Afreen Hameed works as a research technician in the Archin Lab. Her work in the HIV CURE Center aims to find prevention and cure strategies for HIV. She says the best piece of advice she has received is that not everything is under our control.
What do you do at the UNC CURE Center, and what do you like about it?
I work as a Research Technician in the laboratory of Dr. Nancie Archin. My favorite part of this job is being involved in interdisciplinary projects that study the latent HIV reservoir in different cohorts of people living with HIV, both within the US and globally. I am working on several projects; the first project focuses on characterizing the latent HIV reservoir to assess the potential sex-based differences in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and Women’s Interagency HIV Study cohorts, which are the longest-running observational studies in the US for people living with HIV. The other project in collaboration with the neuroscience department is a pilot study to assess neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in people living with HIV. My role in this project is to analyze and compare several biomarkers in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples to assess whether plasma biomarkers could be used as a non-invasive surrogate for CSF.
What does a typical workday look like for you as a Research Technician?
My typical workday starts off with me organizing my schedule for the day and planning the experiments to be conducted during the week. I coordinate with my lab manager to do the routine processing of blood, which we usually work on as a team. I do the weekly maintenance of the equipment that I have been assigned to supervise. I meet with my PI weekly to give her updates on the progress of the projects I have been assigned to work on.
Why did you choose to do HIV research?
I find several aspects of HIV research to be very intriguing, as they pose a great challenge to researchers in terms of both preventing the infection as well as finding a cure. Despite many years of research, there are still various mechanisms that require a better understanding to find a universal therapeutic intervention.
How did you arrive at UNC?
I was offered a position at the UNC HIV CURE Center after my master’s degree in Microbiology and Immunology, which lined up perfectly with my interests. While pursuing my degree, I had the chance to work in a laboratory that studied the host restriction mechanisms in the context of HIV infection. Since then, I have been curious to understand how the virus functions. Coincidentally, I had presented a research paper at a lab journal club that was studying the latent HIV reservoir, and that was how I was introduced to this particular field of HIV research, which was in stark contrast to what I was working on back then. This further tickled my curiosity, and I started reading more articles to familiarize myself with the topic. My position at UNC gave me the opportunity to work on projects that study the reservoir with the aim of finding prevention and cure strategies.
Do you have any hobbies?
I like to to do arts and crafts during my free time. I am always exploring and experimenting with the new craft trends. I am currently obsessed with diamond art. I also try to stay in touch with my painting skills. I love reading books as well.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever received would be that not everything is under our control, thus instead of wasting time worrying about how to fix something that isn’t under our control, we should focus our energy towards the things we can control and let the rest fall into place. Eventually it does, and it almost always works out for the best.