Dr Ali Jawaid graduated from Aga Khan University in Karachi and from there he went to Baylor College of Medicine in the United States and finally to the University of Zurich in Switzerland, where he is currently pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship.

One of Dr Jawaid’s research focused on dementia and understanding the nitty-gritty of what happens to the brain and it’s structure as dementia progresses.

Because only once a disease is fully understood will a cure for it be discovered.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are considered one of the worst afflictions someone can suffer from because of the fact that currently there is no cure. If you have a loved one who is suffering from this disease, you will know how haunting it is to see a human being lose their memories and forget those around them and be unable to perform basic everyday tasks.

Dementia is a neurogenerative disease that usually occurs in people over the age of 65 but can also affect people who are younger. Dementia occurs when toxic plaques and tangles form in the brain. These plaques and tangles impede the function of neurons and synapses in the brain.

However, Dr Jawaid with his team discovered something incredibly important.

They found the pathway which is blocked because of the accumulation of the plaques and tangles and hence impacts memories. They found that a small cluster of regulatory molecules referred to as MicroRNAs which have to perform their function without anything getting in their path. And in dementia patients, this MicroRNA is not produced because of the fact that plaques and tangles get in the way.

In other words, he found the exact place where memory loss may occur which is HUGE.

Dr Jawaid’s research was published in a highly regarded scientific journal.

This discovery will now, in turn, help further research to find a cure for dementia.

A way to fight dementia would be to inject these microRNAs to areas of the brain responsible for memory formation and retention.

All in all, this breakthrough in research has a lot of potential to help thousands of people around the world from dementia, which currently is a disease which has no cure but can only be managed if it is diagnosed in the earlier stages.

And considering a Pakistani doctor played a role in this is honestly something we should be very proud of.

What do you think about Dr Jawaid’s research? Let us know in the comments!

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Cover Image Source: via Dr Ali Jawaid