Estb. 1882

University of the Punjab

Dr. Muhammad Saleem


Associate Professor
Dr. Muhammad Saleem
I have completed PhD in “Biomolecular Sciences from The University of Manchester, UK in 2008 under Membrane Protein Structure Initiative (MPSI) program sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UK. A consortium of highly experienced membrane protein research groups from universities of Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, UMIST, Oxford, Sheffield, Imperial, Birkbeck, and CCLRC Daresbury UK carried out this MPSI program. During my PhD, I have worked on structural and functional characterization of ATP binding cassette transporters and membrane proteins from type IV pilus biogenesis system of Gram-negative bacteria. In 2008 after completion of my PhD, I was offered five years Post-Doctoral fellowshipby The University of Manchester. During my Post-doctoral research, we worked in collaboration with research groups at Churchill Hospital and Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford and also with research group from National Institute for Biological Standards & Control (NIBSC) UK with focus on protein-based meningococcal vaccine research. In June 2013, I moved to Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics (LIGHT), recently re-named Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), University of Leeds where I worked till November 2015 eukaryotic expression of human blood clotting factor. I then joined as a Post-Doctoral Research scientist in the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Structural Biology at the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences (CBS), School of Pharmacy, The University of Nottingham, UK to study the novel mechanism of thrombosis that is crucial for the development of antithrombotic therapeutics. In September 2017, I moved to Laboratory of Nanomedicine at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia to work on the impact of aggregation triggering motifs on the solubility of proteins and viral vaccine research. Later, I started working at the Biodiscovery Institute, BDI, The University of Nottingham, UK to study the structure of membrane proteins involved in Quorum sensing.
My expertise includes the development of strategies for high throughput (HTP) expression, purification, refolding, reconstitution, crystallisation, characterisation and structure determination of macromolecules particularly proteins both soluble as well as membrane integrated. I have produced a number of publications in well-reputed international journals. I have solved structures of several proteins at atomic resolution level by X-ray crystallography, a technique yet to be established in academic institutes of Pakistan, both at research level as well as in under-graduate and post-graduate curricula. The X-ray crystallography-based research has contributed to more than a dozen Nobel Prizes in scientific fields and emerged as a key technique in rational drug design and pharmaceutical biotechnology.
My research interests include:
1.
Prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression of recombinant therapeutic proteins,
2.
Production of membrane protein and their complexes (special focus on ABC transporters)
3.
Structural and functional characterization of Proteins
4.
Recombinant vaccine development
5.
Rational design, synthesis and understanding of Peptide based nanomaterials for biomedical applications
Designation:- Associate Professor

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