Home Department: Chemistry
Supported by: Dean of Research
Mentor: Justin du Bois, Associate Professor of Chemistry

Zahra is a rising senior working with professor Justin Du Bois in the chemistry department. Her research involves using derivatives of guanidinium toxins, a class of potent neurotoxins found throughout nature, as molecular probes for studying the structure and function of voltage-gated sodium channels. This summer, her work is focused on the design, synthesis and biological testing of toxin-fluorophore conjugates for use in dynamic and kinetic studies of these channels.

Poster presented at the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Poster Session on March 3, 2014:

Design and Synthesis of Fluorescent Saxitoxin Conjugates

Zahra Harati Taji¹, Arun Thottumkara¹, Darren Finkelstein¹, Justin Du Bois¹
[Department of Chemistry¹, Stanford University]

Home Department: Chemistry
Supported by: Bio-X
Mentor: Justin Du Bois, Associate Professor of Chemistry

Zahra is a rising junior from Iran, majoring in Chemistry. This summer in Justin Du Bois’s lab, she is working on the synthesis of GTX-3 analogues, which can be used to study the structure and function of voltage-gated sodium ion channels. In addition, she is working on the synthesis of fluorescent compounds that can be used to further study these channels.

Poster presented at the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Symposium on August 27, 2012:

Synthesis of Guanidinium Toxin Analogs for Sodium Ion Channel Study

Zahra Harati Taji¹, James Walker¹, Arun Thottumkara¹, Justin Du Bois¹
[Department of Chemistry¹, Stanford University]