Hoda Shamsnajafabadi

Hoda has a background in Cellular and Molecular Biology, specializing in stem cell differentiation and optogenetics gene therapy for retinal disease. She earned her M.Sc. from The National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB) in Tehran, Iran, where she focused on studying the neural differentiation of human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Hoda worked as a Research Assistant at NIGEB, gaining experience in establishing spontaneously immortalized human retinal pigment epithelial cell lines. In 2015, she joined the Molecular Medicine Department at NIGEB as a Ph.D. student, where she worked on developing optogenetics tools for restoring the ON switch in retinal degenerative diseases. In 2021, she was awarded a research fellowship to complete her Ph.D. studies in Professor Fabio Benfenati’s laboratory at the Neuroscience and Smart Material Department of the Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy. In addition to her Ph.D. project, she also investigated the control of neural differentiation in engineered retinal epithelial cells and stem cells. Hoda joined Professor Maclaren’s group in 2022, where she is working on developing combined optogenetics and CRISPR techniques for the treatment of retinal degeneration under the supervision of Dr. Jasmina Kapetanovic.