, galaxies, telescopes, adaptive optics., Astronomy, astrophysics, Galaxies, clusters, instrumentation, adaptive optics |
| Hieter, Philip | Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Medical Genetics | Molecular biology of eukaryotic chromosome transmission |
| Hinshaw, Gary | Department of Physics & Astronomy | cosmology, cosmic background radiation, Cosmology, Measuring diffuse background radiations |
| Hirst, Martin | Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Michael Smith Laboratories | Bioinformatics; Clinical oncology; Genomics; Immunology; Microbiology; Carcinogenesis; Cellular Differentiation; Epigenomics; Leukemia; Molecular Genetics |
| Holmes, Reid | Department of Computer Science | Computer and information sciences; computer science; open source software; software comprehension; software development tools; software engineering; software quality; software testing; static analysis |
| Holmes-Cerfon, Miranda | Department of Mathematics | Mathematical modelling and simulation; Computational methods in statistics; Numerical analysis; Thermodynamics and statistical physics |
| Horwitz, Marc | Department of Microbiology & Immunology | Mechanisms of viral-induced immune disease in a variety of complex chronic disorders |
| Hu, Alan | Department of Computer Science | Computer and information sciences; formal methods; formal verification; model checking; nonce to detect automated mining of profiles; post-silicon validation; security; software analysis |
| Huan, Tao | Department of Chemistry | Bioinformatics, n.e.c.; Analytical spectrometry; Metabolomics; Separation science; Cancer progression and metastasis; Human nutrition and metabolism; Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Machine Learning; Bioinformatics |
| Hudson, Zachary | Department of Chemistry | Synthesis of materials; Functional materials in materials chemistry sciences; Organic chemical synthesis; Optical properties of materials; Luminescent materials; Organic electronics; Polymer chemistry; Organic chemistry; Organic light-emitting diodes |
| Hunt, Brian | Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries | Marine ecology (including marine ichthyology); Biological oceanography; Biodiversity; Ecosystem function; Ecological impacts of climate change; Community ecology (except invasive species ecology); marine food webs; ecosystem oceanography; plankton dynamics; open ocean; Coastal Ecosystems; climate change impacts on the ocean; salmon ecology; food web nutrition; microplastics; stable isotopes; forage fish; zooplankton; Urban oceans; Thiamine defficiency; Stormwater |
| Hutchinson, Norman | Department of Computer Science | Computer and information sciences; Computer Systems; distributed systems; File Systems; Virtualization |
| Irwin, Darren | Department of Zoology | Zoology; evolutionary genetics; genomic differentiation; hybridization; ornithology; seasonal migration; speciation |
| Jankowski, Jill | Department of Zoology | Ecology |
| Jean, Francois | Department of Microbiology & Immunology | Medical virology; Protein trafficking in cell biology; Proteomics; Enzymes (including kinetics and mechanisms, and biocatalyst); Organelle function; Virology; Systems biology; Cellular virology; Emerging human viruses; COVID-19; Host-virus interactions; Broad-based antiviral agents; Antiviral agents; Natural products as antiviral agents; Lipid-modulating drugs; Cellular protease inhibitors; Viral protease inhibitors; Human coronaviruses; SARS-CoV-2; Human flaviviruses; Dengue virus; Zika virus; West Nile virus; Influenza A virus; Human microRNAs; Therapeutic microRNA; Viral and cellular biomarkers; Molecular diagnostics for detecting viral infection; Circulating exosomes; Exosomal microRNAs; Proteomics-based technologies; Multiplexed and Mass Spectrometric quantitation assays |
| Jefferies, Wilfred Arthur | Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Medical Genetics | Iron transport molecules |
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Recent Publications
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Science.
Recent Thesis Submissions
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dr. Bajpai made theoretical and algorithmic contributions to the study of integer solutions to polynomial equations. He developed methods to resolve several new families of such equations, and applied these methods to prove novel results on approximations to complex numbers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Liu investigated the evolutionary mechanisms underlying freshwater adaptation in ancestrally marine fish. She found that both local habitats and time since marine isolation play a role in the responses to varied salinities in prickly sculpin. Her study provides a possible explanation for how marine fish diversified and colonized fresh water. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Tully's work lays the foundation for measuring the electronic structure and fate of excitations in carbon-based solar cell materials. Her measurements of excited states in C60 films demonstrate the first high-quality data on such systems with lab-scale equipment, enabled by advances in film quality developed by Dr. Tully. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Cang examined emotionally expressive touch behaviour for human-robot interaction. To be truly reactive, devices must address the dynamic nature of emotion. For her dissertation, she developed multi-stage machine learning protocols to train robots to respond to your evolving feelings. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Rostamzadeh's Markerless Dynamic Tumor Tracking method revolutionizes cancer treatment, utilizing the lung-liver interface for precise radiation targeting, reducing side effects, and providing hope to liver and lung cancer patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Strouth examined how people decide if a community is 'safe enough' from landslides. In addition, he put landslide risks into context with other types of risks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. McNutt studied the hormone somatostatin and its role in slowing the growth of breast cancer. She demonstrated that two similar subtypes of breast cancer respond variably to treatment with somatostatin. This research underscores the multiple mechanisms responsible for cancer growth and may contribute to the development of new therapeutics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Florko explored how habitat changes affect predator-prey dynamics in the Arctic. Her research, which modelled prey shifts and tracked seal and polar bear movements in Hudson Bay, provides insights into their interactions. This work advances our understanding of predator-prey ecology, crucial for identifying critical habitat. | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceans and Fisheries (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Krekhno investigated the breakdown of steroids by mycobacterial pathogens and identified several genes that result in toxicity upon disruption. These insights into steroid utilization provide valuable information on how these bacteria cause infection and may contribute to the development of new, more effective therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Gauthier's thesis work outlined the development, optimized, and diagnostic test performance of pathogen-agnostic sequencing for diagnosis of respiratory viral infections. His thesis work helped to overcome key translational barriers to aid in the translation of genomic sequencing technologies for applications in diagnostic virology. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |