Trainee Profile: Tareq Yousef

Tareq Yousef, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Medical Neuroscience at Dalhousie University, has been affiliated with the Brain Repair Centre (BRC) since 2013, when he collaborated on a summer project as an undergraduate. That later manifested into a deeper connection when he got into grad school in 2016, thanks, in part, to his participation in BRC’s Journal Club program*.

“I applied to an MS Society grant with Dr. George Robertson at the BRC,” says Yousef. “I was eager for an opportunity in a lab setting and to get a taste of a new kind of research. It was very interesting, as it was my first time in a more collaborative lab environment. It opened me up to new techniques and expertise from a variety of people.” 

Tareq leads the Retina Lab Journal Club at the BRC. “The Retina Lab Journal Club has been growing,” says Yousef. “For the first time, we have an international cohort. It’s great to connect with people from labs around the world. We offer a non-judgemental space for undergrads to get introduced to the science we are all interested in. It’s a space where researchers, students and other trainees can interact on an equal platform and have peer conversations. I’m very thankful that the BRC supports that.”

Tareq’s PhD research considers a mechanism called light adaptation that allows the human eye to visualize contrast despite huge changes in background light. For example, we are able to adjust our sight to read a book by a campfire or at noon on a beach. There are millions and billions of mechanisms involved in that function. Our adaptive mechanism is a crucial part of our vision. “I am studying goldfish and zebrafish to understand their vision – their vertebrate eye is very similar to ours,” says Yousef. “We are discovering that nitric oxide – a chemical messenger found in our bodies and those of fish – seems to be involved in light adaption, but we are not yet sure exactly how it is involved in this critical aspect of our day-to-day vision.”

Tareq holds a BSc at Dalhousie, with honours in neuroscience and a minor in biology. His PhD has been made possible through a Mathers Award at Dalhousie, which provided several years of funding through the Department of Ophthalmology. He has also received the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine Student Award, a Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation Studentship, and was last year’s winner of Dalhousie’s 3 Minute Thesis competition†.

“Tareq is totally engaged in the research enterprise in the laboratory – taking ownership, pushing his research questions forward, constantly seeking advice and generating many of his own ideas,” says Dr. William Baldridge, Tareq’s PhD supervisor and Head of the Department of Medical Neuroscience. “He has broad interests in neuroscience and beyond – with great impact within the larger Dalhousie community, including as a member of “OpenThinkers”‡ – a cohort of PhD students looking to make an impact in public discourse and policy. I have nothing but praise and admiration for Tareq and his work.”

“Grad school is such an individual experience,” says Yousef. “It’s rare to find two people who experience it in the same way. I would say, if you can’t stop asking questions and don’t get turned off by getting into the real minutiae of things, then maybe research in thesis-based grad school is for you. In my experience, I am learning how to ask questions and then learning how to scientifically and empirically find out the answers. It’s a really great way to learn how to be a scientist!” 

Tareq acknowledges the dedication of the BRC’s staff in helping to provide a wonderful experience for trainees. “A huge congratulations to Eleanor Seaman-Bolton and Diana Nicols Nelson – they have been working so hard alongside Vic Rafuse to build up the BRC into something special,” he says. “They are so open to ideas, especially about programming. I fully recommend reaching out to them to see about getting any program up and running.”

*For more info on Journal Clubs, see https://www.brainrepair.ca/journal-clubs

†3MT info and Tareq’s presentation can be found at https://www.dal.ca/faculty/gradstudies/news/3mt.html

‡ To read more about OpenThinkers, go to https://www.dal.ca/faculty/gradstudies/currentstudents/open-think/openthinking-at-dalhousie.html