An assistant professor from Kashmir, of Biology at The University of New Mexico, Mubarak Hussain Syed, has received the prestigious career award from the National Science Foundation that will allow him to pursue his passions of understanding brain development and function, mentoring students. His project is based on, “Mechanisms regulating neural identity, connectivity and function- From stem cells to circuits,” will receive $1.8 million for five years.
According to a report by UNM Newsroom, Mubarak Hussain Syed plans that after teaching genetics and neuroscience to junior and senior undergraduates, he realized most of his students feel lost, and have inadequate information about research and research-oriented fields. He started an informal mentorship program called Neuronal: Neuroscience Experiences and Undergraduate Research Opportunities for Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinos/Hispanic. In the report, Mubarak said, “I am from Kashmir, and to help/mentor students back home, I started an organization JKScientists when I was a graduate student. It is a public organization now, and thanks to the young generation of students, it is moving forward.”
Syed, a neuroscientist, is interested in the development and function of neurons, glia (other cell types in the human brain), and neural circuits. Syed’s lab studies developmental programs regulating neural diversity and function – from stem cells to neural circuits.
Mubarak has been very passionate about science and reaching out to the locals schools by visiting the classroom. He has been involved in many activities for a while and plans on continuing to do so. For his project, they are currently studying neural stem cell-specific programs that regulate the identity and function of neural types that populate adult Drosophila central complex – a highly conserved brain structure necessary for complex behaviors, including sensorimotor integration, locomotor action selection and sleep.
Syed will use this award to achieve his research, engaging diverse population of undergraduate students into neuroscience research, and science outreach.
He further said in the report that over the years, he has gained experience in developmental neuroscience, and now he plans on aiming to establish a link between developmental mechanisms and adult behaviors using Drosophila, or fruit flies, as a model system,. He said, adding, “I have been working with fruit flies for over a decade. They are incredible creatures and have led to many fundamental discoveries in many fields, including the development, genetics, and neuroscience.