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Babak grew up in Tehran, Iran. He came to the United States for the last couple of years of high school, where he graduated from Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto, CA. He attended the University of California, Davis, earning a BS degree in Biochemistry (1988), while working as an undergraduate research associate with Professor Neil Schore on Pauson-Khand chemistry.
Babak remained at UC Davis, entering the chemistry graduate program in 1989 to earn his PhD under the guidance of Professor Mark Kurth and Professor Bruce Hammock. His research was focused on the mechanistic studies of hydrolytic enzyme, in particular Soluble Epoxide Hydrolate and the Neuropathy Target Esterase. He was also engaged in research to develop functionalized polystyrene polymers geared for synthetic purposes. His PhD work was complete in 1995 having investigated radical-based ring expansion of bicycle[4.1.0]heptyl derivatives as a synthetic methodology for obtaining 7 member ring systems. He immediately began his postdoctoral studies at Columbia University with Professor Koji Nakanishi. His work there focused on the mechanistic investigations of 11-cis-retinal isomerization in rhodopsin, upon light activation.
In 1998, Babak began his independent career at Michigan State University. His research group focuses on studies in three areas of organic chemistry: reaction development, methodology and synthesis with the emphasis on developing single step transformation of readily available molecular scaffolds into new and unique architechures; bioorganic chemistry focused on rational protein design to investigate biological phenomena, and also investigation of fatty acid oxides and their biologically active metabolites ; and organic spectroscopy with the emphasis on developing simple to use and accessible methodologies for the absolute determination of stereochemistry of organic molecules utilizing circular dichroism.
His group enjoys strong and fruitful collaborations with Professor Jim Geiger and his group on the bioorganic projects, Professor Ned Jackson on the mechanistic investigations of various new reactions developed in the group, and Dr. Chrysoula Vasileiou, a PhD graduate of the group (currently an academic specialist at MSU) who remains closely associated with the group.
