Sina Jamalzadegan’s research might just change the world.

Originally from Iran, Jamalzadegan earned his bachelor’s degree at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. He came to the United States in 2019 to study at the University of Houston, where he focused on protein aggregation related to cancer treatment.

“After that, I decided to apply for a Ph.D. program at NC State,” he said. “The NC State College of Engineering is very prestigious. I saw a lot of alumni coming from North Carolina State University in the field. That was a factor in choosing the destination for doing my Ph.D.”

“I chose NC State, and I am really happy with that decision.” – Sina Jamalzadegan

After four years at the College of Engineering, Jamalzadegan graduated with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. He defended his thesis, which was about advancing bio sensors in order to detect diseases and various organisms in plants and humans, in September.

Jamalzadegan spent most of his time in the Wei Lab building AI-enabled tools that combine machine learning, biosensors and computational modeling to tackle real-world health problems. The lab is run by Qingshan Wei, Jamalzadegan’s Ph.D. advisor. Wei is an associate professor and Alcoa Scholar in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Jamalzadegan’s research has appeared in notable publications such as Science Advances, Nanoscale, Advanced Functional Materials and Biosensors & Bioelectronics.

He is currently focused on identifying targets in the HIV virus genome.

“The HIV genome is very long, with 9,700 base pairs, and there are different regions inside,” he said. “It’s really important to identify unique targets in these diseases. One of the results of my Ph.D. project is that I found ultra sensitive and unique RNA targets from the HIV genome in different regions that could be useful for creating a point of care for HIV patients.”

He also created a variable sensor that could detect plant diseases 10 days earlier than the current sequence. He refers to that research as one of his proudest projects from the Wei Lab.

“My role for that project was applying different machine learning algorithms in order to figure out the best algorithm to predict plant health,” he said

Jamalzadegan plans to stay in North Carolina and collaborate with researchers like Wei.

He also noted that he had tremendous support from Deborah Thompson, director of research partnerships from College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as his Ph.D. committee, which included CBE faculty Michael Dickey, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor, University Faculty Scholar and associate department head; Saad Khan, INVISTA Professor; and Nathan Cook, associate professor.

“I chose NC State, and I am really happy with that decision,” he said. “I was working with fantastic collaborators, a fantastic PhD advisor and a fantastic department. That is the most important thing I had. I was very lucky to work with very great colleagues.”