Pakistani professor develops biomarker for stroke diagnosis

Method would help save patients from onset of strokes

KARACHI: Pakistani Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia has developed a biomarker for early diagnosis of strokes.
Dr Kaneez Fatima Shad, professor of neuroscience at the University of Technology, Sydney, said that her group has developed a biomarker for the early diagnosis of strokes.
She was delivering a lecture titled 'Why Brain? Why Advocacy? Setting the Future for Neuroscience with Peripheral Markers of Mental Disorders in Pakistan'. The lecture was organised by the Prof Dr Viqar Sultana of the department of biochemistry at the University of Karachi (KU).



Many factors including stress, noise and carbon monoxide pollution are responsible for common neurological, neuropsychological and psychiatric disorders in Pakistan. She gave several examples of peripheral markers of such diseases, for example generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as precursor of atherosclerosis leading to ischemic strokes. She advised participants to practice caloric restriction so their energy producing machine (mitochondria) would produce less ROS.
She explained that currently there is no biomarker available for the early diagnosis of strokes. Specific enzymes in the blood can be used as peripheral markers for neuronal hyperactivities. D-serine concentration is an important determinant for strokes.



Her group in Australia has developed a certain biochemical method for the early diagnosis of strokes and to identify people who are prone to having strokes in the future. The early diagnosis would save patients from the onset of strokes. The lecture was attended by a large number of faculty members and research students from KU's faculty of science.
Dr Shad completed her PhD in 1994 in neuroscience from the University of New South Wales, Australia and post-doctoral studies from Medical College of Pennsylvania, USA. Her area of research interest is to find biological markers for brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and strokes.



She has more than 30 years of experience teaching physiology, neurophysiology and other medical sciences at different universities of Australia, UAE, USA, Bahrain, Brunei and Pakistan. She has published 56 peer reviewed papers, edited three books and written three book chapters and 95 international peer reviewed conference abstracts.