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Introduction

Chairperson: Dr. Obaid Yusuf Khan

The science of Genetics started out as a study of inheritance of traits from parents to offspring in the early 20th century. Recently the life-sciences in general have emerged as multidisciplinary subjects and genetics has now been recognized as the single most fundamental science among all of the life-sciences. Due to the exponential pace of advancement that genetics has enjoyed in the past few decades, especially after the Human Genome Project, it is now finding more and more applications in the health sciences. During the course of its development genetics has gained a firm foothold in improving the quality of all kinds of biological produce. Moreover, its new role as a genetic-tool has allowed many allied sciences to reach new heights especially in the industrial applications of living things collectively called biotechnologies and also cloning, and gene therapy.

History

The Department of Genetics established in 1969 at the University of Karachi is now housed in the beautiful and unique Dr. Syedna Burhanuddin Building where it moved in June 2004. Built in the style of Fatmid Muslim architecture, this facility provides the tranquillity and aura that is most conducive to intellectual development.

The department offers the degrees of Master of Science (M.Sc.), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Genetics. A four-year bachelor’s (B.S.) programme is expected to start soon. All of these programmes are conducted by a staff consisting of highly qualified faculty that includes seven Ph.Ds, two M.Phils, and three M.Scs. Four of the Ph.D. degree holders obtained their degrees from UK or USA, while two other Ph.Ds and an MSc faculty have carried out research projects in UK. Till only a few years back University of Karachi enjoyed the distinct honour of being the only institute in Pakistan offering M.Sc., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in Genetics.

The department takes great pride in maintaining an intellectual and cognitive atmosphere in order to promote learning and to provide to its students an experience they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives. In addition to the standard learning facilities the department maintains an in-house seminar-library as well as computer clusters in the Bioinformatics Lab. Some in-house recreational facilities are also available for healthy activities of the students.