Afshan Ismat

Afshan Ismat serves as Associate Professor and Department Chair of Biology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, operating within the university's liberal arts framework. Her institutional affiliation centers on the Biology department with cross-disciplinary connections to Neuroscience programs.

Her research employs Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) models to investigate extracellular matrix (ECM) dynamics during cell migration and tissue morphogenesis, specifically examining protease-mediated ECM restructuring mechanisms. This work bridges developmental biology, cancer metastasis pathways, and neural development processes through molecular and cellular analysis.

Dr. Ismat instructs advanced coursework including Cancer Biology (BIOL 460), covering oncogenic mechanisms, tumor suppressor systems, apoptosis pathways, cancer stem cell dynamics, angiogenesis, and metastatic processes. Her laboratory component emphasizes hands-on molecular techniques relevant to contemporary cancer research.