Nations development has always grabbed my attention since I was a little girl. I used to think that I can change the whole world when I grow up. Until my secondary school years, I joined a volunteer group in EL Shams Club called Life Makers they aimed at improving the club society through providing human development courses and trainings for the club members. This was a turning point in my life, although I joined to help society, but it turned out that I was helping myself more. During this stage, I was able to develop mentally and psychologically where I learned that big changes starts with smaller steps. A person must learn how to divide and conquer each step on the way. Meeting a lot of outstanding calibers, helped me in determining my path. My interest in business and science, made me decide that I will pursue m career in bio-entrepreneurship.
In 2006, I joined faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University. It was the best option ever for me, as the term biotechnology itself, means the use of biological organism and/or materials in the production of goods. The more I studied biotechnology, the more I got caught into it. In my graduation project, I decided to specialize in microbial biotechnology. Microorganisms can be considered as factories that can serve humanity in different forms. They can be used in bioremediation, drug production, and food industry, and lately it was even found to be a potential source of electricity. Microorganisms can help you serve anywhere, and in any field.
During my B. Sc. in Agricultural Science (Biotechnology) studies, I acquired a strong background in microbiology and genetics, which are 2 of the three tools of a biotechnologist, and the third is the biochemistry which I didn’t get enough of it during my undergrad studies. Since my interest got more into studying the genome and metabolome of the bacteria I joined two masters’ program:
First: Master program in Ain Shams University in the Genetics department, to continue what I started and to execute my proposed plan in the graduation project, which was a fulfilling and delightful experience.
Second: Master program in Chemistry in the American University in Cairo to enhance my biochemical knowledge that I was lacking a bit.
It was an extremely hard challenge to pursue both at the same time, but learning and having a complete picture of things helped go through it. The American University in Cairo was one of my best periods in my life ever, since everything was dynamic and motivating, the educational environment was superb, and this is one of the reasons that made me curious more about the American culture, it’s overwhelming how organizational culture can affect a person tremendously from every aspect, it wasn’t chemistry the only thing that I have learned there, but for me it was a lot more.
Regarding my professional career, I was lucky to work in the Regional Center for Food and Feed (RCFF) directly after graduation in 2010, since I was ranked the 19th among my faculty student, the government hired me for my academic excellence. RCFF is a supervision quality control governmental entity as well as a research center. Through which I had the chance to work in a routine work as well as conduct my research project.
During the last 10 years, I have worked in 4 laboratories, 5 years was spent in the microbiology, biotechnology, LC MS/MS lab and Microfluidics Research Unit. In 2015, my manager founded the Microfluidics Research Unit and she put me in charge, although we had no fund back then, but I was able to plan and achieve most of the objectives assigned through external collaborations with faculty of Veterinary, Cairo University, where we were able to synthesize nano-gold and produce polyclonal antibodies for biosensors fabrication. After a lot of achievements, the management changed and they had different priorities and the project was terminated, which was very frustrating for me. But “every dark cloud has it’s lining”, I worked as a consultant with Agrimatic co. which is a startup working in developing aquaponics systems, it was a rich and new experience for me where I had the chance to work with microorganism on large scale as I was in charge of the biofilter used in the aquaponics system. During this year and a half, I gained a lot of experience in the business side, I have achieved a lot for the company where I conducted several research that decreased the biofilter footprint, and increased the biofilter’s efficiency. It was very fulfilling experience to apply the academic science in a real world industry.
In the coming 5 years, I have 3 objectives:
1. Completing my Ph. D. and publish in a high impact factor journal.
2. Obtain a special bacterial strain that can be used in food industries.
3. Make a business incubator in the Regional Center for Food and Feed, that is specialized in production of beneficial bacteria that can be used in any of the Agricultural fields. Where we can utilize the facilities and the calibers in the RCFF, which can be a step in the way in linking science to business.
All in all, visiting US through Fulbright scholarship will not only enhance my academic and researching skills, but it will provide me with insights about how universities and the business sector work together, so I can come back and make the business incubator that can help several startups afterwards.
Nations development has always grabbed my attention since I was a
little
girl. I
used
to
think
that I can
change
the whole world when I grow up. Until my secondary school years, I
joined
a volunteer group in
EL Shams
Club called Life Makers they aimed at improving the club society
through
providing human development courses and trainings for the club members. This was a turning point in my life, although I
joined
to
help
society,
but
it turned out that I was helping myself more. During this stage, I was able to develop mentally and
psychologically
where I learned that
big
changes
starts
with smaller steps. A person
must
learn how to divide and conquer each step on the way. Meeting a
lot
of outstanding calibers,
helped
me in determining my path. My interest in
business
and
science
, made me decide that I will pursue m career in bio-entrepreneurship.
In 2006, I
joined
faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams
University
. It was the best option ever for me, as the term biotechnology itself, means the
use
of biological organism and/or materials in the production of
goods
. The more I studied biotechnology, the more I
got
caught into it. In my graduation project, I decided to specialize in microbial biotechnology. Microorganisms can
be considered
as factories that can serve humanity in
different
forms. They can be
used
in bioremediation, drug production, and
food
industry, and lately it was even found to be a potential source of electricity. Microorganisms can
help
you serve anywhere, and in any field.
During my
B. Sc.
in Agricultural
Science
(Biotechnology) studies, I acquired a strong background in microbiology and genetics, which are 2 of the three tools of a
biotechnologist
, and the third is the biochemistry which I didn’t
get
enough
of it during my undergrad studies. Since my interest
got
more into studying the genome and
metabolome
of the bacteria I
joined
two masters’ program:
First
: Master program in Ain Shams
University
in the Genetics department, to continue what I
started
and to execute my proposed plan in the graduation project, which was a fulfilling and delightful experience.
Second: Master program in Chemistry in the American
University
in Cairo to enhance my biochemical knowledge that I was lacking a bit.
It was an
extremely
hard
challenge to pursue both at the same time,
but
learning and having a complete picture of things
helped
go
through
it. The American
University
in Cairo was one of my best periods in my life ever, since everything was dynamic and motivating, the educational environment was superb, and this is one of the reasons that made me curious more about the American culture, it’s overwhelming how organizational culture can affect a person
tremendously
from every aspect, it wasn’t chemistry the
only
thing that I have learned there,
but
for me it was a
lot
more.
Regarding my professional career, I was lucky to
work
in the Regional Center for
Food
and Feed (
RCFF
)
directly
after graduation in 2010, since I
was ranked
the 19th among my faculty student, the
government
hired me for my academic excellence.
RCFF
is a supervision quality control governmental entity
as well
as a
research
center.
Through
which I had the chance to
work
in a routine
work
as well
as conduct my
research
project.
During the last 10 years, I have worked in 4 laboratories, 5 years
was spent
in the microbiology, biotechnology, LC MS/MS lab and
Microfluidics
Research
Unit. In 2015, my manager founded the
Microfluidics
Research
Unit and
she put me in charge, although we had no fund back then,
but
I was able to plan and achieve most of the objectives assigned
through
external collaborations with faculty of Veterinary, Cairo
University
, where we were able to synthesize
nano-gold
and produce
polyclonal
antibodies for biosensors fabrication. After a
lot
of achievements, the management
changed and
they had
different
priorities and the project
was terminated
, which was
very
frustrating for me.
But
“every dark cloud has it’s lining”, I worked as a consultant with
Agrimatic
co. which is a startup working in developing
aquaponics
systems, it was a rich and new experience for me where I had the chance to
work
with microorganism on large scale as I was in charge of the
biofilter
used
in the
aquaponics
system. During this
year
and a half, I gained a
lot
of experience in the
business
side, I have achieved a
lot
for the
company
where I conducted several
research
that decreased the
biofilter
footprint, and increased the
biofilter
’s efficiency. It was
very
fulfilling experience to apply the academic
science
in a real world industry.
In the coming 5 years, I have 3 objectives:
1. Completing my
Ph. D.
and publish in a high impact factor journal.
2. Obtain a special bacterial strain that can be
used
in
food
industries.
3.
Make
a
business
incubator in the Regional Center for
Food
and Feed, that
is specialized
in production of beneficial bacteria that can be
used
in any of the Agricultural fields. Where we can utilize the facilities and the calibers in the
RCFF
, which can be a step in the way in linking
science
to business.
All in all, visiting US
through
Fulbright scholarship will not
only
enhance my academic and researching
skills
,
but
it will provide me with insights about how
universities
and the
business
sector
work
together,
so
I can
come
back and
make
the
business
incubator that can
help
several startups afterwards.
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