Speakers

 

Prof. Dr. Allah Rakha

Professor of Forensic Sciences and Head of Department of Forensic Sciencs at the University of Health Sciences, Lahore. 

Prof. Dr. Qudsia Hassan

Professor Qudsia Hassan needs no introduction. She is the Chairperson and Head of Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Ziauddin University. She completed her DMJ and FCPS from Lahore, and has done her PhD from Ziauddin University, Karachi in 2018. Additionally, she holds a postgraduate diploma in Bioethics from SIUT-CBEC. Her area of expertise includes autopsies, forensic odontology, specifically aspartic acid racemization for the estimation of age from teeth. She has started many postgraduate programs in forensic medicine in her institute including DMJ, MPhil, FCPS and PhD. She has numerous publications in various national and international journals.


 

Prof. Dr. Bushra Rashid

Dr Bushra Rashid is serving as professor and leading plant genomics lab in Centre of excellence in molecular biology, university of the Punjab Lahore Pakistan. Her salient achievement is being the part of a team developed transgenic Bt cotton in Pakistan. She has identified and characterized abiotic stress tolerant genes in different plant species. Moreover she has the research experience to work in international labs such as USA, Australia, UK and Turkey through prestigious fellowships like Commonwealth fellowship, Endeavor Award and Mevlana Exchange Program. She has around 100 publications in well-known international journals. She has research funding from different organizations and has national and international research collaborations.        


 

Dr. Imran Amin

Dr. Imran Amin  is working as a Principal Scientist in NIBGE Faisalabad. Dr. Amin has done novel work in the understanding of plant viruses and has made discoveries of a whole new group of betasatellite which is causative agent of infection of food and fiber crops in Pakistan. He is among the pioneers who introduced and successfully applied genome editing technology in crop plants in Pakistan. He has successfully introduced and applied viral vectors for functional genomics technology in Pakistan and was awarded PAEC gold medal in 2012 and Pakistan academy of Sciences Gold medal in emerging technologies in 2022. He has published more than 172 research papers and book chapters. 

 

Prof. Dr. Abrar Hussain

Professor Dr. Abrar Hussain is currently working as Associate Dean, Faculty of Life of Sciences, BUITEMS, and has worked at CDC-Atlanta USA, Aga Khan University, and HEJ, Karachi Universities. He is in various positions, such as Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, Section Editor, Guess Editor, and Editor Board member of journals such as Medicine, Bioengineered, Frontiers in Cellular and infection microbiology, Review in Medical Microbiology, Frontiers in Virology, Infectious Disease Research, Molecular and Clinical Oncology, Journal of Virology and Viral Disease.

Prof. Abrar was a technical member of the Core Committee of Government of Balochistan, under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary of Balochistan. During COVID-19, completed, 100 million PKR, tasks regarding the “Establishment of BSL-II Diagnostic Labs in Balochistan, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical Complex SARS-CoV-2 Laboratory Quetta, BSL-II laboratory, Turbat and Loralai (Government of Balochistan, NIH, and WHO) and Coordinated Diagnostic Testing (PCR) of Covid-19 (0.15Million Tests) Cost of Project 375 million PKR.

Prof. Abrar has supervised several Ph.D. and MS students and published around 100 research articles with an impact factor above 300 and citations above 2000. 

 

Dr. Muhammad Ismail

Dr. Muhammad Ismail obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Karachi University in 1989 and joined the Biomedical and Genetic Engineering Division, Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories as Scientific Officer in January 1992. His Doctoral Degree is in the field of Biotechnology.  Due to his outstanding contributions for the organization, he was appointed Deputy Director in 2007 and Director 2014

Dr. Ismail has also worked for short periods at the Department of Molecular Genetics, University College, London and Department of Child Health, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London as a Research Fellow under a prestigious Research Initiative Grant from the Wellcome Trust, UK. Beside this, he has obtained training from Glasgow and Cambridge Universities in Bioinformatics and Forensic Training Course from HID University, Warrington, UK

He has published more than 150 research papers in prestigious international journals, and several Chapters in International Books.


 

Prof. Dr. Abdul Qayyum Rao

Prof. Dr. Abdul Qayyum Rao is a renowned scientist and a Professor at the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. He has published numerous research articles in high impact peer-reviewed journals, and his work has been widely cited by other scientists in the field of molecular biology.

Dr. Rao developed CKC1 & CKC3 triple-gene cotton varieties. The technology reduced 30000/acre cost of cotton production. He developed CLCuV-resistant cotton lines (Patent # 222/2022). Developed increased shelf-life potato (Patent #221/2022), Chewing and Sucking Insect Resistant cotton (Patent # 54/2021), Edible vaccine against NDV (Patent # 328/18). He Supervised 50 M.Phil and nine Ph.D. Published 111 articles with IF of more than 200. He won 17 grants as PI and Co-PI. He was awarded Humboldt Fellowship 2016, ICRA Medal 2017, PAS Gold Medal 2022, Five Technology awards, and SATHA Award 2018.

Dr. Muhammad Ilyas

Dr. Muhammad Ilyas is working as Associate Professor and Founding Chairman of the Department of Bioengineering, University of Engineering and Applied Sciences,  Swat. He has vast experience of working in top class international institutes including KRIBB South Korea, Harvard University USA, University College London UK and PGI South Korea. He has a bright career winning numerous awards including Genetics Excellence Award by ASHG, HEC international fellowship, HEC Best Research Paper Award, Outstanding Researcher award and Research Productivity award for recognition in the field of genome biology.

Dr. Ilyas has always been a curious and research-Muhammad Ilyas has a PhD in Molecular Biology (Genomics) from Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, Lahore in collaboration with South Korea. Later he did his Postdoc from University College London in 2018. He has vast experience of working in top class international institutes including Korean Research Institute of Biotechnology and Biosciences, South Korea and Harvard University USA. He has a bright career winning numerous awards including Genetics Excellence Award by ASHG, HEC international fellowship, HEC Best Research Paper Award, IYF Outstanding Researcher award and Research Productivity award for recognition in the field of genome biology.

He has the honor to decode the first Pakhtun genome and developed a pipeline for NGS data analysis during his doctorial research. More recently he has also developed the first Pakistani Genetic Variants Database (available at http://pgvdb.com), which is a user friendly public portal wherefrom genetic variation data in Pakistani populations can be obtained.

Dr. Muhammad Ilyas regularly writes articles and columns in local newspapers and gave interviews on science to TV and radio channels for the general public. He has also published a book on genetics of Pashtuns transcribing his research findings in urdu for general public. His book has also been translated into Pashtu as well.

Prof. Dr. Usman Ali Ashfaq

Dr. Usman Ali Ashfaq is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Group Leader, Health Biotechnology Group at the Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Dr. Ashfaq's expertise covers a range of subjects including, molecular Biology, virology, infectious diseases, integrated bioinformatics and Genomics; more specifically his research covers the areas of diagnosis and treatment of infectious and metabolic diseases. Dr. Usman has been published 195 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with a cumulative impact factor of > 500 and 4022 citations. In addition, Dr Usman has patented two antiviral drugs in the USA and have contributed many book chapters with international publishers. He won 10 grants as PI and Co-PI. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Ashfaq is involved in teaching and training students in the areas of bioinformatics, biotechnology, and genetic engineering. He has received several awards for his contributions to science and education in Pakistan

 Dr. Fazal Adnan

Dr. Fazal Adnan is serving as Associate Professor at the School of Biosciences (ASAB), NUST Islamabad. Dr. Adnan is leading the infection biology lab and the main focus of his research group is investigation of the zoonotic potential of various bacterial infections, the resistome and virulence profiling of the MDR bacterial strains and testing novel antibacterial strategies like CRISPR-CAS & phage therapy. They have recently confirmed that the mastitis causing E. coli (MPEC) can cause urinary tract infection (UTI) in mice. Dr. Adnan has been awarded various national and international research grants, including HEC, Genome Trackr FDA, K2A-Swissnex Switzerland and Helmholtz Germany. For details visit zoonotica.pk.

 Dr. Uzma Qaiser

Dr. Uzma Qaiser is an Associate Professor at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan. The School of Biological Sciences is a research-oriented institution that focuses on teaching and research in various areas of biology, including molecular biology, genetics, and biotechnology.

Dr. Qaiser's research interests are in the field of molecular genetics, with a focus on studying the genetic basis of human diseases such as diabetes and cancer. She is also interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in DNA repair and replication, and in the development of new gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 for therapeutic applications. She has published several research articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and has received several awards for her contributions to the field of molecular genetics.

In addition to her research activities, Dr. Qaiser is actively involved in teaching and mentoring students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has also contributed to the development of various academic programs and research projects at the School of Biological Sciences, and is considered one of the leading scientists in the field of molecular genetics in Pakistan.


 Dr. Malik Badshah

Dr. Malik Badshah is a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan. The department focuses on teaching and research in various areas of microbiology, including medical microbiology, environmental microbiology, and microbial biotechnology.

Dr. Badshah's research interests are in the area of microbial biotechnology, with a focus on the development of microbial enzymes and biocatalysts for industrial applications. He is also interested in studying the ecology of microorganisms in extreme environments, such as hot springs and polar regions. He has published several research articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and has received several awards for his contributions to the field of microbial biotechnology.

In addition to his research activities, Dr. Badshah is actively involved in teaching and mentoring students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has also contributed to the development of various academic programs and research projects at Quaid-e-Azam University, and is considered one of the leading scientists in the field of microbial biotechnology in Pakistan.


 Dr. Khurram Bashir

Dr. Khurram Bashir is Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan. Dr. Khurram’s research focuses on plant response to different abiotic stresses, such as mineral deficiency, drought and heat stress. It involves identifying and characterizing molecular function of individual genes using combination of biotechnological tools and employing several approaches such as development and characterization of transgenic crops, tolerant or sensitive to these stresses. It also includes utilizing different plant metabolites to mitigate abiotic stress response in plants. 

 Dr. Hammad Majeed


Dr. Hammad Majeed possesses extensive experience spanning over twenty-three years in various domains, including industrial, academic, research, innovation, product development, patent, sales, marketing, import, and export. He is currently serving the University of Management and Technology (Sialkot Campus, Pakistan). He has a diverse professional background as an industrial consultant, with extensive experience in industries such as textile, sugar, paints, paper, construction, biotechnology, and food, along with sales, marketing, and foreign training. He is also skilled in oration, compering, RJ, fashion designing, mentoring, and motivational speaking. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded a prize by the President of Pakistan in 2023, for winning the Country Level Business Startup competition by the National Idea Bank and Aspire Pakistan. He has also received a prize for winning the Dice Innovation Competition in 2019. He is a member of the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) UK. 

 Prof. Dr. Tehreema Iftikhar


Prof. Dr. Tehreema Iftikhar is currently serving in Government College University, Lahore. She got her Phd from GCUL and Postdoc from Cornell University, USA. She has a vast experience in teaching and research in the field of Applied Botany.


 Dr. Shabnum Shaheen


Dr. Shabnam Shaheen is currently serving as Associate Professor (Tenured) in LCWU, Lahore. She has a lot of research and teaching experience.


Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad


Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, 

Islamabad, Pakistan


Prof. Dr. Abida Raza


PMAS Arid Agricultural University, Rawalpindi.


Dr. Rabia Nawaz


Dr. Rabia Nawaz is serving as Assistant Professor at Department of Biological Sciences, Superior University, Lahore. She is running an active research group of Computational Biology, working on a host of different viruses, their genomic, proteomic, and therapeutic focuses. Dr. Rabia has worked at Center for Virus research (CVR), UK, and Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), USA, as a guest researcher. She has a good publication profile and is always happy to collaborate and network .