published 01/02/2018
PhD Title: Development of an in vitro blood brain barrier (BBB) model for the study of Pneumococcal meningitis
Supervisor(s): Dr Siti Hanna Muharram and Dr Suwarni Diah
About the PhD:
I developed few in vitro models using brain endothelial cells and astrocytes for the study of the blood brain barrier (BBB). Following that, I applied Streptococcus pneumoniae (Brunei clinical strains) to the best model. In the end, I proposed a potential mechanism of how Streptococcus pneumoniae crosses the BBB to cause meningitis. In my study, I heavily performed microbiological techniques, cell culture, immunofluorescence microscopy and western blotting.
Email: 14h8153@ubd.edu.bn
Prizes & Awards
- 2017 - Best Oral Presentation, 10th Malaysia Indonesia Brunei (MIB) Medical Sciences Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 2016 - Best Poster Presentation, 13th Annual Scientific Meeting INFECTION 2016, New Territories, Hong Kong
Conferences & Meetings
- September 2017 - 14th Annual Scientific Meeting INFECTION 2017, Hong Kong [poster presentation]
- September 2017 - Japanese Food Industry Tour, Japan [sponsored by JAIF2.0 Scholarship for production of food value chain in ASEAN]
- July 2017 - 10th Malaysia Indonesia Brunei (MIB) Medical Sciences Conference, Malaysia [oral presentation]
- December 2016 - 3rd PAN-ASIAN Biomedical Science Conference, Malaysia [poster presentation]
- June 2016 - 13th Annual Scientific Meeting INFECTION 2016, Hong Kong [poster presentation]
- November 2015 - 3rd International Neuroscience Symposium, Brunei [poster presentation]
Qualifications
MSc Medical Microbiology, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
BHSc Biomedical Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei
Biography
When I was in primary school, I remember dreaming of becoming a scientist, like Professor Albert Einstein. Who would have thought I would actually grow up to be a biomedical scientist. What's more exciting is that I like to grow bacteria and I love science more when I can see it with colours.
Publications
- Rahman, N.A., Sharudin, A., Diah, S., Muharram, S.H. (July 2017) Serotyping of Brunei pneumococcal clinical strains and the investigation of their capability to adhere and invade a brain endothelium model. Microb. Pathog. 110, 352–358. doi:10.1016/j.micpath.2017.07.021
- Rahman, N.A., Rasil, A.N.H.M., Meyding-Lamade, U., Craemer, E.M., Diah, S., Tuah, A.A., Muharram, S.H. (April 2016) Immortalized endothelial cell lines for in vitro blood-brain barrier models: A systematic review. Brain Research 1642, 532–545. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2016.04.024