For members of the Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology community at the University of Toronto, the Khosraviani twins are a familiar sight. Having completed the undergraduate program in LMP, Negar and Negin are now both doing their PhDs. With big smiles and infectious enthusiasm, they are involved in multiple activities across the department, bringing great positivity to everything they do.
In high school, they loved math but had no interest in science until grade 10, when their science teacher inspired them, and they developed an interest in biology. They started learning about Nobel Prize winners, “I started thinking that I wanted to make similar impact, but I realise I have a long way to go in my career for that!” laughs Negin.
They wanted to stay together for university so jointly applied – as very close twins, the thought of separating at that point was unthinkable. “You always have a best friend with you wherever you go. We get to discuss things with one another, study together, bounce ideas. We love being able to come home and have someone to talk to about our research,” explains Negar.
They both joined the LMP Specialist program so they could learn about different diseases and the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive them (i.e. pathogenesis), being the one of the only undergraduate programs that exposes students to human pathologies and their underlying cause. Gaining laboratory experience, the small classes, and the translation of research to diseases were also a big draw. Negar made the decision - Negin laughs as she admits, “I just did whatever Negar did as she was great at doing all the research”.
Negin realized early on that she wanted to do research so went straight into a PhD with Dr. Karim Mekhail and soon became a Vanier Scholar. Negar also had the same passion as Negin for research but wasn’t sure if she wanted to become a clinician-scientist. Therefore, she started a two-year MSc with Dr. Warren Lee while she reflected on whether to pursue an MD as well. She ended up enjoying the research process more and continued on with a PhD in the lab of Dr. Jason Fish. “I'm fascinated by the unknown- research is like solving a puzzle. There's always many questions out there that still need to be answered,” explains Negar.
As a third-year PhD candidate, Negar studies brain Arteriovenous Malformation (bAVM), specifically sporadic cases driven by a mutation in the KRAS gene (a gene commonly mutated in cancer). Capillaries are important blood vessels for delivering nutrients and oxygen to the tissue. In AVM patients, they lack this capillary network, and instead have a direct connection between an artery and a vein which can cause them to become ‘tangled’. If untreated, this can lead to an aneurysm when it ruptures. Negar hopes to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive the formation of AVMs and identify novel therapeutic targets for this disease.
Now entering the sixth year of her PhD, Negin works with Dr. Mekhail investigating genome stability of the ribosomal DNA with links to R-loops (three-stranded nucleic acid structures) and whether we can modulate these links to selectively kill cancer cells, revealing novel therapeutic approaches. The work they do in the lab is focused on cancer, but the molecular functions are foundational for cell survival and therefore able to be translated to many other diseases. Although now working in ribosome biogenesis, she still has an interest in cardiovascular research, which she worked on during her undergraduate studies with Dr. Michelle Bendeck. Always influencing each other, Negar studied diabetes and liver while an undergraduate and it was being exposed to her sister’s research in the cardiovascular system that got her interested and wanted to do more vascular science in the Fish lab.
While in the Bendeck lab, Negin was mentored by a graduate student, Dr. Amanda Mohabeer (who recently received LMP’s inaugural Outstanding Alumni Mentor Award) which was inspiring. “I realized this is something I also want to be doing as a scientist – I want to mentor others.” Mentorship is now something the sisters are heavily involved in. From mentoring young girls within their community and junior undergraduate students to being part of the LMP Graduate Mentoring program, they love helping and guiding others. They are both involved in the Peer Communications Team, a group of students and alumni who coach LMP graduate students on any presentation they have coming up. Both have taken part as participants and coaches, and Negar has now taken over as co-leader with fellow graduate student, Matsya Thulasiram. They have also worked as Teaching Assistants in the LMP undergraduate program for the last few years.
The sisters do most things together (including finishing each other’s sentences) and enjoy being in the same program. Negar is two minutes older than Negin and as a result, is often the leader. This leadership quality will be put into practice this academic year as Negar becomes Co-President of CLAMPS, the LMP graduate student union.
Their dream is to run their own labs and collaborate, “I want to see two N. Khosraviani’s side by side on papers,” laughs Negin. With their passion for research, teaching, and mentoring, the twins are well on their way to a successful academic career, together.
