Samea Khan

Research Title: Ameliorative effect of Sitagliptin and Celery Seeds extract (Ajwain) in Alloxan induced diabetic rats

Supervisors: Mark Willcox, Maria Markoulli  

Research abstract    

Diabetes mellitus is a major chronic metabolic disorder characterised by hyperglycaemia due to deregulation either in insulin production or function. The risk of diabetes is not only hyperglycaemia in blood but can also be seen in different organs like liver, kidneys, heard and eyes. Diabetes leads to disturbances in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Lipid peroxidation causes generation of free radicals which in turn disturbs the redox potential. Hyperglycaemia-mediated oxidative stress along with other metabolic disorders activates the immune system which results in the production of inflammatory cytokines such as (TNF-a). To treat this disease many synthetic drugs are being used as hypoglycaemic agents. Many medicinal plants are rich sources of flavonoids, and these can reduce hyper glycemia and its related complications.  The study is aimed to evaluate the relative effects of sitagliptin and Celery Seeds (Ajwain) on Alloxan induced diabetic rats. Blood glucose levels and other biochemical parameters such as blood lipids and glycation of proteins will be assessed in serum. I will also examine the eyes of rats to determine whether the treatments can affect the architecture of corneal nerves. Expression of tumour necrosis factor (TNF-a) will be assessed through qRT-PCR and its protein will be analysed by ELISA.  Results will relate sitagliptin as synthetic chemical agent and Ajwain as a natural medicinal plant.         

Education

Biography

I have completed my M.Phil. degree from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan in 2015. I joined Govt Post Graduate college Haripur in 2015, where I served as lecture Biochemistry for two years. Afterwards in 2017 I joined Virtual University of Pakistan as an Instructor at the department of Molecular Biology. Currently, I am a PhD student at UNSW and got the chance to work with Professor Mark Willcox and Maria Markoulli.

Awards

University International Postgraduate Award (UIPA) at UNSW

Merit Scholarship throughout Masters at QAU

Conference attendance

• National Conference of Trends in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Department of Biochemistry Quaid-I-AzamUniversity Islamabad, February 2012.
• Symposium on Bio photonics at Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, March 2013.
• International Conference on Agricultural and Food Science and 7th International Conference on Biotechnology and Bioengineering, October 2017.
• Participated as a resource person in workshop on Biosafety and Biosecurity at Virtual university of Pakistan in collaboration with National Training & research laboratories and Sure Bio diagnostics & pharmaceuticals, January 2018.
• International conference on hereditary diseases, molecular diagnosis and prevention strategies, March 29, 2018 department of molecular biology Virtual University of Pakistan.
• Worked as an organizer in the bioinformatics workshop on “Hands-on-training on latest bioinformatics tools and technologies” on august 15-16, 2018 at Virtual University of Pakistan, department of bioinformatics and computational biology.