McGill University (4.0/4.0), June 2022
My master’s degree is research focused. I train in a lab regularly performing different experiments and generating data and results. I took a couple of classes in research methods and the microbiome, which helped me develop a better understanding of different but related fields. I also took a couple of additional science communication classes since I have a personal interest in the topic.
Qatar University (3.88/4.0), January 2019
The Biomedical Science program prepared for a career in medical laboratories as well as research laboratories. The comprehensive nature of the program allowed me to have a diverse scientific background. I am familiar with topics in immunology, microbiology, hematology, molecular biology, genetics, and more. For most of these subjects, we learned the molecular pathogenesis of many human pathologies and the accompanying laboratory results patients frequently display.
Additionally, during our final year, we are required to submit a final thesis. I worked alongside my advisor and my research partner on a relatively complex project that aimed to study the interplay between autophagy and the immune response.
Furthermore, I sat for the international BOC (Board of Certification) exam and earned and continue to maintain my ASCPi (American society for clinical pathology) certification. This certification recognizes me as a competent clinical laboratory scientist who is ready to work in a clinical setting.
Discovery of novel regulators of bacterial chromosome replication and cell division (February 2021 – 2022)
Bacteria are often labeled as simple organisms, which might suggest that we’ve completely figured them out. However, this is far from the truth. Despite our extensive knowledge, many questions about bacterial replication remain unanswered. My project focused on identifying novel regulators of bacterial replication. Given the impending threat of antibiotic resistance worldwide, immediate action is necessary to prevent us from reverting to an era where a simple bacterial infection could lead to death. Understanding bacterial replication will allow us to identify novel targets for antibiotic development, helping combat the resistance crisis.
The Marczynski lab discovered an unusual mutation in a gene called DipM. This mutation results in a unique phenotype in Caulobacter crescentus, the model organism I worked with. Bacterial cells carrying DipM mutations were unable to complete the division phase, leading to a filamentous appearance under the microscope. Initially, we assumed the mutation affected cell wall division only. However, fluorescence studies of chromosomal replication in DipM mutants revealed irregular chromosomal replication patterns. Based on these observations, we suspect DipM to be involved in coordinating DNA replication and cell wall division in tandem with other effectors.
To investigate the pathway utilized by DipM and other effectors to coordinate the progression of chromosomal replication and cell wall division, I created C. crescentus mutants, screened them, and sequenced their genomes to identify genes of interest. This process helped establish a hypothetical framework for the role of DipM in cell cycle regulation. Outlining the pathway that governs the coordination of chromosomal regulation and cell wall division could pave the way for the discovery of new targets for antibiotic development.
My final thesis can be found here and my presentation can be found here.
The innate immune response to exosomes from drug resistant Leishmania parasites (September 2019 – July 2020)
Leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by the parasite Leishmania, infects over a million people worldwide. Leishmaniasis ranges in clinical presentation and severity. The clinical outcomes of the disease depend on the infecting species. I worked on Leishmania donovani, the most common species to cause visceral leishmaniasis, a fatal disease if left untreated.
I focused on studying drug resistant strains of L. donovani. Due to the scarcity of antileishmanial drugs, they are being overused and hence parasitic resistance is rising. On the other hand, new drugs are not being developed as fast as needed, which is detrimental to the efforts to reduce the global burden of the disease. My project focused on studying the effects of exosomes (which are small vesicles released by various types of eukaryotic cells) released from drug resistant leishmania on the innate immune responses. I isolated exosomes and tested how they affected the immune response elicited by macrophages by measuring transcription levels of select cytokines using RT-qPCR. I also infected macrophages with Leishmania in the presence of exosomes to determine if exosomes increase parasite infectivity and cell entrance, leading to more sever disease. We hypothesized that exosomes do modulate the innate immune response and that this response is different between drug resistant species. Exosomes are a plausible target for vaccine and drug development, we hoped this research will further support this concept.
The interplay between autophagy and the inflammasome during bacterial infections and hyperuricemia (January 2018 – August 2019)
In my senior year as an undergraduate student, with the help of my colleague, I studied how hyperuricemia (elevated levels of uric acid in the blood) affects the innate immune response against bacterial infections at a cellular level. The outcomes of this project were relevant for clinical decision making in cases where patients present with hyperuricemia as well as a bacterial infection.
We subjected RAW-264 macrophages and THP-1 monocytes to hyperuricemic environments followed by infections with formalin-fixed Klebsiella pneumonia or Staphylococcus aureus. We then collected supernatants for cytokine analysis (Nitric oxide, IL-1β, and TNF-α) and fixed the cells for confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. Initially, we hypothesized that hyperuricemia would worsen the outcomes of bacterial infections. However, our results contradicted our initial hypothesis; hyperuricemia reduced the inflammatory response in terms of cytokine release (mainly IL-1β) during bacterial infections. We were surprised by these findings. Additionally, we noticed that uric acid combined with bacterial infections induced autophagy, while uric acid alone had no effect on autophagy. This led us to believe that a there is crosstalk between autophagy and the inflammatory response. As a result, we took a dive into the literature to better understand what was happening.
In our model, hyperuricemia and bacterial infections induced inflammation and the release of IL-1β separately. However, co-stimulation reduced the overall inflammation (measured by IL-1β release). Moreover, we observed that autophagy flux levels were increased during in the presence of soluble uric acid. Based on these observations and our literature review, we concluded that hyperuricemia seems to stimulate the process of autophagy. Furthermore, we theorized that autophagy regulates the release of 1L-1β by degrading and interfering with proteins that are part of the inflammasome (a protein complex stimulated to assemble in response to inflammatory signals). In this model, hyperuricemia displayed anti inflammatory properties. However, further studies are required to validated and verify our findings as well as clinical studies to confirm the occurrence of this phenomenon in the human body.
Read our paper here
Scientific writing and research pieces
I worked on several scientific papers that included review articles, research proposals, and a thesis.
Unpublished review articles
As an honors student, I wrote a review article on diabetes for my Clinical Chemistry course.
2. Noncoding RNAs and human disease
As an honors student, I worked in a group of 3 students to write a review article on noncoding RNAs for an honors course.
My sole contributions to the paper can be found here
Again, as an honors student, I worked in a group of 3 students to write a review article on alloimmunization for our & Immunohematology & Blood Banking course.
My contributions to the paper can be found here
Unpublished papers
1. Resilient individuals: vulnerable heroes
I wrote a paper for my psychology class about resilience. Although I feel a better job could be done, this paper is very close to my heart.
2. The antimicrobial effect of copper nanoparticles
As an honors student, I worked in pair to complete a small research project and write a short manuscript about it.
3. Oncolytic Viruses in Cancer Therapy
In one of my master’s courses, we were given a list of topics to choose from. As I love a challenge and I am interested in virology and genetic circuits, I chose to do my paper in a field am not as familiar with. I still think it was a great idea!
Due to the pandemic suddenly interrupting us mid semester, our final exam became a final short proposal. The task was to read a methods paper and incorporate the method into a proposal that provides solutions for the pandemic.
Proposals and theses
1. The dynamics of the human gut microbiome in PCOS and its therapeutic potential
I worked in a pair for on this proposal for a Master’s course on the microbiome.
Graduation Thesis – Masters
3. The crosstalk between autophagy and inflammation during co-induction with hyperuricemia and bacteria
Graduation Thesis – Undergrad
I worked in a pair on this project. We divided both the writing and experimental work 50/50. In the literature review I was responsible for digging up the literature in autophagy
Zughaier Lab, Qatar University, Jan 2019 – August 2019
Dr. Zughaier moved her lab from Emory university in the United States to Qatar University in Qatar late in 2017. I joined her lab as an undergraduate student in early 2018 and continued as a research assistant after graduation for a period of 8 months. The Zughaier lab offered me a unique opportunity to learn how a research lab is established. Performing research in a lab that is growing can prove difficult, however, Dr. Zughaier’s support and guidance made the experience a pleasant one.
As a research assistant I had several duties to fulfil, which included performing experiments and assisting on different projects, tracking inventory, ordering and receiving reagents and materials, writing protocols, and assisting undergraduate students. I continued to work on my initial research project as an undergrad. I also assisted in a project that aimed to evaluate the levels of iron and cholesterol among Qatari patients. I measured the levels of cholesterol using ELISA, analyzed the raw data and submitted the complete analysis to the head of the project. Additionally, I assisted 6 medicine students working on 3 different projects to perform experiments and make sense of their results.
During my time at Dr. Zughaier’s lab I started writing, modifying, and optimizing protocols. You can access some of the protocols I wrote here.
SIDRA Medicine, September 2018 – December 2018
As part of the biomedical science program, I completed an internship at SIDRA medicine for four months where I received intense training on clinical laboratory procedures. I rotated around the different clinical laboratories, learned how to run and maintain machines, test samples and release results. I especially enjoyed learning about how processes are streamlines to ensure efficiency and minimal turnaround time.
I enjoyed all of laboratory rotations, especially those in microbiology and hematology. In microbiology I was mostly struck by how commonly we received samples from children who harbored bacteria that was strongly resistant to most antibiotics, even those that are reserved as last resort medications. The lab scientists warned me that this is alarming and that we should do something before the antibiotic resistance situation is completely out of control. As for hematology, we often received interesting hematological slides. I enjoyed observing the slides in attempts to figure the kind of diseases they pointed towards and discussing it with the pathologists. Overall, the learning experience was great and I was able to apply my knowledge in real life situations.