Zeinab Mohamed

Ph.D. Candidate

Biomedical Engineering

Research Assistant

zjm24@cornell.edu

Awards

NSF GRFP Fellow

Cornell Colman Fellow

The Robert Mozia Distinguished Service Award Recipient

Research

I elucidate interactions between bacteria membrane and antibiotics using OM-SB platform. More specifically, my work involves developing a platform to study the outer membranes of bacteria in hopes of uncovering their role in antibiotic resistance. To do this, I isolate outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) and use them to form supported bilayers that we can quantitatively characterize and study using tools such as Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) and Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D). As the bacteria membrane is the first barrier for antibiotics, understanding the interactions between bacteria membrane and antibiotics is fundamental for developing the next generation of antibiotics.

Publication

Brown J, Mohamed Z, et al. Antibacterial isoamphipathicoligomers highlight the importance of multimeric lipid aggregation for antibacterial potency. Communications Biology. 2018, 1(220)
Townsley S, Mohamed Z, et al. Induction of heterologous Tier 2 HIV-1 neutralizing and cross-reactive V1/V2-specific antibodies in rabbits by prime-boost immunization. Journal of Virology. 2016, 90(19):8644-60.
Mohamed Z, King MR. Dualnanoparticledrug delivery: the future of anti-cancer therapies. Nanomedicine. 2016, 12(2): 95-98.

Professional Development

I have been involved with the Graduate Society of Women Engineers as various chairs, Diversity Programs in Engineering as a Ryan Scholar Coordinator, and with Cornell West Campus Housing as a Graduate Resident Fellow for Carl Becker House. I enjoy improving how I communicate my research and engage with broader audiences. As a scientist, I plan to grow professionally through attending conferences and expanding my graduate experience to beyond Cornell.

Fun Facts

When I am not killing bacteria, I love watching horror movies, reading historical romance novels, drinking tea, crocheting, and attempting to grow plants.