About Me

I was born in Haripur, Pakistan in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but have lived all over Central Asia (as well as a short stint in the Middle East) before coming to the UK initially for my studies and then to work.

Besides my native country I've lived (i.e. spent 6+ months of my life) in: Iran, the UAE (Dubai), Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and the UK. The perspectives gained from spending significant amounts of time in cultures as varied as these have truly shaped who I am as a person.

I am doing a part-time PhD in Genetics at the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), supervised by Prof. Richard M. Durbin. My work looks at coming up with new sequencing algorithms for Next-Generation Sequencing as well as improving the efficiency of the current ones.

In my free time I play the piano and clarinet. I am interested in the art of perfumery and enjoy creating my own fragrances (usually they are good enough that you wouldn't mind wearing them outside).

I am a very big bookworm too. I mostly read classic novels (the sort of stuff that makes critic's "Top 100 books" lists etc.) as well as in depth non-fiction to improve my mental model of the world. I am also an avid coin and fountain pen collector, which is a hobby I've been involved in since I was a young child.

I score very highly on Openness to Experience, usually at the 99th percentile in most Big Five personality tests I have taken. There are very few things I will not try at least once. Indeed I personally think that this trait is what is most "unique" about me rather than anything else.

More generally I am the kind of person who enjoys the finer things in life: someone who likes to experience *the best* there is to offer, even for things that most people would classify as mundane and not worth thinking about like dark chocolate and tea.