Amina A. Qutub

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering

Postdoctoral Fellow, Biomedical Engineering,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2004-2009)
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley/San Francisco (2004)
B.S., Chemical Engineering, cum laude, Rice University (1999)

Bio Sketch

Amina Qutub’s research at Rice University integrates biological systems modeling theory and design to understand and characterize hypoxic response signaling and cerebrovascular systems biology. Her basic, applied and translational research has application in cancer therapy; treatments for ischemia, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease; and increased understanding of cellular and sub-cellular organization in vascular biology.

While at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Qutub’s work in systems biology to understand hypoxic response and angiogenesis earned her a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Service Research Award from the National Institutes of Health. Under this postdoctoral fellowship, she worked in Aleksander S. Popel’s group to develop the first molecularly-detailed computational model to test angiogenic therapeutic strategies, targeting the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1) pathway. Predictions of the HIF1α hydroxylation model have recently been experimentally observed and shown to shrink cancer tumor growth in vivo. The research has also been noted in several high-caliber peer-reviewed publications.

Qutub has a doctorate degree through the jointly run bioengineering program at the University of California at Berkeley/San Francisco. While in the laboratory of C. Anthony Hunt, professor of biopharmaceutical sciences and pharmaceutical chemistry, she created multiscale systems models to simulate mechanisms underlying neurological conditions and developed new methods in brain drug delivery. The research was supported by a Whitaker Bioengineering Graduate Research Fellowship.

Research Statement

A cell’s response to hypoxia underlies pathologies as diverse as arthritis, ischemia and cancer. It also determines in part how a stem cell differentiates, how neurons age, and how capillary networks grow. Hypoxic response can involve one or all biological levels from the nanoscale to organ systems. What can seem like unfathomable complexity can be approached rigorously through the use of computational systems biology.

To advance hypoxia research and microvasculature studies, Qutub’s investigations are based on three research platforms: 1) biological systems modeling theory and design; 2) hypoxic response signaling and 3) cerebrovascular systems biology.