Profile

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Ashfaq Ahmad

My CV

  • Education:

    I completed my schooling from a public school “High School Chitor” in district Swat, Pakistan. I was an average student and did not do really well but i was hard working. After high school, I went to a college ” Hira College” in the Mingora city of district Swat, to attend a two years course, which was required for getting into a university. The diploma helped me get into the University of Swat for a Bachelors’s degree in Biotechnology. At the University, I was the topper of my class, and I graduated with a Gold medal. After my bachelor’s, I won a fully-funded scholarship (Mastermind scholarship) at Vrije University Brussels to do my MSc in Molecular biology. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student and also working as an Early Stage Researcher at the University of Warwick.

  • Qualifications:

    Started schooling at age 5, I was an average student at the School. I completed a two years diploma at a college then. Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology at The University of Swat. Master of Science in Molecular biology at Vrije University Brussels. Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.

  • Work History:

    Research assistant at the University of Swat in a project of Molecular Biology.

  • Current Job:

    Early Stage Researcher in a Marie-Curie project “NanoCarb”.

  • About Me:

    Hi! I’m Ashfaq and I’m a Life sciences Ph.D student. I love traveling and in my spare time, I play chess, watch TV shows, and spend time with my family and friends.

  • Read more

    I’m currently in the first year of my Ph.D., I completed my masters in September 2019  from Vrije University Brussels.

    I’ve lived in Coventry, but I am originally from Pakistan.  I am currently staying on campus at University of Warwick and I really enjoy living so close to the workplace.

    In my free time, I really enjoy going out for long walks, playing chess and watching movies and TV series, I recently watched The Money Heist.

  • Read more

    My Ph.D. work is focused on the production of carbohydrate-binding proteins (CBP) and the investigation of their function. I use various techniques to measure the interaction of this protein with the carbohydrates coated nanoparticles.

    I am looking at what kind of carbohydrates are recognized by the carbohydrate-binding proteins. These proteins are important in the immune system where they are involved in protecting the body against many diseases causing organisms. At the same, some of the CBPs are involved in causing diseases, in such cases, they help in spreading the infection from one part of the body to another.

  • My Typical Day:

    I normally wake up around 7am in the morning and leave for the work at 8am. I stay on campus, so it’s a 10 minutes walk from my housing to the workplace. Once at Laboratory, I start doing my experiments. I spend about 8-10 hours at the lab with tea and lunch breaks. I finish up at around 6pm and head home for dinner and relaxing!

  • Read more

    I normally wake up around 7 AM in the morning and after freshening up and having breakfast, I leave for the work. I stay on campus, so it’s a 10 minutes walk from student housing to the workplace.

    Once at Laboratory, I start doing my experiments like growing bacteria, transforming them with DNA, protein expression, and purification, doing interactions determining studies using different techniques like BLI and SPR. In between experiments, I take  short breaks for having tea and to catch up with my colleagues.

    I have my lunch at around 1 pm, which is mostly from a local Pakistani restaurant, like chicken biryani, or mixed vegetables. Back to the lab after lunch, I do some reading sometimes on the experiments I have planned. Sometimes the experiments take weeks so one has to keep track of things during every stage of the experiment.

    Sometimes, I have to stay as late as 10 pm at the lab to complete an experiment, and this varies from day today. some days, I only read papers, analyzing data, and the next day I could be doing experiments in the lab, the whole day.

    However, usually at around 6 pm, I head home to relax, cook dinner, and some tea and watch Netflix.

     

    This is how the lab I work in, looks like.

  • What I'd do with the prize money:

    I would like to donate the prize money to an organization either in the UK or my home country working for STEM.

  • My Interview

    • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

      Compassionate, Responsible, a bit of an introvert

      What did you want to be after you left school?

      I wanted to be a medical doctor

      Were you ever in trouble at school?

      Yes yes :(

      Who is your favourite singer or band?

      Coke Studio (Pakistan).

      What's your favourite food?

      Biryani (Pakistan)

      Tell us a joke.

      I broke my finger last week. on the other hand, I am okay.

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