Dr. Nika Shakiba is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at UBC. Her research program (https://shakiba.bme.ubc.ca) is interested in understanding the social lives of stem cells. Her lab applies a combined systems and synthetic biology approach to reverse- and forward-engineer the competitive interactions between cells in developmental systems. Prior to joining SBME, Nika was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed her PhD in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at University of Toronto. Nika is a big believer in outreach and mentorship. Beyond her research and teaching, she is passionate about providing equity in mentorship & advice access through her latest project, Advice to a Scientist (https://advicetoascientist.com/).