Research: The role of microbiota in urinary tract cancer
EDUCATION:
• Enrolled in the PhD course – Life Sciences - 37th cycle (2021/2022)
Host Department - Department of medico-surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies (Latina), Italy
• 2015-2017: Master’s in Zoology – PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan
• 2011-2015: Bachelor’s in Zoology – University of Sargodha, Pakistan
EXPERIENCES IN TEACHING AND RESEARCH:
• Lecturer (Visiting) in the Department of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan. (03/09/2018 – 16/09/2021)
• Internship for master thesis: on “Epizootiology of Skin Disease in a Fish Species from River Swat” (Spring 2017). The study was conducted on Labeo rohita collected from river Swat at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The diseased fishes were found to be infected with Flavobacteium columnare. I collected blood from both healthy and diseased fish and hematological study was done to compare blood parameters. The skin and gills of healthy and diseased fish infected with F. columnare were observed: results obtained showed that F. columnare not only affect the fish morphology (Skin and Gills) but also have significant effect on histology of the effected species.
• Internship at Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan. (2016, 6 months)
LAB RELATED SKILLS:
• Complete blood count
• Histopathological techniques
• Microtome
• Microscopy
• Bioinformatics: PubMed; BLAST (on both DNA and Protein sequences),
• Staining techniques for skin muscle tissues
• DNA extraction and Gel electrophoresis
• Data collection, interpretation and presentation
DIGITAL SKILLS:
• Search engine optimization
• CISCO Certified Network Associate
CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS:
• National seminar on ‘Harvesting global food security & justice in the face of climate change’, Indus consortium in collaboration with PMAS-Arid University Rawalpindi, Pakistan (October 22, 2015).
• National seminar on ‘Management of Fisheries in small dams’ Department of fisheries Punjab. Held at Kallar Kahar, District Chakwal, Pakistan (December 30th, 2015).
• International 36th Pakistan Congress of Zoology, Zoological Society of Pakistan. Held at University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan (February 16-18, 2016).
• National seminar on ‘Climate warming impacts on fish biodiversity’ Department of fisheries Punjab. Held at Fish Biodiversity Hatchery Chashma, Mianwali, Pakistan (April 26, 2016).
• 1st International conference on emerging trends in zoology (1st ICETZ 2017) Department of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Pakistan (December 8-9, 2017).
• One-Day Seminar on Academia-Industry Linkages: Away Forward for Promoting Innovative and Need-Based Research Organized by Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC), University of Sargodha, Pakistan (November 29, 2018).
WORKSHOPS:
• Indigenous Faculty Development Program to Enhance the Teaching Skills of College Teachers at the Committee Hall, Office of the Vice Chancellor, Sargodha University, Pakistan (November 27, 2019).
• Hands-on Training in Tick Identification, Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore, Pakistan (December 27, 2021).
PUBLICATIONS:
• Tahir, H. M., Yaqoob, R., Akhtar, U., Ahmed, K., Sharif, W.R., Zaffar, A., Ghaffar, M. and Mahboob, M. (2014). Toxicity and avoidance behaviour of Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) against deltamethrin. Biologia (Pakistan), 60(2), 305-307
• Tahir, H.M., Naseem, S., Zahra, K., Akhtar, U., Mumtaz, R., Khalid, R. and Nouman, M. (2015). Autotomy: An important tool in spiders to avoid life threatening situations. Biologia (Pakistan) 61(2), 329-333.
• Siddique, F., Arshad, M., Hassan, W., Shah, Z. H. and Akhtar, U. (2020). A review on Chitosan: As a potent fish preservative. International Journal of Biosciences, 16(4), 90-101.