Sana Ullah - Doctoral Student

Sana Ullah got his BS in Biotechnology (2017) with distinction and earned a “Gold Medal” during his undergraduate studies at the University of Malakand, Pakistan. His research during that time was focused on the assessment of phyto-therapeutics against multi-drug-resistant bacterial strains. He earned multiple honors and scholarships including the “Stoori da Pakhtunkhwa Scholarship”. He subsequently completed his master's in biotechnology(2018–2020) from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan, where he ranked in the top 5% of his class. His master’s research was focused on identifying drug resistance-associated amino acid substitutions in the Hepatitis C Virus. He also contributed to other projects related to viral early detection and drug discovery. He earned multiple scholarships including the “Frontier Education Foundation Scholarship” and the “Departmental Merit Scholarship”. Sana served as a Molecular Biologist in a Biotech company where he trained the laboratory staff of public hospitals in Pakistan for the Real-time PCR test during the COVID-19. He also worked as a Research Associate at the University of Nizwa, Oman, where he contributed to several projects related to the development of organic composite polymeric materials for biomedical applications.

Sana joined Dr. Yunfeng Chen’s lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in 2023 as a Research Associate and is currently continuing as a PhD student. During this time, Sana has developed key experimental and analytical skills and contributed to multiple projects focused on platelet mechanobiology and thrombosis, including biomechanical platelet inhibition in arterial thrombosis, cholesterol-enhanced platelet adhesion, age-associated thrombotic risk, differential regulation of thrombosis and hemostasis, and selective suppression of shear-driven thrombogenesis.

Sana has developed key research skill set spanning microfluidics, microscopy, molecular biology, and in vivo experimentation. He utilizes microfluidic platforms to study shear-enhanced platelets binding and rolling under physiologically relevant flow conditions. He performs intravital microscopy for real-time visualization and quantification of thrombosis in mice and investigates platelet mechanobiology under static conditions using confocal imaging. His molecular biology expertise includes flow cytometry, RT-qPCR, primary cell culture, mass spectrometry, etc. By integrating both in vitro and in vivo approaches, Sana aims to elucidate mechanisms in platelet mechanobiology and doing drug discovery for the targeted inhibition of thrombosis.