Aminah Amjad joined UMBC as a graduate student in the Chemistry Ph.D. Program in Spring 2021. After completing her research rotations, Aminah joined the Rosenzweig Lab in June 2021. Currently, her research involves the synthesis of peptide-upconverting nanoparticles (UCNP) conjugates and their use in upconversion bioimaging studies of plant tissues.
The objectives of the research include synthesizing peptide-UCNP conjugates, investigating whether peptide attachment affects the optical properties of UCNPs and the activity of the UCNP-peptide and developing conjugation strategies that minimize such impacts, and demonstrating the utility of upconversion fluorescence imaging in dynamic monitoring of the binding of UCNP-peptide conjugates to targeted receptors in plant tissues. The ultimate goal is to show that upconversion imaging in plant cells provides significant improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio in images of plant cells and tissues.
Aminah was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan. From there she completed her Bachelor’s in Chemistry in July 2020 from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Apart from studies, she loves to try her luck with experimenting on cooking different cuisines, playing card games, and reading novels.