Faculty Profiles -University of Gujrat

Dr. Tahir Iqbal

Designation : Lecturer
Specialization : Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Office Number : +(92) 3334180134

Biography

I have been working for the last more than 16 years as lecturer in Department of Zoology at University of Gujrat, Pakistan, conducting research in molecular biology and teaching courses of molecular biology, molecular virology, biotechnology and bioinformatics. I have M.Sc in Zoology and M.Phil in Molecular Biology from Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), University of the Punjab. I got my Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with specialization in Molecular Virology from University of Gujrat. I completed a part of my Ph.D research in Viral Hepatitis Division at Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta, USA, where my research focused on avian HEV genome characterization and cloning with additional task of HEV culturing in human cell lines; hepatoma cell line (PLC/PRF5) and lung cancer cells (A549) to study pathogenicity mechanism. The CDC research was supported by HEC Pakistan through IRSIP fellowship.

Brief statement of Research Interest

I have a strong motivation to pursue career especially in frontier areas of Molecular Biology, Molecular Virology, Functional Genomics, CRISPR-Cas Technology for therapeutics and genome editing. Next generation vaccine technology is another research field of my focus. Presently, my team is working on CRISPR-Cas/Phages combinatorial therapeutic strategies against multiple drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) bacterial human pathogens.

Education

PhD,University of Gujrat
MPhil,University of Punjab
MSc,The University of Ajk
BSc,University of Punjab
FSc,Rawalpindi Board of Intermedia
Matric,Rawalpindi Board of Intermedia

Honors and Awards

HEC traveling grant, 2019 For oral presentation in 4th International Conference on Biosciences and Biotechnology, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
HEC IRSIP Fellowship during PhD, 2017 Completed in Viral Hepatitis Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USA

Memberships

World Society for Virology Membership

Supervisions

Student Name	Degree	Title	Status / Completed Year
Anam Zahra	MS	Screening and molecular characterization of fenitrothion degrading bacterial strains isolated from agricultural soil of Gujrat, Pakistan Fenitrothion (Organophosphate insecticide) is highly toxic pollutant which contaminates the soil and water. It severely disrupts the cholinesterase activity in insects and damages the androgens in cockroaches and male rats. Elimination of pollutants from contaminated sites using microorganisms is a cheaper alternative to chemical technology. Present research is carried out to isolate microbial strains from the fenitrothion polluted soil. Six gram negative and four gram positive strains were isolated from agricultural field soil of Gujrat and were biochemically analyzed for catalase activity, starch hydrolysis, lactose fermentation and citrate utilization. Fenitrothion degraded products were analyzed at 270 nm. Four strains among these were sequenced for 16S rRNA gene and phylogenetic trees were constructed. Phylograms showed that strains AZ1 and AZ3 showed close homology to genus Bacillus and Paenibacillus respectively.	2014
Muhammad Kaleem Sarwar	MS	Salt tolerance and molecular characterization of bacterial strains isolated from water biodies of Khewra Salt Mines, Pakistan Halophilic bacteria grow optimally at considerably high salt concentrations. In Pakistan, world’s second largest salt mine at Khewra, Punjab, provides an ideal environment for halophilic bacteria to grow optimally. 10 gram negative strains were isolated from saline water bodies of Khewra salt mine and were biochemically analyzed for catalase activity, starch hydrolysis, lactose fermentation citrate, mannitol utilization. Statistical analysis for tolerance (Temperature, pH and NaCl concentration) revealed that all these strains grow optimally at pH 8. Strains K4, K5 and K7 showed optimum growth at 30? C whereas remaining strains at 37? C. The optimum NaCl concentration strains K1, K2, K6, K8, K9 and K10 was observed to be 1.5M except for K3, K4, K5 and K7 which grew optimally at 2M NaCl concentration. Five strains among these were sequenced for 16S rRNA gene and phylogenetic trees were constructed. Phylograms showed that strains K2, K8, K9 and K10 showed close homology to genus Chromohalobacter whereas K4 resembled genus Halomonas.	2014
Aqsad Rashida	MS	Isolation and molecular characterization of animal fat degrading bacteria The present study was designed for molecular characterization of animal fats degrading bacterial strains isolated from slaughter house waste sites, kitchen waste dump sites, and kitchen waste water. These bacterial strains were screened for lipase activity through Tween-20 agar medium. Moreover, the tendency of isolated strains to biodegrade animal fat was investigated using pH change, specific gravity, density, acid value, saponification value and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (F.T.I.R). These strains have shown distinctive biodegradation tendencies for animal fats due to the presence of lipases. The isolates were found to be closely related to Bacillus licheniformis and Lysinibacillus sphaericus on the basis of partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing.	2014
Saira Bashir	MS	Analysis of nitroreductase activity and molecular characterization of chromium reducing bacteria strains Chromium is the heavy metals whose concentration in the environment is increasing because of different industrial processes. Chromium exists in nature as hexavalent chromium Cr (VI) and trivalent chromium Cr (III). Hexavalent chromium is a serious environmental pollutant. A variety of microorganisms had been known for their ability to degrade these heavy metals. In the present study four bacterial strains were isolated from tannery effluent from Sialkot, Pakistan. These four bacterial strains showed high level of resistant to hexavalent chromium. The isolated strains were identified through biochemical test and 16S rRNA sequence. Phylograms showed that these four strains SA1, SA2, SA3 and SA4 showed close phylogenetic relationship to Bacillus licheniformis strain KRB1 (100%), Bacillus licheniformis strain GPI2 16S (99%),Bacillus anthracis strain HCYL02 (99%) and Bacillaceae bacterium 5_K_5 (100%) respectively. The efficiency of these four isolates for chromium reduction was determined, which showed that SA1 shows 67% reduction SA2 58%, SA3 70% and SA4 shows 42% reduction of chromium from the medium in 24-120 hours. This showed that SA1 and SA3 were efficient in reducing Cr (VI) than SA2 and SA4. The efficiency of these four isolates for nitrogen compound for example 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) reduction was also determined, which showed that SA1 shows 97% reduction SA2 89%, SA3 % 98 and SA4 shows 89% reduction of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol from the medium. This study shows that the bacterial strains not only efficiently reduced hexavalent chromium but also shows great nitroreductase activity.	2013
Amina Khatoon	MS	Screening of chromium reducing bacterial strains isolated from tanneries effluent, for azo dyes reduction activity Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) is the form of chromium that is toxic to a number of organisms. Different organisms have developed different strategies to cope with its toxic effects. Bacteria are also among those organisms. Tanneries use compounds of chromium for better tanning of leather. In present studies maximum hexavalent chromium concentration was found to be 1.47µg Cr6+/ml whereas minimum was 0.7 µg Cr6+/ml. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared maximum total chromium contaminant level for drinking water to 0.1 mg/l. The chromium level in this study was fairly higher than that limit.In this study the hexavalent chromium contents of tannery effluent samples taken from three different tanneries were determined. The chromium resistant bacteria were isolated from these samples and then their chromium reducing abilities were observed. All six isolates showed considerable chromium reducing abilities. As chromium and azo dyes co-exist in some environments, these bacterial isolates were tested for their ability to decolorize an azo dye called methyl red. After 24hours the maximum dye reduction percentage was found to be above 90% which shows that these isolates have ability to reduce chromium as well as decolorize azo dye methyl red.	2013

Service Activity

Research - Molecular Virology, Viral Hepatitis, Environmental Biotechnology, CRISPR technology, siRNA technology, Molecular phylogeny of bacteria, Diversity and genome study of phages
Teaching - Molecular Virology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Recombinant DNA technology, stem cell technology

Journal Publications

1. Asma Nosheen, Razia Iqbal, Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Waseem Mumtaz, Hamid Mukhtar “Molecular characterization of bacterial strains isolated from pesticides contaminated soils of district Gujrat, Pakistan” Pakistan Journal Of Botany, February 2021 DOI:
2. Paul PC, Nazneen A, Banik KC, Sumon SA, Paul KK, Akram A, Uzzaman MS, Iqbal T, Tejada-Strop A, Kamili S, Luby SP, Gidding HF, Hayen A, Gurley ES “Hepatitis E as a cause of adult hospitalization in Bangladesh: Results from an acute jaundice surveillance study in six tertiary hospitals, 2014-2017” Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases, January 2020 DOI:
3. Iqbal T, Rashid U, Idrees M, Afroz A, Saleem Kamili S and Purdy MA. “A novel avian isolate of hepatitis E virus from Pakistan” Virology Journal, November 2019 DOI:
4. Iqbal T, Rashid U, Shahzad N, Afroz A, Muhammad Malik MF, Idrees M “Molecular detection of hepatitis E virus in layer chickens: a possible public health risk in Pakistan” Pakistan Journal Of Zoology, September 2019 DOI:
5. Irum Perveen, Muhammad Asam Raza, Tahir Iqbal , Iffat Naz, Shama Sehar, Safia Ahmed “Isolation of anticancer and antimicrobial metabolites from Epicoccum nigrum; endophyte of Ferula sumbul” Microbial Pathogenesis, June 2017 DOI:
6. Muhammad Imran, Zahid Anwar, Muddassar Zaffar, Muhammad Irshad and Tahir Iqbal “Hyper productivity, characterization and exploitation of cellulase complex from a novel isolate of Aspergillus tubingenesis S2 using Lingnocellulose-based material” Bioresources, June 2017 DOI:
7. Christeen Ramane J. Pedurupillay, Silja S. Amundsen, Tuva Barøy, Magnhild Rasmussen, Anne Blomhoff, Barbro Fossøy Stadheim, Kristin Ørstavik, Asbjørn Holmgren, Tahir Iqbal, Eirik Frengen, Doriana Misceo, Petter Strømme “Clinical and molecular characteristics in three families with biallelic mutations in IGHMBP2” Neuromuscular Disorders, June 2016 DOI:
8. Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Idrees*, Liaqat Ali, Abrar Hussain, Muhammad Ali, Sadia Butt, Muhammad Zubair Yousaf, Muhammad Farooq Sabar “Isolation and characterization of two new Hepatitis E Virus Genotype 1 strains from two Mini-outbreaks in Lahore, Pakistan” Virology Journal, March 2011 DOI:
9. Khizar Hayat Bhatti, Naeem-ud-Din Ahmed, Aminullah Shah, Mazhar Iqbal, Tahir Iqbal, and Jiahe Wu. “Transgenic tobacco with rice zinc-finger gene OsLOL2 exhibits an enhanced resistance against bacterial-wilt” Australasian Plant Pathology, January 2011 DOI:
10. Iqbal J, Mumtaz WM, Iqbal T, Mehmood S, Razaq A “Particulate size distribution and physicochemical characterization of river Chinab water at Marala Headworks” Pakistan Journal Of Botany, January 2010 DOI:
11. Iqbal J, Mumtaz WM, Iqbal T, Mehmood S, Razaq A “Particulate size distribution and physicochemical characterization of river Chinab water at Marala Headworks” Pakistan Journal Of Botany, January 2010 DOI:

Conference Papers / Presentataions

1. Amina Khatoon, Saira Bashir, Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Kaleem Sarwar, Asma Nosheen, Aqsad Rashda, Anum Zahra “Bacterial Strains from Tanneries Effluents with Multiple Potentials: Chromium and Azo Dyes Reduction Activities” The 4th International Conference on Bioscience and Biotechnology, February 2019, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , February 2019 _DOI:
2. Ayesha Javed, Kiran Atta, Iqra Azam, Aqsad Rashda, Muhammad Kaleem Sarwar, Amina Khatoon, Saira Bashir, Anam Zahra, Asma Nosheen, Khizar Hayat Bhatti and Tahir Iqbal* “Molecular characterization of lipid-degrading bacteria isolated from city waste dumps” International Conference on Himalayan Biodiversity and Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities. University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Muzaffarabad , October 2014 _DOI:

Research Projects

Date	Title	Agency/Organization	Amount	Status
2020-07-12	Immunological, virology and genetic basis of COVID-19 patients	HEC	13	Funded and In Progress