Naeimeh Atabaki Pasdar

Key interests

• Causal inference in epidemiology
• Machine learning
• Biostatistics
• Bioinformatics
• Gene x lifestyle interactions in relation to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type two diabetes

Background/biography

Naeimeh obtained a Bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. Although there has been much that she gained during her bachelor studies, it has truly been during her master studies in the bioinformatics program at Lund University that she has finally found her path within the widely multidisciplinary ‘bio’ field. To get the most out of her master studies, she started a one year master project at GAME unit, the goal of which was statistical analysis of genotype-based recall randomized controlled trials. Upon completion, Naeimeh graduated from her master studies and started her PhD studies under Paul Frank’s supervision in August 2015. In her PhD studies, Naeimeh’s main research focus is on genetic and lifestyle factors in liver fat and insulin resistance. She primarily works on data from the IMI-DIRECT consortium, diabetes research on patient stratification. T2D and NAFLD are two pervasive and globally prevalent diseases that cause serious health complications. However, it is yet undetermined whether T2D and NAFLD are causally related, and if so, what the direction and magnitude of such a causal relation is. Thus, her aim is to deduce the causal relationship between these diseases, and also, to find the omic and non-omic determinants of these diseases.