Dr. Muhammad Tahir

About

Prof Muhammad Tahir, currently serving as a Professor (Tenured) at Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences (ASAB), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.
Being belong to a middle-class person in Pakistan, it is always challenging to cope with different situations that arise within the society, political situation, environmental conditions, education, and justice system, especially in Pakistan. On the brighter side, these situations always put across the situation, which led to personal development and experiences.
He secured his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, in May 2009. During his Ph.D., he visited the Plant Virus Department, DSMZ, Braunschweig, Germany, where he learned strategies for developing transgenic resistance in plants using artificial microRNA and hairpin, inverted repeat dsRNA. Additional experiments were conducted on virus purification and serological assays for virus detection and identification. He received post-doctoral training from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, USA.
He has been successful in securing research funding from national (Higher Education Commission of Pakistan - HEC) and international funding agencies (United States Department of Agriculture - USDA) as Principal Investigator (PI). He has completed four R&D projects: three funded by HEC and one by USDA. Currently, he is managing a NUST Flagship project. He has published some of his work in ISI-indexed Journals and submitted three patent applications.
He has been teaching Plant Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, Plant Biochemistry, and Plant Virology courses to graduate students, as well as Research Planning and Report Writing, Plant Virology, and Techniques in Molecular Biology, to undergraduate students, since 2010 at the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST). For the last ten and a half years, the students’ feedback on their courses ranged from 85 to 95. The average student’s feedback on the courses taught in the last three years is more than 90%.
He has found multiple chances to work, write joint proposals and present his work to the renowned scientist of the World. These diverse experiences working in different laboratories and with professors make him able to win major national and international grants and complete them. He learned scientific thinking while working with Dr Rob W. Briddon, his PhD co-supervisor, worked in DSMZ, Germany, with Professor Dr. Stephan Winter for completion of his PhD. Moreover, he got an opportunity to work with Dr Judith K. Brown for my post-doctoral training. He also got multiple chances to write joint grants with many great scientists around the world, which helped develop bilateral relationships, trust, and collaborations.
The above-mentioned training and challenging environment developed a diverse experience which helped him to share his experiences with students, the department and the NUST administration in an effective way.
Having worked in a challenging environment in Pakistan and with diverse foreign exposure, he is comfortable with people of all ages, has a good rapport with peers, and is flexible to adapt himself to new and challenging environments.

Areas of Expertise