My Story

About Hamed Abdollahi

From field veterinarian to computational molecular biologist

My Journey

My journey in biology began amidst the untamed beauty of nature. The photograph above captures a moment from my early fieldwork as a veterinarian, where I conducted Active Surveillance for bidirectional diseases in desert wetland wildlife. My focus was on mortality related to the influenza virus, adhering to the international standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) for the surveillance of zoonotic diseases.

Driven by a passion to understand and mitigate mortality in animals and humans, I embarked on a journey that shaped my career in molecular computational biology.

Currently serving as a Genomics Postdoctoral Fellow at the College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina, where I bridge wet-lab molecular biology with advanced computational analysis.

Career Timeline

2021 – Present
Genomics Postdoctoral Fellow
College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia. Advancing programming skills in R and Python for high-throughput genomics, proteomics, and machine learning research.
PhD
Doctor of Philosophy — Molecular Biology
Doctoral research in molecular biology, virology, and infectious diseases with a focus on avian pathogens and protein-level host-pathogen interactions.
DVM
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Foundation in veterinary science, providing a multidisciplinary perspective on animal and human health that underpins the One Health approach throughout my research.
Field Work
Wildlife Veterinarian — Zoonotic Disease Surveillance
Active surveillance for avian influenza and zoonotic diseases in desert wetland wildlife, operating under WOAH international standards.

Technical Skills

Molecular Biology
PCR / RT-PCR qPCR / ddPCR Sanger Sequencing RNA-Seq Nucleic Acid Extraction ELISA Western Blotting Protein Electrophoresis Cell Culture Virus Culture & Isolation
Computational & Bioinformatics
R / Bioconductor Python / Biopython DESeq2 Scikit-learn PyTorch Random Forest PyMOL / VMD Cytoscape AlphaFold GROMACS
Quality & Regulatory
ISO/IEC 17025 Lead Assessor Internal Auditor Biological Risk Assessment BSL2 & BSL3 GLP / GMP Assay Validation
Instruments & Platforms
Illumina NGS Sanger Sequencer Real-Time PCR Thermocyclers HPLC MS/MS (Triple Quad) Ultracentrifuge Microplate Readers UV-Vis Spectrophotometer Gel Documentation System

At a Glance

10+ Years Wet Lab
300k+ Immunoassays/yr
5 ML Projects
8+ Publications