Fahima Akther

Fahima Akther is a Research Fellow in the Martinez Lab at Yale School of Medicine, specializing in bioengineering and immunology. She completed her BPharm at the University of Development Alternative (Bangladesh), MSc in Biomedical Engineering at Chonnam National University (South Korea), and PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Queensland (Australia). Her research focuses on mRNA-LNP vaccine design against dengue virus, optimizing immunogenicity through tissue-resident immunity and mitigating antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). She employs humanized mouse models, high-parameter flow cytometry, and single-cell transcriptomics to study immune memory mechanisms.

Key research areas include vaccine efficacy, viral pathogenesis, and translational biomedical engineering. She has developed 3D cardiovascular models for atherosclerosis and thrombosis studies, alongside theranostic nanoparticles for targeted therapy. Her work bridges immunology and bioengineering to advance vaccine platforms and disease models.

• Education:
  • PhD, University of Queensland (2023)
  • MSc, Chonnam National University (2017)
  • BPharm, University of Development Alternative (2014)
• Awards:
  • Dean's Award (2014)
  • University of Development Alternative (UODA) Award
• Labs: Martinez Lab at Yale School of Medicine

Her research integrates systems biology approaches to design immunomodulatory platforms, with implications for flavivirus vaccines and chronic disease modeling.