Mehdi Dehghani, Ph.D., DABCC

Laboratory Director and CSO, Molecular Diagnostics

Dr. Mehdi Dehghani is board certified in molecular diagnostics with over two decades of experience in molecular genomics. Throughout his career, he has been involved in developing and clinically validating numerous molecular diagnostic tests.

Dr. Dehghani has a remarkable record of establishing and directing clinical laboratories, including BioExcel Diagnostics. Before founding BioExcel Diagnostics, his professional journey included serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center and numerous clinical laboratory leadership, research, and teaching roles. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in molecular medicine at The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Applying principles learned from the Lean Six Sigma, Dr. Dehghani led the development and clinical validation of molecular tests and implemented cutting-edge technologies for laboratory optimization. Dr. Dehghani’s extensive experience and dedication to improving the quality of molecular diagnostics make him an invaluable asset to our team.

Education

Fellowship Training

Molecular Medicine
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Undergraduate

B.Sc., Cell and Molecular Biology
Isfahan University

Graduate School

Ph.D., Clinical Biochemistry
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
School of Medicine

M.Sc., Clinical Biochemistry
Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
School of Pharmacy

Board Certifications

MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS

The American Board of Clinical Chemistry (Molecular Diagnostics)

The American Society for Clinical Pathology

Memberships

Association for Molecular Pathology

Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC)

Research & Publications

Publications

Validation and Clinical Applications of a Comprehensive Next Generation Sequencing System for Molecular Characterization of Solid Cancer Tissues. M. Dehghani, Kevin P. Rosenblatt, Lei Li, Mrudula Rakhade, and Robert J. Amato; Front Mol Biosci. 2019; 6: 82.
Klotho inhibits EGF-induced cell migration in Caki-1 cells through inactivation of EGFR and p38 MAPK signaling pathways; M. Dehghani, Reynolds K. Brobey, Yue Wang, Glauco Souza, Robert J. Amato, and Kevin P. Rosenblatt ; Oncotarget, 2018 Jan 1; 9(42): 27737-26750.
M. Dehghani, Lei Li, Reynolds Brobey, Yue Wang, Kevin P. Rosenblatt, Robert J. Amato. Validation and application of a comprehensive next generation sequencing system for molecular characterization of solid tumor tissues [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-377 (meeting abstract).
Somatic mutation detection from liquid biopsy-derived cellular aggregates formed by magnetic 3D bioprinting; Hubert Tseng, Mehdi Dehghani, Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti, Jacob A. Gage, Pujan K. Desai, Angela Liao, Reynolds Brobey, Jeff Jensen, Kevin P. Rosenblatt, Glauco R. Souza, Robert J. Amato; J Clin Oncol January 2016 vol. 34 no. 2_suppl 291 (Meeting Abstracts).
Somatic mutation detection via sequencing using circulating tumor cell samples from patients with renal cell and prostate cancer; Robert J. Amato, Reynolds Brobey, M. Dehghani, Kevin Rosenblatt, Glauco Souza, Hubert Tseng, Jeff Jensen, and Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti; Mol Cancer Ther December 2015 14 (Meeting Abstracts).
CYP2D7 Sequence Variation Interferes with TaqMan CYP2D6*15 and *35 Genotyping; Amanda K. Riffel, M.Dehghani, Toinette Hartshorne, Kristen C. Floyd, J. Steven Leeder, Kevin P. Rosenblatt, and Andrea Gaedigk; Front. Pharmacol., 12 January 2016.
Klotho Regulates 14-3-3ζ Monomerization and Binding to the ASK1 Signaling Complex in Response to Oxidative Stress. Brobey RK, M. Dehghani, Foster PP, Kuro-O M, Rosenblatt KP2 PLoS One. 2015 Oct 30; 10(10):e0141968.
Methylation of E-cadherin and integrin α4 genes in human prostate cancer. Mostafavi-Pour Z, Kianpour S, M. Dehghani, Mokarram P, Torabinejad S, Monabati A; Pathol Oncol Res. 2015 Sep;21(4):921-7
Correlation between germline and tumor CYP2D6 gene polymorphisms; M. Dehghani · Anneliese O Gonzalez · Neda Hashemi-Sadraei · Songlin Zhang · Kevin P Rosenblatt; Cancer Res May 1, 2015 75; P5-10-09 (meeting abstract)
CXCL12 Modulates Prostate Cancer Cell Adhesion by Altering the Levels or Activities of β1-Containing Integrins. M. Dehghani, Sedigheh Kianpour, Ana Zangeneh and Zohreh Mostafavi-Pour; Int J Cell Biol. 2014; 2014:981750.
A high-throughput three-dimensional cell migration assay for toxicity screening with mobile device-based macroscopic image analysis. David M. Timm, Jianbo Chen, David Sing, Jacob A. Gage, William L. Haisler, Shane K. Neeley, Robert M. Raphael, M. Dehghani, Kevin P. Rosenblatt, T. C. Killian, Hubert Tseng & Glauco R. Souza; Sci Rep. 2013 Oct 21;3:3000.
Gene expression of α2β1, α4β1 and α5β1 integrins: Possible indicators in the metastatic behavior of prostate cancer. Zohreh Mostafavi-Pour, M. Dehghani, Pooneh Mokaram, Sedigheh Kianpour, Ahmadreza Sardarian; Clinical Biochemistry 2011, Volume 44, Issue 13, Supplement, Pages S1-S366 (meeting abstract).
High Concentration of Soluble Form of Vascular Endothelial Cadherin in Sera of Patients with Prostate Cancer. Habib Agahi M., Mostafavipour z., Lotfi M., M. Dehghani, Jaberipour M., Dehghan H. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal 2009, 11(4), 377-38 (meeting abstract).
Evaluation of plasma interleukin-8 concentration in patients with prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia. M. Dehghani, Zohreh Mostafavi-Pour, Mehrzad Lotfi, Saeed Shakeri; Iran J Immunol. 2009 Jun; 6(2):92-8.
Evidence for the Essential Arginine and Histidine Residues in Catalytic Activity of Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase from Streptomyces aureofaciens. B. Haghighi* and M. Dehghani; Journal of Sciences, 2005; 16:1.

Book Chapter

Hematology-Oncology clinical question, Chapter 2: Basics of Oncology and Pathology

Poster Presentations

The inhibitory effect of Klotho on EGF-induced renal cell carcinoma cell migration, 2nd Annual Advances in Oncology from clinical sciences to clinical practices.
Accurate Somatic Mutation Detection at Low Allele Frequency Applied to Liquid Biopsy Samples, ASHG, 2015.
Somatic Mutation Detection from Liquid Biopsies via NGS: Urological Cancers, ASHG, 2015.