Dr. Sumaira Zamurrad is an F32 award recipient who used the funding opportunity to study neural circuits in Drosophila models. The F32 funding opportunity supports the research training of promising researchers early in their postdoctoral training period.
The NIH BRAIN Initiative funding portfolio enables the collaborative and multidisciplinary research necessary to help us understand the brain’s complexities. Dr. Sumaira Zamurrad received a BRAIN Initiative F32 Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship award to support her research on the neural circuits behind motor behavior in Drosophilia. The F32 program rewards promising postdoctorates early in their careers by enhancing their research training in project areas that advance the goals of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. This article is part of a series that highlights the experiences of NIH BRAIN F32 grantees.
Check out the interview below to learn more about Dr. Zamurrad’s research on behavioral neuroscience and the neural circuits responsible for motion. She discusses what led her to her research, where she wants her career to go, what resources have been most helpful for her, and what advice she would give to prospective F32 applicants.
Would you please briefly introduce yourself?
Hi! My name is Sumaira Zamurrad (she/her). I am currently a postdoc fellow in the lab of Dr. Richard S. Mann at Columbia’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Brain, Behavior, Mind Institute. I did my Ph.D. at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the lab of Dr. Julie Secombe in the Department of Genetics. For my Ph.D., I studied the transcriptional, neuronal, and behavioral defects associated with intellectual disability mutations in a Drosophila model. My postdoc research focuses on mapping the neural circuitry that regulates precise walking kinematics in Drosophila.
What led you to research?
I moved to the U.S. for college and did my undergrad at Stony Brook State University in N.Y. I was initially in pre-med because I knew I enjoyed science, but I had yet to gain knowledge about research-centric careers before I moved here. In my sophomore year, I went to a research fair because I was told that gaining research experience in undergrad provided valuable skillsets. I received an invitation to join the lab of Dr. Sanford R. Simon in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pathology. Little did I know that that lab and the mentors in that lab would inspire me to change my future endeavor. It’s not surprising, though – I was always a curious child. My parents, especially my mother, would often tire of my endless questions about how everything worked! I owe my career in research one hundred percent to my priceless, extremely productive undergraduate research experience and incredibly supportive mentors.
My Ph.D. project was very multi-faceted. I studied the transcriptional, neuronal, and behavioral defects associated with intellectual disability mutations in a transcriptional regulator, KDM5. I did transcriptional studies such as ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing (RNA-seq) on brain tissue of my mutants to determine the genetic changes occurring due to specific mutations. I also did behavioral studies on the mutant flies to investigate the severity of learning and memory deficits due to the individual mutations in KDM5 and correlate them with findings from the RNA-seq dataset.
As I was wrapping up my Ph.D. work, I only felt more drawn toward neuroscience, and specifically how central nervous systems achieve such precise behavioral control. So, wanting to delve even deeper into basic neuroscience research, I found Dr. Mann’s lab at the Zuckerman Institute, where I could explore my interest in behavioral neuroscience but also continue to work with Drosophila – a great mix of something I was already familiar with yet offered many completely new avenues of research to learn and explore.
My driving force has always been new challenges that arise from research projects and approaches to solving complex scientific problems. I am always attracted to the unknown and to learning new techniques and skills. In my opinion, the greatest accomplishment after graduating from any Ph.D. program is not just the discoveries you made but also that your quest for answers to scientific problems exceeds any intimidation due to failures or setbacks you might face in that path.
What major unanswered questions do you hope to address?
During my postdoc, I have been investigating the neural circuitry that regulates walking behavior in Drosophila. Specifically, I focus on a set of command-like neurons called the descending neurons (DNs) so called because they originate in the brain and extend down into the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of the fly. They act as a bottleneck of information flow from multiple sensory centers in the brain to the VNC where they make numerous connections with downstream circuits. These downstream circuits ultimately control the fly’s multiple appendages, including its six-jointed legs. However, the precise circuit components that regulate specific walking kinematics remain poorly understood.
Starting with translabeling techniques such as TransTango and now with the electron microscopy (EM) female adult nerve cord (FANC) dataset, we aim to map these precise circuits and potentially uncover the critical nodes, such as interneurons, that serve as crucial regulators of specific motor behaviors. The Mann lab also has resourceful experimental setups such as the FlyWalker, Fly Arena, and Fly-on-ball to assay and analyze walking in high resolution, which help us to make neural circuit anatomy and precise walking behavior connections.
What are some of the challenges you have encountered in your research and/or career? How have you or how are you working to overcome them?
We recently got access to a very resourceful dataset – the EM connectome of the fly’s ventral nerve cord (VNC). Undoubtedly, this is a massive treasure chest of information but will also require lots of time and effort to map and study all the neural circuits in the VNC. It is also a large undertaking to find and develop the genetic lines to target the interesting neurons in the circuits and then manipulate them to uncover the precise behavioral component associated with these neurons.
Assaying walking behavior also requires innovative behavior setups I mentioned above. But they also need programming and coding knowledge, which I have to learn and continuously master. Thankfully, the Zuckerman Institute has a strong engineering core, and the director and engineer have been instrumental in building these experimental setups for us. The Institute also offers programming courses which I audited to aid in expanding my programming/coding skills.
Other personal challenges have been starting my postdoc right before COVID-19 hit. As a parent of two elementary school-aged kids, it has been quite challenging to maintain the same pace as in pre-COVID times. Despite having a very supportive lab and mentor, I can’t deny that the delays and dip in pace during that period may have a long-term impact on my future academic career. I am certain this is a reasonable concern for numerous other postdocs who are also parents.
What would be the next step in your research (or professional development)?
We are beginning to unravel some of the premotor circuitry that seems exciting and unique. Then, we plan to study the precise walking kinematics that they regulate using targeted genetic tools. The next step is to find the common and unique circuit components in the walking circuitry and publish these findings. After that, I plan to enter the job market within the next 1-2 years.
What would be your advice to others who may want to apply to the BRAIN F32 program?
Be creative and reasonably fearless with what you propose to study. I think the best aspect of the BRAIN Initiative is its ambitious goal of understanding one of the most complex organ systems in the human body. This comes with the caveat of many setbacks and challenges. However, having a community working together towards this challenging goal while working on some very innovative projects is one of the biggest strengths of the BRAIN F32 program.
Are there any specific relevant training and professional development opportunities that you find useful during the fellowship?
The Annual BRAIN Initiative Meeting, which unfortunately was remote throughout my fellowship period, though hopefully I might be able to attend the one in 2023. Despite being virtual - meeting, reading, and hearing from all the members of the BRAIN Initiative colleagues was always a pleasure and very educational. Through this interaction, I also got a lot of valuable resources and tools for my own project.
The Next Generation of Brain Initiative Leaders: Making the Transition workshop was an engaging experience. It helped to hear from alumni of the program and how they had transitioned onto independent positions.
Fill in the blank: When I’m not working on a research project, I am…
I am actively involved in various civic engagements at Columbia University and our Institute to improve resources for postdocs who are also parents. I am also raising two lovely and very lively young daughters in suburban N.Y.!
Stay tuned for more highlights on BRAIN Initiative award recipients in some exciting, upcoming series on the BRAIN Blog. If you are a BRAIN Initiative F32 fellow and would like to be featured on our blog, let us know by sending an email to BRAINfeedback@nih.gov!