Azim Patar's Profile

My name is Azim Patar. I was awarded BSc. Biomedicine by Universiti Sains Malaysia which prepared me with basic knowledge and laboratory skills in biomedical sciences. For 2 years of my undergraduate studies, I was working on leukemia research under Dr Rosline`s Lab on detection of BCR/ABL gene in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. To pursue my interests in medical research I have been working as a research assistant at National Cancer Council of Malaysia assisted in Nude Mice Breeding Projects. In 2005, I discovered research an interests on Taumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury in animal models. Since then, I have been involved in several animal models in CNS injury I have been working on TBI and SCI approximately for 3 and half years at Profesor Jafri`s laboratory on various animal models. My long range goal in neuroscience research is to understand why central nervous system could not regenerate well after traumatic condition and wondering how glial scar plays an `important` role in regeneration upon injury. Currently, we are working on the bioactive compounds of the invertebrate animals (Sea Cucumber) with the hypothesis that sea cucumber could have potential active principles in minimizing the formation of glial scar after trauma cases, thus shedding some light on CNS regeneration research in Malaysia. We have analysed the sea marine natural extracts and something can be done to overcome the problem of SCI cases and bring the findings to clinical research. I am very passionate about tract tracing experiments in relation to injury such as anterograde labeling which I prefer to. To date, I am using Biotinylated Dextrin Amine as our anterograde tracer to trace corticospinal tracts from the sensorimotor cortex and along the spinal cord before and after injury. We tried to optimize the anterograde labeling experiment in our lab in relation to the treatment of extract and wonder what is next scientific question to ask. In a spare time, I would like to spend my time with family and close friends. We went hiking, traveling, reading and collecting antiques and a unique watch. I have a bunch of eyeglasses with different shapes and memories attached to them.