Zehra F. Nizami, PhD profile page

As head of business development and scientific partnerships at PartitionBio, Dr. Zehra Nizami leads external strategy, early access programs, and partnerships to advance the company’s proprietary non-viral delivery platform, BubbleFect. She also continues on as a principal scientist, undertaking research and development with her peers at PartitionBio as part of a collaborative team united by curiosity and discovery. Nizami’s journey began with a passion for molecular biology, gene regulation, and nuclear architecture. As an undergraduate at Princeton, she studied B-cell receptor editing in a lupus mouse model. Nizami’s PhD and postdoc led to the discovery of novel nuclear organelles, in-depth studies of Cajal bodies and Histone Locus Bodies, and the discovery of a new class of non-coding RNAs (sisRNAs). These are all early contributions to what is now recognized as liquid-liquid phase separation or biomolecular condensates. That foundational research shaped a career-long interest in membrane-less organelles, RNA biology, and cellular compartmentalization, with a particular focus on bringing this knowledge into translational biotechnology for humankind. Before joining PartitionBio, Nizami was a scientific lead for the development of new product applications at Oxford Nanoimaging. She was part of the team that developed the EV Profiler. She also led on the development of the spin-out CAR T-cell Profiler. Nizami is equally passionate about science communication and education, from mentoring students in the lab to running a weekly science club for children at her son’s school. She has been volunteering to share her love of science for over 25 years in her local communities.