“If you want something big you have to sacrifice something big”

I graduated from the Medical Biosciences programme in 2011. My dream was to go abroad and work with eye-related illnesses.  A school friend, who also went to the same university as me, came to LiU to do the same programme.  He pushed me lots to come here, he though it was great.  All I knew about Sweden was that the Nobel Prize is awarded here, a few things about Karolinska Institutet and of course that Sweden is good at research.

I wanted to do a project with Professor May Griffiths who is at the top in her field and I was very lucky that she said yes. LiU was everything I expected it to be from my friend’s glowing review.  The university also has very good collaborations with other universities.  I am a good example of how this collaboration works in practice – I am officially doing my PhD at Karolinska Institutet but the professor leading my research group is from LiU.  Linköping is also getting a new GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) lab, which is very good for the sterile conditions required.  The lab at LiU will be extraordinary, a first class GMP lab.

The MSc led the way to successful research

I think I’m a perfect example of what the point of the master’s course should be.  The programme was a nice introduction to research for someone who has little research experience.  The MSc contained two six-month research projects.  The programme was all about the basis of research where you learn the techniques, which makes it a great stepping-stone for a PhD.  Thanks to the programme I am a year ahead in my PhD.

The teaching was also excellent.  The lecturers were very friendly and you could ask them anything.  I really notice one of the huge benefits of the programme now that I do presentations at conferences and seminars. I don’t find it that hard because during the MSc we presented different topics to fellow students most days; it really worked to improve my confidence.

The Problem Based Learning approach was a new experience. At first I was skeptical.  There were lots of open discussions, large groups brainstorming and then summarizing the work.  It helped in the big perspective; it spread the knowledge in the student group when we shared our own knowledge, which is what working in a research is all about.  The downside was that discussions could sometimes end up off topic

I also have to mention my mentor, Associate Professor Maria Jenmalm. She was fantastic and very involved in students’ work. She never missed an update meeting, regularly asked us how we were doing and gave us prompt responses to emails.  We had a three-month point feedback session as a poster presentation during my final project and Maria’s feedback really helped to move forward.

I think Linköping is a nice city; it’s very calm and quiet.  Now that I live in Stockholm I notice the calmness of Linköping more, compared to the rush there.  I had started to get used to the calm of Linköping. I didn’t really take part in student life that much.  When you do lab work you don’t really have weekends free.  I like to compare it to being an employee of a five star hotel where the guests are cells.  They always need food, even at weekends.

Bold plans for the future

I am currently doing a PhD at Karolinska Institutet, where I am continuing the research on artificial corneas that I started during my master’s programme.  We have so far only transplanted our artificial corneas into 10 people.  My work is to improve the material in the artificial cornea. The first clinical trial was in patients without microbial attacks but now I am looking at how the material needs to be adapted to work in patients with severe disease conditions.

In the future I want to be able to carry out the transplants in a large population. I want to make the manufacture of artificial corneas cheaper so poorer nations benefit.  This will help a large number of people.  Industry also has to be involved as universities can’t deliver the large scale production that is needed so there needs to be a collaboration between academia and industry.

I would like to return to Bangladesh one day, to my family, and continue this work.  I miss my family but I believe that if you want something big you have to sacrifice something big.