Ask our Alumni: Amit Kumar Chouhan

For the first in our #askanalumni series, we interviewed Amit Kumar Chouhan, PhD , an alumnus from the Patrik Verstreken Lab at VIB-KU Leuven Center For Brain & Disease Research (CBD)!

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

I would describe myself with 3Cs: Creative, Confident and Committed.

When were you at CBD? What position(s) did you have here?

At CBD, I was employed as a Postdoctoral Scientist in Patrik Verstreken’s Laboratory. I was employed from April 2019 to October 2020.

What have you been up to since you left CBD?

Since my tenure at CBD, I have been working as a Senior Scientist at a drug discovery company. My work focuses on developing enhanced assays for neurological diseases, using patient stem cell derived-neural subtypes, that can be leveraged for high throughput drug screening.?

What did you learn or take away from your time at CBD?

The scientific training and mentorship I received at CBD has instilled in me the zeal to make a difference in lives of people suffering from neurological diseases. The scientific camaraderie and enthusiasm which researchers share at CBD is parallel to no other institute I have worked at. I have been part of scientific community and educational institutes in three different continents but the drive to go above and beyond in your field of research was acquired by me at CBD.

What is it about science that continues to motivate you?

I am motivated to make a difference in lives of people suffering from neurological diseases.

What are your current goals?

Currently, I am focusing on developing therapeutic interventions for motor neurone disease (ALS) using a combinatorial approach wherein 3 different cellular processes are targeted concurrently to mitigate the disease severity and progression.

Any message you would like to pass on to the CBD'ers or a former colleague?

Thanks to all my colleagues for making my stay at CBD a truly enriching and satisfying one. Also, I would say, be true and committed to your scientific dreams and work hard towards them to make them a reality.