Tahreem Fiaz

Role of emotional stress in breast cancer progression

Many factors are associated with breast cancer progression and metastasis, but comparatively less has been reported about emotional stress. Stress is associated with genes' dysregulation due to epigenetic changes that lead to different biological outcomes. These biological outcomes can be the altered expression of biomarkers in cancer patients due to stress that may lead to cancer progression or poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. Stress-induced epigenetic modifications can result in altered HPA-axis activity, disrupted circadian rhythms, and dysregulated immune response. The study aimed to address psychological stress's complex and significant involvement in tumor progression.

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Epigenetic factors in stress response

Stress Related factors in cancer progression

Personal details

Education

M.Phil. Molecular Pathology and Genomics

Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore, Pakistan

BS(Hons) Biotechnology

Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore, Pakistan

Work Experience

Teaching Assistant at Forman Christian College (2019)

Volunteer Work

Demonstrator at Lahore Science Mela (2019) by Khwarizmi Science Society
Volunteered at 2nd Innovation Competition organized by ORIC at FCCU, Lahore, Pakistan
Volunteered at Humboldt kolleg: Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture at FCCU, Lahore, Pakistan

Contact:

Email: Tahreemfiaz@gmail.com, Tahreem_fiaz@student@Uml.edu

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tahreem_Fiaz

Research Interests

Brain Health
Neuroscience
Epigenetics
Computational Biology
Molecular Biology
Oncology

Research Skills

DNA/RNA Extraction
cDNA Synthesis
Primer designing
PCR and Gel electrophoresis
ImageJ Software
Serial Cloner Software
Data mining (NCBI, UCSC)

Data Analysis

IBM SPSS
GraphPad Prism

Bioinformatic Tools

Databases

UCSC Genome Browser
NCBI
Ensembl Genome Browser
Uniprot
The Cancer Genome Atlas
cBioPortal
R2 analyzer

Alignment Software

BLAST
T-COFFEE

Pathway Analysis

KEGG
STRING followed by cytoscape

Publications

Research Papers

Fiaz T, Nadeem MS, Afzal O, Altamimi ASA, Alzarea SI, Almalki WH, et al. Peripheral mRNA Expression and Prognostic Significance of Emotional Stress Biomarkers in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022;23(22):14097.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/22/14097

Review Papers

“Neural and Epigenetic Remodeling in Emotional Stress; A short Review” (In process)

Magazines and Newspaper Articles

"Emotional Stress: Fueling Cancer Metastasis" (Sep 4th, 2019- Spectra Magazine)

https://spectramagazine.org/life-sciences/emotional-stress-fueling-cancer-metastasis/

https://www.facebook.com/SpectraScimag/posts/dr-muhammad-mustafa-and-tahreem-fiaz-establish-a-nexus-between-emotional-stress-/2499721503607418/

ResearchGate

Potential Involvement Of Psychological Stress Related Triggers In Breast Cancer Metastasis (Research poster) February 2020, CancerBio Conference 2020 (13-15 Feb 2020)
Expression Analysis of stress-associated genes in metastatic breast cancer patients (Research poster) September 2019, Conference: 3rd Annual Poster Competition 2019, Forman Christian College Lahore Pakistan

Posters

"Association between cancer distress and peripheral expression of metastatic markers in breast cancer patients"- Shaukat Khanum Symposium, 5th- 8th November 2020
"Potential Involvement Of Psychological Stress Related Triggers In Breast Cancer Metastasis"-Cancerbio Conference 2020-13th Feb to 15th Feb 2020
"Expression Analysis of stress-associated genes in metastatic breast cancer patients"-3rd Annual M.phil. Research Poster Competition- 25th Sep 2019
“Potential Role of Psychological Stress on Expression Pattern of Metastatic Markers in Breast Cancer Patients”- 2nd International Conference on Chemistry- 26th to 27th Apr 2019
“Impact of Stress-Induced Epigenetic Modifications on Cancer Metastasis: A Study Review”- A Short Course on Cancer Biology- 12th to 14th Feb 2019

Research Talks

" Expression and prognostic significance of stress-related genes in breast cancer progression," presented at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, United States of America.
"Molecular Premises of Emotional Distress in Breast Cancer Metastasis and Morbidity" presented at the 19th Shaukat Khanum Virtual Cancer Symposium.
"Biological Implications of emotional stress in fueling breast cancer metastasis" presented at the CancerBio Conference (2020) at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.

Awards & Achievements

Awarded with "Certificate of honor" for Best Oral presentation at 19th Shaukat Khanum Virtual Cancer Symposium held on 5th-8th November 2020
Awarded with "1st Prize" in poster competition in CancerBio Conference Poster Competition (2020) at University of the Punjab , Lahore, Pakistan

Conferences and Workshops

19th Shaukat Khanum Virtual Cancer Symposium- 5th to 8th November 2020 at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (Oral Presenter)
2nd Cancerbio Conference -13th to 15 Feb, 2020 at University of The Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan (Poster presenter)
18th Shaukat Khanum Cancer symposium at Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore, Pakistan.

2nd International Conference on Chemistry-26th to 27th April, 2019 at Lahore Garrison University, Pakistan (Poster presenter)
A short course on Cancerbio Conference 2019 (12th-14th Feb) at University of The Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan (Poster presenter)
1st International Conference on Natural Sciences at Govt. Postgraduate College Women, Gulberg, Lahore, Pakistan (As participant)
YouthCON presented by National Student Council (11th-12th April, 2015) at Ali Auditorium, Lahore, Pakistan