Biography:
Dr. Golshani obtained his MSc (1997) and PhD (2001) from the University of Toronto, Canada from the Department of Cell and Systems Biology. In 2001, he moved to the Banting Institute of Medical Research as an NSERC-PDF working on Systems and Computational Biology. In 2003, he was hired as an Assistant Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where he is currently a Full Professor and the Director of the Systems Biology Group. He is also a Primary Investigator in Faculty of Medicine, Ottawa University. In addition, he is a co-founder of Designed Biologics Inc, a spin-off company focusing on the development of alternative therapeutic and diagnostic peptide drugs. In 2008, he led the team that computationally predicted the first protein interaction map of a cell. In 2020, at the onset of COVID pandemic his laboratory led the development of the pioneering series of peptides that can bind to and neutralize SARS-CoV-2 virus. He has contributed to the characterization and naming of more than a dozen previously orphan genes. Dr. Golshani has authored more than 100 publications and has been a regular keynote speaker bridging between discovery based and applied research. His current area of research is data-science focusing on protein-protein interaction and peptide development targeting different human conditions including cancer, in addition to functional genomics using network biology and high throughput screenings.