Qualifications:
- D.V.M., University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 2005 (Silver Medal)
- M. Phil. (Biotechnology), Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, 2008
- P.G.D., University of Hull United Kingdom, 2017
- Ph.D. (Biotechnology),Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Islamabad.
Service Record:
- 2008-2009 Veterinary Officer, Livestock and Dairy Development Department, Punjab
- 2009-2012 Lecturer, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore
- 2012-2017 Junior Scientist, NIBGE
- 2017-present Senior Scientist, NIBGE
Research Interests:
- Molecular diagnosis and epidemiology of veterinary diseases
- Development of rapid point of care tests and vaccines for veterinary diseases
- Livestock genomic studies
Projects Awarded:
- One health approach for molecular diagnosis, epidemiology and control of brucellosis in Pakistan (Funded by ALP-PARC).
- Development of rapid and sensitive test for on-site diagnosis of Peste des Petits Ruminants disease (Funded by AIP-PARC).
Research activities:
Molecular Diagnosis for Veterinary Diseases:
Infectious diseases are the major threat in the progress of livestock and poultry sectors in Pakistan. Specific identification of their causative agents is prerequisite for their cost effective control. For this purpose, I am working on the molecular diagnosis and epidemiology of economically important veterinary disease like PPR, FMD, brucellosis etc. Use of point of care tests enable rapid diagnosis of veterinary diseases under field conditions, therefore, significantly reduce economic losses limiting their further spread and timely start of specific therapy. Through AIP-PARC project, I successfully applied LAMP assay for point of care detection of PPR under field conditions during recent outbreaks in different districts of Punjab. Currently, efforts are underway to develop LAMP assays for other infectious veterinary diseases. I am also working on fabrication and use of microfluidics paper based analytical devices (µPADs) for presumptive detection of pathogens and adulterants in milk in resource limited areas. As a team member in different livestock genomics projects in NIBGE, I am involved in collection of blood samples as well as accurate phenotypic record (i.e. morphological, productivity related data) from pure and cross bred animals of different livestock breeds from all over Pakistan.


Publications of last five years:
- Asif, M., Awan, F.R., Khan, Q.M., Ngamsom, B. and Pamme, N., 2020. Paper based analytical devices for colorimetric detection of S. aureus and E. coli and their antibiotic resistant strains in milk. Analyst, 145(22), pp.7320-7329.
- Iqbal, N., Liu, X., Yang, T., Huang, Z., Hanif, Q., Asif, M., Khan, Q.M. and Mansoor, S., 2019. Genomic variants identified from whole-genome resequencing of indicine cattle breeds from Pakistan. PloS one, 14(4), p.e0215065.
- Iqbal, N., Hanif, H., Asif, M., Liu, X., Yang, T., Huang, Z., Khan, Q.M. and Mansoor, S., 2019. Genomic variants identified from whole-genome resequencing of indicine cattle breeds from Pakistan. PLOS ONE (Accepted).
- Ashraf, W., Unger, H., Haris, S., Mobeen, A., Farooq, M., Asif, M. and Khan, Q.M., 2016. Genetic detection of peste des petitsruminants virus under field conditions: a step forward towards disease eradication. BMC veterinary research, 13(1), p.34.
- Mahmood, R., Ali, T., Waheed, U., Asif, M. and Khan, Q.M., 2016. Application of serum based PCR and fluorescence polarization assay for diagnosis of brucellosis among people occupationally at risk to disease. International Journal of Agriculture & Biology, 18(2).
- Asif, M., Waheed, U., Farooq, M., Ali, T. and Khan, Q.M., 2014. Frequency of Brucellosis in high risk human groups in Pakistan detected through polymerase chain reaction and its comparison with conventional slide agglutination test. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 16(5).
- Ashraf, M.R., Asif, M., Firyal, S., Anjum, A.A., Waheed, U., Hussain, A., Farooq, M. and Khan, Q.M., 2014. Molecular Characterization and Association of Local Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus on The Basis of 16S rRNA in Poultry and Human in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences. 12(3), pp.160-164.
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