Kiranjit Bains has been making the most of her time as a PhD student at the Cardiff University School of Optometry and Vision Sciences. In addition to her research investigating stem cell therapy for the treatment of corneal scarring, Kiran teaches undergraduate and masters students as well as qualified optometrists and ophthalmologists who travel from all over the world to study at Cardiff University’s Wales Optometry Postgraduate Education Centre (WOPEC). She volunteers as a STEM ambassador and travels throughout the Welsh Valleys mentoring GCSE and A level students from low income families, teaching them about research and helping them put together a roadmap to get into university and beyond. For a period of six months during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic Kiran’s lab was closed and in person teaching was not allowed. During this time and throughout the pandemic, Kiran continued to do locums, working as a consultant optometrist in practices throughout the Welsh Valleys that required her expertise.
Kiran, who earned a BSc Honours at the University of Waterloo, first learned about the Vision Sciences programme at Cardiff University through several of her Waterloo professors who had studied there. Kiran chose to do her BSc Optometry at Cardiff, where she was awarded a highly sought after Cardiff University International Student Scholarship. During her undergraduate studies at Cardiff, Kiran was selected to spend one month in the Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan, in a highly competitive, fully-funded summer research placement scheme.
Corneal scarring is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide and many of these cases could be treatable or preventable. Treatment for corneal scarring involves generating transplantable tissue containing stem cells. Kiran’s research aims to enhance current tissue-engineering protocols. If the results are promising, in addition to treating corneal scarring, they could have translatable implications for tissue engineering therapies for various other organ systems.
Working and teaching alongside staff and students from different backgrounds has been at the core of Kiran’s global mindset and has allowed her to be an ambassador of Canadian values and to promote diversity, inclusion and collaboration, thereby facilitating the global exchange of knowledge and ideas for scientific advancement.
Kiran is passionate about teaching and education. When she graduates she hopes to return to Canada to further pursue her therapeutic research to help recover the sight of patients not only in Canada but across the world. Ideally she would like to make a full circle and return to the University of Waterloo as a principal researcher and open up her own corneal research group.
– Awarded The del Missier Family Scholarship 2021-2022
