My experience as a Kurdish Undergraduate Scientist in Iraq

Soma Sardar Barawi

My undergraduate education was completely transformed during the summer of 2017 after my freshman year in college. I mean, I excelled in my classes and had good grades overall. But something was simultaneously missing at the same time. I was bored of sitting remotely in class, quietly taking notes, and nonchalantly completing my exams at the end of each year. I simply craved more. As a future scientist, I wanted to actually apply first-hand what I was learning from these classes. I felt like I had zero background in the practical field, and I was curious about how to safely handle laboratory equipment and perform experiments on my own. In other words, I was curious about the enormous and glorious realm of scientific research.

Soma Sardar Barawi

But the question, was how? How was I supposed to get access to these things? Opportunities seldom arise for curious and intellectual students living in Iraq, a country prone to challenging environments, and not to mention high-profile war zone and brutal economic crises. I wanted to test my abilities outside of the classroom, and I was specifically fascinated about the world of tiny microorganisms involved in every aspect of human life. I desperately wanted to study bacterial genetics and their complicated roles in human disease. Furthermore, understanding their genomic sequences and their implications in pathogenesis intrigued me to the bone. I know it might seem cliché, but additionally, yes, I was yet another child who grew up watching all of the forensics/ crime scene investigation (CSI) movies and series. If only I could have expanded my limited knowledge in microbial genetics as the first step, I could then pursue my life-long dream of becoming a forensic microbiologist. However, forensics as a field in Iraq has yet to be applied on a popular, large-scale.

As an American/Kurdish citizen living in Kurdistan, I found it crucial for myself to follow these aspirations to accumulate a strong background in this specific, and relevant research field. You see, as Kurds living in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, we have a long history of thirsting for our independence. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds were amiably promised a state of their own. Nevertheless, this was over a century ago. Kurdistan, basically meaning land of the Kurds, was torn apart and finds its citizens scattered between 4 surrounding countries: Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The Kurds in Iraq, as being culturally and linguistically different from the Arab majority in the country, have long suffered persecution and oppression under Iraqi rule. On March 16, 1988, the largest and most detrimental chemical weapons (mustard gas) attack was executed on the Kurdish people in the Kurdish town of Halabja by the notorious Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein and his party. Similar attacks were seen in nearby Kurdish cities. The effects of this horrendous genocide and ethnic cleansing are still seen in the town today, as hundreds of babies are still being born with severe birth defects, mutations, genetic diseases and complications.

As a freshman, these ideas haunted me. I decided to search in vain for a teacher/ supervisor who could point me in the right direction. Unfortunately, teachers rarely welcomed students into their labs with open arms.

The Halabja Massacre is known as Bloody Friday, where Kurds gather in a state of despair to mourn for the hundreds of thousands of Kurds who were brutally massacred in the systematic series of events known as the Al-Anfal Genocide, or Kurdish Genocide taking place between the years 1986 through 1989. This event was aimed at eliminating Kurdish identity, nationalism and resistance. All over Iraq, Iraqi guards would randomly round up Kurdish men, women, and children, and dispose of them in mass-grave sites dug up for their bodies. Each adult would be shot nine times, and each child, four. Whoever wasn’t shot would be buried alive. This way, ninety percent of Kurdish towns were subjected to mass murder and torture, chemical warfare and gas attacks, mass deportation, and mass disappearances of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish citizens that simply vanished without a trace.

However, I learned that in 2005, forensic archaeologists and anthropologists started exhuming and analyzing the bodies of the victims to uncover major evidence of the Kurdish genocide. This would finally lead to the conviction of Saddam Hussein and his allies for their barbaric crimes against humanity. To this day, Kurdistan remains an interesting plethora of opportunities for the emergence of forensics. This was the epitome of my inspiration. As a Kurdish nationalist first, and a future forensic biologist second, I desperately want to serve my homeland through the use of modern forensic technology. I had never heard of a forensic scientist/ biologist in my city, and as silly as it sounded, I kind of hoped I would be the first.

As a freshman, these ideas haunted me. I decided to search in vain for a teacher/ supervisor who could point me in the right direction. Unfortunately, teachers rarely welcomed students into their labs with open arms. Materials and supplies were very expensive, and thus, too valuable to be wasted on students too curious for their own good. However, lucky enough, I got into contact with an extremely intelligent assistant professor with a M.S. in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Microbial Biotechnology. He was also in charge of a Microbiology Research Lab at my university. This led us to the idea of starting a Microbiology Training Program. It was an absolute dream come true; he instantly agreed to train myself and a few of my friends. The main objective of the program was to assist curious and creative students to understand the complete basics of General Microbiology and how to actually apply those concepts in real-life experiments. Later on, students would be encouraged to formulate their own ideas and hypotheses, and thus be introduced to the enormous world of research.

Following my training as a freshman in 2017, I first started research on antibiotics. I had just started my junior year at the time, and a few classes on antibiotic resistance immediately caught my attention. I first started work on extracting natural antimicrobial products limited to the Kurdistan region. But when my own results weren’t deemed promising, my colleagues and I joined forces to conduct a larger project. Throughout the course of a year and a half, we conducted research and discovered a strong antimicrobial plant extract as an alternative source for antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is an extremely huge public health threat that occurs due to the inappropriate use of antibiotics, and the evolutionary resistance mechanisms adapted by microorganisms, including their ability to form biofilms, or transfer virulence and resistance genes through plasmids. Plasmids are extra-chromosomal DNA elements in bacteria that have the ability to self-replicate. They also contain antibiotic resistance genes which can be spread easily from one bacterium to another. This has caused antibiotic resistance to spread at an alarming rate, rendering antibiotics ineffective and causing many complications and deaths worldwide.

After completing our project, we coincidently discovered an open call for submission (with 3 days remaining) for the 2^nd World Congress for Undergraduate Research in Oldenburg, Germany. We applied eagerly. After a few months, we were extremely excited to know that we were the first group of high scorers and the only group from Iraq and the surrounding countries accepted to the conference. Iraq ranked 7^th on the list of countries who applied! Rarely do these miracles happen for students like us living in such challenging countries. Thankfully, our university generously agreed to completely support us financially, as this was deemed to be a very huge and successful event for us as students, our university, and for Kurdistan, Iraq.

The World Congress for Undergraduate Research is an extremely prestigious congress where highly active students worldwide are invited to share their research, participate in discussions about global issues, and create international research collaborations. We successfully presented our research there in May 2019, and were introduced to many other young scientists, researchers, and ideas! Benefits of undergraduate research includes developing numerous practical and independent critical thinking skills, as well as oral and written communication skills. The possibilities of acquiring scholarship opportunities and getting accepted in graduate programs abroad is also increased significantly.

Becoming an independent researcher was the highlight of my undergraduate education.

Our central goal was to let students living in Kurdistan know that they are capable of doing great things. We were the first group of undergraduate students at the University of Sulaimani to conduct such research and actually present it at a large international conference. Undergraduate research is the epitome of gaining a hands-on experience that’s very beneficial for future academic careers. If more students realize this and are motivated to do research, they then have the potential to present their work at international meetings like the World Congress. Despite living under such hard circumstances, we wanted other countries and other universities to know that Kurdistan was alive, and that we were capable of doing just as much amazing things as they were.

Becoming an independent researcher was the highlight of my undergraduate education. I have developed a strong research foundation that has opened many doors and broadened many career options for me. I have expanded my knowledge in several research fields, and I’ve discovered my calling to be a scientist through my experiments. Fast forward to three years later and here I am: a senior completing my last semester in General Biology. My last project as an undergraduate focused on the promising fields of Nanotechnology and Microbial Biotechnology, coming together in a ground-breaking interconnection to exploit microorganisms as bio-factories for synthesizing nanoparticles. These nanoparticles have found their potential roles in extremely important applications such as in gene and drug-delivery systems in medicine and bioremediating agents in polluted environments. Amazingly, my project has been accepted yet again to another annual conference, Excellence in Undergraduate Research, Entrepreneurship, and Creative Achievement (EURECA) in Egypt (April 2020).

I’m extremely humbled by the opportunities I have been introduced to. If it wasn’t for my own curiosity as a freshman, I guess I never would’ve entered the world of research. I’ve broadened my goals and aspirations, and I don’t want to be limited to one specific research field forever. My passion and the love I have for science have deepened incredibly and shaped me into the woman and researcher I am today. And honestly, I’m quite excited for what the future holds! Who knows? Maybe I’ll find myself working at the intersection of diverse research fields. Stay tuned.