Mahsa Khoshbakht was born in Tehran, Iran. She received a BS degree in Chemistry from Shahid Beheshti University in 2011 and, three years later, an MS degree in Organic Chemistry from Tehran University of Medical Science. Mahsa's MS thesis research concerned the development of synthetic methods to generate new bioactive heterocyclic compounds such as quinazolinones, pyrazoles, and derivatives. In 2016, Mahsa joined the graduate program at Oregon State University where she began her research studies in the laboratory of Prof. Sandra Loesgen and pursued a multi-disciplinary approach to discover new antimicrobial natural products. As part of this approach, Mahsa investigated precursor directed biosynthesis using epigenetic agents to elicit the production of novel fungal secondary metabolites (including chalanilines A and B) and explored their potency in bioassays. Further to the relocation of the Loesgen Laboratory to the University of Florida in 2019, Mahsa continued her studies of the chalaniline family in the Blakemore Research Group in an ongoing collaboration with Prof. Loesgen. Mahsa's work focused on target-directed synthesis (chalaniline B and analogs) in addition to the mutasynthesis approach (chalaniline A and analogs) explored previously in an effort to identify potential new drug leads.

"Total Synthesis of Chalaniline B: An Antibiotic Aminoxanthone from Vorinostat-Treated Fungus Chalara sp. 6661," Khoshbakht, M.; Thanaussavadate, B.; Zhu, C.; Cao, Y.; Zakharov, L. N.; Loesgen, S.; Blakemore,* P. R. J. Org. Chem. 2021, 86, 7773-7780. [LINK] [abstract][SI]