| Awarding_Body | Degree_level | Degree_name | Award | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Glasgow | PgCert | Brain Sciences | NA | 2023 |
| University College London | BSc | Pharmacology | 2.1 | 2021 |
| International School of Basel | Baccalaureate | International Baccalaureate | 41/45 | 2017 |
Copies of diplomas available upon request.
My Postgraduate certificate is in Brain Sciences. Courses can be seen in Year 4 in the interactive graph above.
Fundamentals of Neuroscience covers the different neuroscientific disciplines, allowing students to seek a preference for a specific discipline. Mine being neuropharmacology and the basis of synaptic plasticity. This allowed me to do a group project in Synaptic plasticity. Specifically in this project, I covered the significance of GluA1 in plasticity.
Data Skills for Reproducible Research is essentially an introduction to coding with R. It encourages data management and it is how I learned to make the CV you are currently reading. This one evidently struck a chord with me and I chose to independently study R further. I also have been helping my fellow classmates in this class and have been running office hours to do so.
Current Research topics is important to my career such that it helped me learn the value and my skill in describing contemporary research in simple terms. Avoiding jargon proved a challenge, but I found joy in analogies to explain the brain and its connections.
Cognitive Brain Imaging Methods allows for an understanding of the methodologies and basis behind brain imaging. It also discusses the role of brain imaging in cognitive research. Assessed through a critical review in a specific brain imaging method/technology, it helped me use my skills acquired from Journal Club to critically review research. In this, I covered the use of Bayesian modelling for within-participant statistics to overcome the reproducibility crisis within Neuroscience. A copy of this paper is available upon request.
Neuroscience Animal Models of Disease and Function encouraged the students to consider the advantages and limitations of using animals as pre-clinical and academic models of disease and functions. After all lectures, I chose to write my assessment on the limitations of using animal models for a ‘uniquely human disease’ of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has been a long-standing interest of mine. I approached this subject through the acknowledgment that psychosis is an alteration of perception, and that any organism perceiving could experience the symptoms. Thus, the difficulties lay in observing the altered perception. This is being continuously improved, such as through MATRICS.
Current Trends and Challenges taught of the biases and such difficulties in research. I contributed to this class through discussion and final examination was based on a presentation for a poster and a reflection of biases throughout its production. Having attended Journal Club and other UCL lectures, the contents of this course came rather easily to me as I had been critically examining research for some time and helped others do so in tutoring undergraduates.
My Bachelors was in Pharmacology at University College London, where I specialised in my final year in neuroscientific aspects of pharmacology. Overall, I achieved an Upper Second Class Honours Degree. I pursued my undergraduate dissertation in the use of GDNF to treat Parkinson’s Disease, under the supervision of Prof. Alasdair Gibb.
First year mainly covered the basic knowledge necessary for any biomedical field, including biochemistry, cells and development, chemistry, mammalian physiology, and statistics. Pharmacological specialisation took place through the introduction to the mechanisms of drug action course.
Second year covered neuroscience, immunology, and further biochemistry/molecular biology. Pharmacology courses included general and systematic pharmacology, and experimental pharmacology. I found particular interest in the pharmacology and neuroscience courses, and thoroughly enjoyed learning the process of writing scientific reports and collecting associated data for such reports.
Final year involved pharmacology specialisation, but had mandatory molecular pharmacology. Molecular pharmacology was largely theoretical and understanding the basis of how ligand receptor relationships worked and associated implications. I chose to take neuropharmacology, psychopharmacology, drug design and development, synaptic pharmacology, toxicology, and a literature project. As much as I wanted to pursue a laboratory project, my fear of COVID affecting this altered this decision. These classes gave me a thorough understanding of drug interactions in the nervous system from pre-synapse to post-synapse. Third year also encouraged group work and presentations, allowing me to gain experience in both.
With the intention to pursue neuropharmacology, I underwent the rigorous IB diploma.
| Subject | Level | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Biology | HL | 7 |
| Psychology | HL | 7 |
| Chemistry | HL | 5 |
| Mathermatics | SL | 7 |
| German B | SL | 6 |
| English Language and Literature | SL | 6 |
As well as the six main subjects, I had an extended essay and theory of knowledge, attaining an A and B respectively. For EE, I investigated the question: to what extent can brain imaging be used in the valid and reliable diagnosis of schizophrenia?