{"id":11930,"date":"2016-06-01T06:52:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvsef.ca\/?page_id=11930"},"modified":"2026-07-27T03:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T07:19:17","slug":"amal-aziz","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tvsef.ca\/?page_id=11930","title":{"rendered":"Amal Aziz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"et_pb_with_border et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_image et_pb_image_0\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"et_pb_image_wrap \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/tvsef.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/amal_aziz-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"amal_aziz\" class=\"wp-image-19603\" \/><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"<div class=\"image_200_300\">\r\n <img src=\"https:\/\/tvsef.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/amal_aziz.jpg\" alt=\"Amal Aziz\" title=\"Amal Aziz\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"widget-title\">Amal Aziz<br\/>Halorhodopsin as Novel Industrial Biotechnology Host to Treat Absence Epilepsy<br\/>Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S.<\/h3>\r\nUnicellular green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii expresses a channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) cation-channel protein that controls its phototaxis movement in response to blue light. Similarly, archaeon Natronomonas pharaonis (NpHR) expresses an anion-channel protein halorhodopsin that responses to yellow light. These features of ChR2 and NpHR proteins can be used in optogenetic techniques to manipulate the bi-directional firing pattern of thalamic neurons in an attempt to treat absence epilepsy.\r\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h3>Biography<\/h3>\r\nI am Amal Aziz. I am a 9th grade student at Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S. I like reading books, drawing, playing volleyball, floor hockey and the piano. I have won a few honors\/awards in Gauss Contest (twice), Canada's Royal Legion Speech Contest, TVSEF Science Fairs (multiple), Sanofi Merit Award, Research Western Imagination Prize and Al-Taqwa S.S. scholarship (declined). I am also a regular participant of Let's Talk Science, BIOlympics and the Terry Fox Run. Last year at TVSEF, through my project, I learned how scientists used optogenetics to plant false memories in experimental mice. With my passion in neuroscience, I knew that epileptic seizures result due to the ionic imbalance by ion proteins within certain neurons and Let\u2019s Talk science helped me to learn about phototactic microbes. When I put those observations together, I came up with my current proposal, to express microbial proteins in neuronal cells using optogenetics to fix epileptic seizures. In future, I want to experiment with live animals, and humans suffering from epilepsy. Giving back to the community is my inspiration for this project. I would advise my fellow students to keep thinking of the unthinkable, one day you`ll be able to bring it into existence.\r\n\t","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11930","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 5.0.5 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tvsef.ca\/?page_id=11930\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO Pro (AIOSEO) 5.0.5\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Youth Science London\/Thames Valley Science &amp; Engineering Fair - Grade 4-12 Science Engineering Fair.  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