Nationality: Pakistan

Biography

In a society with an uneven strata system and crippled opportunities, my parents believed in the power of education. They spared all resources possible to provide quality education. I finished my high-school as a high achiever. Ultimately the toil paid off, and I got acceptance from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), ranked 1st in Pakistan. Later, I got a scholarship for Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Department of Chung Ang University (CAU), South Korea, I also served full-time in System Design with Advanced Composite (SDAC) lab as Research Assistant (RA). A two-year period at SDAC groomed my research skills. I published several journal articles on biodegradable composites of magnesium and PLA. With the diverse and multi-cultural exposure of top institutions, I opted for a Ph.D. position relevant to my Master’s research in the BioImplant MSCA program. I am proud to be selected under this prestigious program. Currently, I am based in the IMDEA materials institute, Madrid, Spain for my Ph.D. I will pursue a portion of my research in Meotec, a German company based in Aachen. BioImplant is providing me the opportunity to interact with the best minds who are changing my perspectives about life and my future. I think I will never be satisfied with my life if I could not create a positive and sound impact in our society.

My Research

I am working on a biodegradable composite material composed of PLA polymer matrix reinforced with magnesium fibers for the application of orthopedic implants. The internal extrusion/stretching capacity of the Meotec Company will be used to produce magnesium-based fibres reinforcements of ~100μm diameter. Laminated composite coupons will be produced by compression moulding after converting the magnesium fibres and PLA granules into laminas. Since magnesium fibres are highly prone to corrosion, a protective coating of PEO with optimized parameters will be applied on these fibres to improve in vitro performance. The project also involves the thermo-mechanical characterization of Mg/PLA composite. Optimum content and orientation of fibre laminas will be determined by composite computational modelling. Numerical models will also be developed for the degradation behaviour of composite.  Finally, based on outcome of above tasks of project, a functional prototype bone plate with optimized mechanical and degradation behaviour will be prepared and tested in vivo.

Host Institution

Industry