Spotlight on Saurav Ghimire
Let me begin by unfolding the bigger picture of my journey from a small village in Nepal to the University of Glasgow. My name is Saurav Ghimire, final year PhD student under supervision of Prof. Julian Dow, Prof. Shireen Davies and Dr. Selim Terhzaz. The title of my PhD is “Identifying genetic loci for metabolic disorders affecting the renal tract” and is funded by European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Programme. In this project, I am assigned to study metabolomics, informatics, as well as physiological assays and morphological analyses, for nephrolithiasis and renal sequelae of inborn errors of metabolism using Drosophila as a model organism.
The journey of my life began in a small village in the mid-western part of Nepal. I grew up in the surroundings of nature: fishing in lakes and rivers, walking the hills and mountains, and watching tourists eager to conquer the Himalayas. As a child, although my career plans were uncertain, a passion to learn was always evident. In my final year of school, a desire to study medicine developed, spurred by my desire to serve my country and people.
For my college education, I moved to Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. Life in Kathmandu was more difficult and demanding and required a major life style adjustment. Never before had I been exposed to such a large population, with more opportunities, but with more competition. During my time at college, my biology teacher encouraged me to attend seminars to get an idea about the scope of pharmacy. Initially, I was not attracted to the subject because of my dislike of inorganic chemistry. However, after a few seminars and meeting members of the pharmacy club, my burgeoning thirst for pharmacy was nurtured.
The next phase and perhaps more formative years of my life began in another city of Nepal, Pokhara, where I started my university education. As time progressed, I became more confident in my reading and writing competency and I realised my passion for research. In my penultimate year of study, I received a grant from Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC-Nepal).
Soon after, I started working as a registered pharmacist in a pharma company. After 6 months I received a scholarship under the Korean Government to pursue a Master’s degree. As per the conditions of the scholarship, I was required to study Korean for a year prior to joining the university for my Masters course. I got an opportunity to work under Prof. Mansu Kim at the Department of Pharmacy, Inje University. My research was mainly focused on aging due to diet restriction using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as an experimental model. In his lab, I progressed from being a graduate student to a graduate researcher with the capability to independently develop experiments. My research on determining the mechanism of lifespan expansion due to diet restriction has garnered institutional and national recognition. I received the award for best academic achievement provided by Korean Government ministry of education. In addition, I got the opportunity to present my work at different conferences and I was able to publish my articles in peer review journals. My experience in Prof. Kim’s group made me keen to pursue a PhD degree.
Within a couple of weeks of completion of my masters I got an opportunity to come to Glasgow for my PhD. Currently my research is focused on studying the impact of genetic mutations on nephrolithiasis, a major cause of morbidity. I performed screens for gene candidates for nephrolithiasis. I use the ‘sensitized background’ to screen RNAi and/or mutant panels for genes that increase or decrease the rate of oxalate, phosphate and uric acid stone formation, identify the genes responsible and seek homologous human candidate gene loci. I also identified Drosophila homologues of human IEM disease genes, mutate them in flies, and seek analogous renal sequelae. Suitable genotypes will then also be used as a sensitized background to screen for natural compounds that alter metabolism to protect against stone formation.
Beside education, I really liked Glasgow because it incorporates new and old culture and I find the people really friendly. However, sometimes I find the Glaswegian accent difficult to understand! Whenever I get some free time, I tend to explore the surrounding areas of Glasgow. Over the past three years I have hiked some of the peaks near Glasgow as well enjoying camping, road trips to highlands and sampling the authentic Scottish foods. I have lived in this city for three years and have seen dynamic changes in weather within an hour from snow to wind to rain and sun.
More recently, I went for an internship at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA where I learned techniques about experiments in Xenopus laevis (frog) oocytes. Overall, being in Glasgow in the Dow/Davies lab has been a productive and supportive experience enabling me to enhance my career in science. Three years in this lab have really seen me mature and grow in confidence. I am expecting to enhance my career in science and research. I am not sure where I will end up in the near future but will definitely pursue science because it has given a lot to me and now it is my turn to return something back.
