Dr. Homayoun Vaziri, the 2001 Carreras Fellowship recipient, is carrying out his research at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, MA in the laboratories of Dr. Robert Weinberg. Dr. Vaziri was born in Tehran and obtained his education in Canada. He is also a Canadian citizen. His research project "Molecular determinants of cellular senescence and immortalization" will focus on identifying factors involved in regulation of cell death and cell immortality. The rationale is that if one could understand how normal cell growth is regulated and why cancer cells can escape the usual cell death, one could then intervene to cause malignant cells to die.

Dr. Vaziri first became interested in cell growth at an early age when he studied Caspian sea crabs. Later, in his studies at McMaster University in Canada he became interested in telomeres, found on the end of human chromosomes, which have now been shown to be essential to cell growth. His current research interests take off from these early observations and have tremendous potential for understanding cancer growth and the means of restricting it.

Outside the lab, Dr. Vaziri’s hobbies include breeding stoney and soft corals in captivity (fish tanks) and also breeding fish from rivers of Mexico.