Sharif Tabebordbar is a supervisor, research scientist in the Sabeti lab. Sharif’s research is focused on engineering adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) to develop tissue-specific gene delivery vehicles and to improve safety of AAV-mediated gene delivery for gene editing applications.

Sharif received his BSc and MSc degrees in biotechnology from University of Tehran and his Ph.D. in Developmental and Regenerative Biology from Harvard University. During his Ph.D., he developed culture conditions to expand healthy and diseased adult muscle stem cells in culture and provided the proof of concept for correcting the genetic mutation in these cells using gene editing technology. He also provided evidence for the feasibility of an in vivo gene editing-based approach to treat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and investigated the host immune response after delivery of gene editing components into animals. The results of his research have been published in several peer-reviewed journals including Cell, Science, and Nature Methods.

Sharif is the recipient of Distinction in Teaching Award from Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard, Albert J. Ryan Foundation Award for Outstanding Graduate Students in Biomedical Sciences, Excellence in Research Award and Career Development Award from American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and Royan International Research Award in Regenerative Medicine. In 2020, Sharif was listed as a finalist (top 100) in the MIT 35 innovators under 35 competition.