Featured Scholar: Hassoon Sarwar
Hassoon Sarwar is a senior SFHC Scholar who is working towards a B.S. degree in Biology and two Minors, one in Chemistry and the other in Physical Science, and is slated to graduate in May 2025. His post-graduation plans include attending medical school and pursuing a career as a physician.
In addition to excelling in his classes, Hassoon has been active in conducting research. In Spring 2023, he joined the research group of Dr. Mario Banuelos (Math Department) to work on a project that uses machine-learning methods in order to detect genomic variation among related individuals. The reason for his interest in this project is that during the early years of college, he decided to enroll in a few programming classes in addition to his biology and other pre-medical science courses and realized that his academic interests lie in the intersection between computation and biology. His initial work in Dr. Banuelos’ research group led to a poster presentation at the Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) in Spring 2024.
With a desire to expand his research knowledge and skills in the field of bioinformatics, he pursued an opportunity at UCLA and participated in the Bruins in Genomics (B.I.G.) Research Program during Summer 2024. At UCLA, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. David Wong, Professor and Director in Center for Oral/Head & Neck Oncology Research within the School of Dentistry. Through this program, he not only learned invaluable skills such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods and statistical analyses, but he was also introduced to the application of bioinformatics tools that can aid with clinical detection of specific diseases. He worked on a project that focused on using saliva-based DNA as a biomarker for early detection of gastric cancer. Expanding his work from broad genomic variant detection to focusing on specific diseases was both inspiring and intriguing for him, especially as an aspiring medical student and prospective physician. At the end of his summer research experience, he presented his results in a poster session along with other undergraduate participants.
Hassoon has recently found out that his submitted abstract titled “Saliva Cell-Free DNA as a Biomarker for Early Detection of Gastric Cancer” to ABRCMS (Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists; November 13-16, 2024; Pittsburgh, PA) has been accepted. Financial support for his travel costs to present his research will be provided through SFHC’s Student Success Fund. Participating in this conference, will provide Hassoon with a unique opportunity to interact with researchers in a broader scientific community, receive valuable feedback on his research work, and network with experts in cancer research and computational biology. Attending this conference will also strengthen his medical school application in the current cycle.