Nazli Khodayari's Biography

Nazli Khodayari, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Florida

I am a research assistant professor, highly motivated in the pursuit of a career in academic translational research. My research mainly centers on alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency-mediated tissue injury. I began my contribution to the field by developing a knockout hepatocyte cell line for alpha-1 antitrypsin and have made several contributions to the field, including identifying ERdj3 as key cochaperone to alpha-1 antitrypsin degradation and exosome mediated unconventional secretion as a novel alpha-1 antitrypsin degradation pathway. More recently, I have made several contributions on the role of mutant alpha-1 antitrypsin accumulation in the macrophages function during both liver and lung inflammation.

My current studies focus on 1) phenotyping plasma circulating exosomes in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, 2) chronic liver disease, 3) alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency-mediated lung inflammation, and 4) cigarette smoke-induced macrophage’s dysfunction. Central to these studies is the immunological and pathological investigation of extracellular vesicles in vitro and in vivo. My independent research program is focused on understanding this question as well as identifying novel regulators of alpha-1 antitrypsin-mediated liver fibrosis with the ultimate goal of identifying new targets to treat liver fibrosis.