Sadia Akter, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
akters@marshall.edu​

Research Biography

Dr. Sadia Akter is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Marshall University School of Medicine with over a decade of experience in bioinformatics, statistics, and machine learning. Her research focuses on integrating high-dimensional omics data, including single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, microbiome, and methylomics with AI/ML methods to uncover molecular mechanisms of complex diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis, COVID-19, addiction, and neuroinflammatory disorders. She has led bioinformatics components on multiple NIH- and NSF-funded projects and has developed machine learning frameworks for biomarker discovery and predictive modeling. As a recipient of the NIH AIM-AHEAD Fellowship and a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA), Dr. Akter is dedicated to advancing health equity through inclusive, interdisciplinary, and data-driven biomedical research.

The approaches applied in my laboratory include molecular, cellular, and integrative methodologies. These methods include west blot, real-time PCR, mass spectrum, microRNA sequencing, nanosight tracking analysis (NTA), flow cytometry, etc. Animal surgery methods (MCAO, telemetric probe, osmotic minipump, microinjection) are also used in my research. The animal models used in my research include a spontaneous hemorrhagic stroke model induced in the rennin/angiotensinogen double transgenic (R+A+) hypertensive mice, collagenase-induced focal hemorrhagic stroke model, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-induced ischemic stroke, the db/db and STZ-induced diabetic mouse models. Additionally, I use clinical samples from translational studies of diabetes and stroke patients through collaboration with clinicians.