Fahad Iqbal
Graduate student - PhD
Contact information
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Biography
About me
I am originally from Pakistan, and grew up there before moving to Vancouver, and then Calgary, where I completed elementary school. I've been in Calgary ever since! I completed my undergraduate in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program (Biomedical Sciences Major) at the University of Calgary before starting my PhD in Neuroscience. Outside the lab, you can find me talking to young students about science and research, or taking photos of wildlife and landscapes around Calgary. Recently, I've been improving my astrophotography!
My research
I am in Dr. Naweed I. Syed's Lab, which has extensive expertise in neurophysiology and neuron-chip interfaces. Being part of this amazing team grants me the privilege of engineering tools to solve biological questions. For my project, I am designing a lab-on-a-chip system that will allow for the targeted delivery of drugs to specific parts of brain slices, while simultaneously recording neuronal activity. I will use this device to screen combinations of the newest anti-epileptic drugs, and potential drug candidates for their effectiveness in controlling and preventing seizures. My project also looks at which of these drug combinations can protect neurons from seizure-related damage, and vice versa over longer periods of time using planer microelectrode arrays.
BRAIN CREATE program aspirations
The BRAIN CREATE Program offers exceptional opportunities to gain industry experience and unique academic experiences. I hope to participate in an industry internship where I can learn more about designing and manufacturing custom devices for medical use; whether that be in the form of medical devices like prosthetics, or tools that can aid in the cognitive development of children.
Commercialization
The proposed system (termed Fluid-MEA) would allow for rapid in vitro screening of different anti-epileptic medications. This is for testing their effectiveness in preventing or stopping seizures, and testing their impact on key memory circuits of the hippocampus. This tool could be used to: 1) discover new anti-epileptic drug combinations that could be a source for further research; or 2) be further developed into a clinical lab drug screening system, where already extracted seizing tissue could be put to use to inform healthcare teams on which drug combinations are the most safe and effective for an individual patient, should their seizures return in the future.
Awards
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship
CIHR Doctoral Scholarship
Sajjad Ebrahim Family Scholarship (Science and Engineering)
Muhammad Humayan Zaffar Scholarship for Science and Engineering
Achievers in Medical Science Doctoral Scholarship
BRAIN CREATE Graduate Scholarship
Harley N Hotchkiss Doctoral Scholarship in Neuroscience
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute Graduate Scholarship