Sabita Saldanha, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Department of Biological Sciences
E-mail: ssaldanha@alasu.edu
Phone: 334-229-5084

 

Dr. Saldanha comes from a research background and has been a laboratory instructor for nearly 8 years. Some of her research interests pertain to the role of bioactive molecules, in particular polyphenols, in cancer inhibition or prevention. Sabita is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in LifeSciences Biochemistry in 1994 and then with a Master’s degrees in LifeSciences, Biotechnology, in 1996, from India, from the University of Mumbai. She relocated to the United States in 1999 and obtained another Master’s degree in Biology and Ph.D. in genetics from UAB.

Sabita has had extensive experience in training and mentoring students. Her ability to understand student needs has earned her a position as a STEM faculty mentor and MARC mentor, here at ASU. Her students have won scientific poster competitions held at ASU. Some of her other accomplishments have been her role in establishing the EnvironMentors chapter at ASU in 2007, in which she served as the program coordinator for two years. Some of the students she recruited won the EnvironMentors poster competition, at the EnvironMentors Science fair held at Washington DC, May 2009.

Mrs. Saldanha has lent her expertise to many of the science related programs at ASU. She has been a guest lecturer for the Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) programs for the past two years and has helped train high school teachers in relevant biological areas. She has successfully collaborated with the ASIM biology coordinator at ASU and the HudsonAlpha group, a biotechnology company, at Huntsville to test the efficacy of biological experimental kits for high schools in Montgomery and other local counties. She has also been a science instructor for the TRIO program at ASU for two years.

In addition to her research and teaching credentials, Mrs. Saldanha also has a strong administrative background. In India, in 1997, She was appointed research coordinator for the sub-branch of the Medical Research Council Environmental Epidemiology Unit, South Hampton UK. She successfully collaborated with several medical institutions all over India in research pertaining to maternal nutrition and fetal development. One of her proudest moments was her role in the establishment of a research society in India called the Society for the Natal Effects on Health in Adults (SNEHA), of which she is a founding member.

Selected Publications

1.        Environmental Effects on Age-related Epigenetics. Sabita N. Saldanha, Ashley McCollum, and Trygve O. Tollefsbol.
Chapter of a book “ Epigenetics of Aging” , will be available in book stores November 2009.

 2.        Alterations in histone acetylation in tumorigenesis. Sabita N. Saldanha and Trygve O. Tollefsbol. Cancer Epigenetics, 2009, Chapter 7, page 97.

 3.        Dietary and environmental influences on histone modifications in cancer. Sabita N. Saldanha, Vijayalakshmi Nandakumar, Ada Elgavish, and Trygve O. Tollefsbol.Cancer Epigenetics, 2009, Chapter 11, page 197.

 4.        Epigenetic Regulation of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Promoter Activity during Cellular Differentiation. Liang L, Saldanha SN, Pate MS, Andrews LG, and Tollefsbol TO.Genes Chromosomes Cancer, 2004, 41(1), 26-37.