Afshin Beheshti, PhD.Center of Cancer Systems Biology
Caritas St.Elizabeth's Medical Center
Tufts University School of Medicine
736 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02135
Tel: 617.779.6533
Mail: afshin.beheshti [at] tufts.edu or afshin.beheshti [at] caritaschristi.org
Education and Training:
PhD in Biophysics, Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL), Jan 2000 - Dec 2002
MS in Physics, Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL), Aug 1997 - Jan 2000
BS in Physics, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN), Jun 1993 - Jun 1997
Research interests:
DNA Double Strand Breaks (DSBs) have been widely studied in the radiation field. DNA DSBs occur when both strands in the double helix are severed. This is particularly hazardous to the cell because they can lead to genome rearrangements and mutations which can eventually lead to cancer. DNA DSBs can be caused by many factors such as radiation, oxidation, UV light, industrial chemicals, etc. When a DNA DSBs occurs in a cell there two methods of repair which can occur: non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR). Both these methods have proteins that become phosphorylated or recruited for the repair. Some of these repair proteins of particular interest are γ-H2AX, 53BP1, and phosphorylated ATM (psATM). As seen below these proteins all colocalize and appear as foci where there are DSBs in the nuclei of a cell. In healthy cells there are minimal amount of DSBs that occur in the cell (on average of less than 1 foci per cell). Cancer cells have a wide variety of DNA DSBs. My interest is the interaction of these cancer cells with a naturally elevated level of DSBs and the impact on the microenvironment.
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| Human Fibroblasts | Human Fibroblasts after 5Gy Xray |
Glioma | Glioma after 5Gy Xray |
Cell fusion has been known to occur naturally in nature in muscle formation, neurons, stem cells, and embryogenesis. With the assistance of viruses, cell fusion has also been implicated in tumorigenesis. I'm interested in tumor-cell fusion and other fusion that can take place in the natural process of tumorigenesis.
The effect of cosmic radiation on humans is under much interest these days. NASA is especially interested in long term effects of cosmic radiation on humans. Once enough knowledge is gained about this subject missions such as a trip to Mars can become more of a reality. I'm interested in studying the low dose effects of cosmic radiation on tumor growth and the tumor microenvironment.
Recent publications:
R. L. Rill, A. Beheshti, D. H. Van Winkle. DNA electrophoresis in agarose gels: Effects of field and gel concentration on the exponential dependence of reciprocal mobility on DNA length, Electrophoresis, 2002, 23, 2710-2719.
D. H. Van Winkle, A. Beheshti, R. L. Rill. DNA electrophoresis in agarose gels: A simple relation describing the length dependence of mobility, Electrophoresis, 2002, 23, 15-19.
A. Beheshti, DNA electrophoresis in agarose gels: A new mobility vs. DNA length dependence, FSU dissertation thesis, 2002