Helena Safavi-Hemami

Helena Safavi-Hemami is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Adjunct Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the University of Utah. She obtained her M.Sc. from the University of Cologne and Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne.

• Research Focus: Natural Products, Drug Discovery, Venom Peptides, Computational Peptide Discovery, Metabolism, and Diabetes Therapeutics.
• Key Interests: GPCRs, Ion Channels, Neurotransmitter Signaling, Protein Folding, and Evolutionary Biology of Venoms.

Email: helena.safavi@utah.edu

Research Trends: Her work leverages computational and experimental tools to discover venom peptides with therapeutic potential, particularly targeting insulin pathways and non-opioid pain mechanisms, through studies on marine cone snails and their bioactive compounds.