Ariful Islam, MSPS

I have been working in PIGI Lab since February 2021 as Research Specialist. Before joining PIGI Lab, I have completed my Bachelor and Master of Pharmacy from Bangladesh then I completed MS in Pharmaceutical Science from Rowan University/CMSRU wherein my thesis was in preclinical drug development for treating neuropsychiatric disorder. I do have tremendous interest on drug discovery, more specifically pre-clinical drug discovery for treating cancer. There are chemotherapeutical drugs available and most of those are not capable of targeting only cancer cells. Scientists have been working on developing target based loco- regional therapy to treat specifically target tumor. One of the major ideas of PIGI Lab is to improve and develop new therapeutic methods to treat target tumor by minimally affecting non target cells which enticed me to learn and contribute to this pioneer research. My project in PIGI lab is working on rodent model to treat HCC by minimally invasive loco-regional therapy, known as trans-arterial embolization (TAE) with different particles, nano-particles, hydrogel often with the combination of traditional and novel anti-cancer drug molecules. In this project we regularly use T-2 weighted MRI, sometimes T-1 weighted MRI, ultrasound to stage tumor and image guided technology to precisely embolize the target tumor. We also analyze harvested tissue through IHC and other molecular techniques. Other than my lab- life, I enjoy workout, playing Cricket, and spend time in nature.