Zubaida Saifudeen, Ph.D.

Zubaida Saifudeen, Ph.D., is Program Director of the Developmental Biology and Genetics Program in the Translational Genomics Research Branch of the Division of Extramural Research at NIDCR. The Program supports basic and clinical research to understand developmental processes within the craniofacial complex. Dr. Saifudeen comes to NIDCR from the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH where she was a Scientific Review Officer. In this role she managed the review of Research Grant applications under various mechanisms mostly pertaining to developmental biology and regeneration. Prior to joining CSR and NIH, Dr. Saifudeen was Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Tulane University in New Orleans where in her role as a principal investigator she conducted research in developmental nephrology, specifically on metabolic and transcriptional regulation of progenitor cell fate during kidney development using mouse embryos and iPSC-derived kidney organoids as model systems.

Dr. Saifudeen received her Bachelor of Science degree from St. Xavier’s College, University of Bombay, India. She went on to receive a MS degree in Molecular Biology from Northeastern University, Boston, and earned her Ph.D. from Tulane University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology studying DNA methylation and transcription regulation by methylated DNA binding proteins.