Farah Rahmatpanah
Biography
Farah Rahmatpanah, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Residence in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on the intersection of epigenetics, genomics, and cancer biology, with an emphasis on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer initiation, progression, and health disparities. She participated in the development of the first CpG island microarray, a foundational resource that advanced the global understanding of DNA methylation patterns in cancer research. Her laboratory has developed novel computational tools to overcome the technical challenges of studying highly repetitive human endogenous retrovirus (ERV) sequences, enabling systematic analysis of ERV expression changes and their correlation with cancer relapse, genomic ancestries, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Rahmatpanah serves as principal investigator on an NIH/NCI R01 grant (2019–2025) and has received multiple NIH Student Loan Repayment Program Awards. Her work investigates ERVs as potential biomarkers for early disease detection and as a molecular basis for neuroinflammation and Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. Her laboratory also examines epigenetic reprogramming of stromal cells in prostate cancer development and progression, with a particular focus on how epigenetic modifications in stromal components contribute to prostate cancer pathogenesis and disparities.
Rahmatpanah received her Ph.D. from the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. She has served as Associate Guest Topic Editor for Tumor Microenvironment at Frontiers in Oncology and is a member of the Experimental Pathology Graduate Admission Program and the Inclusive Excellence Committee at UC Irvine.
Return to topEducation
- PhD in Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, 2008
- MS in Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, 1997
- BS in Chemistry, University of Razi, Iran, 1989
Distinctions
- Health Disparities Research, Student Loan Repayments Program Award, NIH (renewal), 2025-2026
- NIH Student Loan Repayments Program Award, 2010-2012, 2023-2025
- Training Grant in Cancer Biology, National Cancer Institute (NCI), 2009-2011
- Trainee of ADRC Research Education Component training program, 2023-2025
- American Cancer Society institutional award, UCI, 2017-2018
- Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC Irvine Seed Grant, 2012
- New Collaborative Award, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Chair Award), UCI, 2023
Areas of Expertise
- Cancer Epigenetics
- DNA Methylation Patterns
- Tumor Microenvironment Interactions
- Prostate Cancer Health Disparities
- Human Endogenous Retrovirus Expression
- Alzheimer Disease Neuroinflammation
- Stromal Cell Epigenetic Reprogramming
Recent Publications
- Kumar V, Jennings TSK, Ueta L, Nguyen J, Song L, McClelland M, Chu W, Lilly M, Ittmann M, Castro P, Kalebasty AR, Mercola D, Yazdanpanah O, Zi X, Rahmatpanah F, “Genes Encoding Multiple Modulators of the Immune Response Are Methylated in the Prostate Tumor Microenvironment of African Americans” (opens in new tab), Cancers (Basel), vol. 17, 2025.
- Alldredge J, Kumar V, Nguyen J, Sanders BE, Gomez K, Jayachandran K, Zhang J, Schwarz J, Rahmatpanah F, “Endogenous Retrovirus RNA Expression Differences between Race, Stage and HPV Status Offer Improved Prognostication among Women with Cervical Cancer” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 24, 2023.
- Kumar V, Randhawa P, Bilodeau R, Mercola D, McClelland M, Agrawal A, Nguyen J, Castro P, Ittmann MM, Rahmatpanah F, “Spatial Profiling of the Prostate Cancer Tumor Microenvironment Reveals Multiple Differences in Gene Expression and Correlation with Recurrence Risk” (opens in new tab), Cancers (Basel), vol. 14, 2022.
- Kumar V, McClelland M, Nguyen J, De Robles G, Ittmann M, Castro P, Mercola D, Jia Z, Rahmatpanah F, “Expression of Endogenous Retroviral RNA in Prostate Tumors has Prognostic Value and Shows Differences among Americans of African Versus European/Middle Eastern Ancestry” (opens in new tab), Cancers (Basel), vol. 13, 2021.
- Rahmatpanah F, Robles G, Lilly M, Keane T, Kumar V, Mercola D, Randhawa P, McClelland M, “RNA expression differences in prostate tumors and tumor-adjacent stroma between Black and White Americans” (opens in new tab), Oncotarget, vol. 12, no. 15, pp. 1457-1469, 2021.
Most Cited Publications
- Jia Z, Rahmatpanah FB, Chen X, Lernhardt W, Wang Y, Xia XQ, Sawyers A, Sutton M, McClelland M, Mercola D, “Expression changes in the stroma of prostate cancer predict subsequent relapse” (opens in new tab), PLoS One, vol. 7, no. 8, pp. e41371, 2012.
- Rahmatpanah F, Agrawal S, Scarfone VM, Kapadia S, Mercola D, Agrawal A, “Transcriptional Profiling of Age-Associated Gene Expression Changes in Human Circulatory CD1c+ Myeloid Dendritic Cell Subset” (opens in new tab), Journals of Gerontology Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 9-15, 2019.
- Rahmatpanah F, Agrawal S, Jaiswal N, Nguyen HM, McClelland M, Agrawal A, “Correction: Airway epithelial cells prime plasmacytoid dendritic cells to respond to pathogens via secretion of growth factors” (opens in new tab), Mucosal Immunology, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 841, 2019.
- Alldredge J, Randall L, De Robles G, Agrawal A, Mercola D, Liu M, Randhawa P, Edwards R, McClelland M, Rahmatpanah F, “Transcriptome Analysis of Ovarian and Uterine Clear Cell Malignancies” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 10, pp. 598579, 2020.
- Rahmatpanah FB, Jia Z, Chen X, Char JE, Men B, Franke AC, Jones FE, McClelland M, Mercola D, “A class of genes in the HER2 regulon that is poised for transcription in breast cancer cell lines and expressed in human breast tumors” (opens in new tab), Oncotarget, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1286-301, 2015.
- Xu K, Rahmatpanah F, Jia Z, “Editorial: Therapeutic Opportunities and Innovative Biomarkers in Tumor Microenvironment” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 11, pp. 803414, 2021.
Contact Information
Email: frahmatp@hs.uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-5298
Address: Med Sci I, Rm. D440, Irvine, CA 92697-4800
Return to topThis profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 5/27/2026.