Shomyseh Sanjabi,

Shomyseh Sanjabi, PhD is an assistant investigator of virology and immunology at the Gladstone Institutes and an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). For her PhD, she trained with Dr. Stephen Smale at UCLA in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics. She then completed a postdoctoral training in immunobiology at Yale University with Dr. Richard Flavell. Dr. Sanjabi’s research has focused on how protective innate and adaptive immune responses are elicited and maintained upon mucosal transmission of viral pathogens. Using both model pathogens and emerging human pathogens, together with mouse genetic models and human primary tissue samples, they study how viral pathogens are transmitted via genital mucosa, how various antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and non-APCs sense the virus, and how APC activation contributes to priming, differentiation, trafficking, and formation of protective memory. As part of a larger collaborative effort, her lab has also studied the mechanisms by which the gastrointestinal niche contributes to the maintenance of HIV latentcy. As a junior faculty, in recognition of her innovative approaches to important biomedical problems, Dr. Sanjabi has received several awards, including the Hellman Family Early Career Faculty Award, the Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research Award, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, and the California HIV Research IDEA Award. In December of 2018, Dr. Sanjabi made a transition in her career and joined the Genentech Oncology Biomarker Development group.