Genetics
Department of Genetics
His Highness Dr. Syedna Burhanuddin Department of Genetics · Faculty of Science
Established in 1969, the department offers M.Sc., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Genetics, taught by a faculty of highly qualified staff including nine PhDs.
Medical Genetics
Applications in medical diagnostics following the Human Genome Project.
Genetic Engineering
Industrial applications collectively known as biotechnology, and gene therapy.
Agricultural Genetics
Enhancement of agricultural, livestock and poultry products.
The science of genetics started as the study of inheritance of traits from parents to offspring in the early 20th century. Now recognized as the single most fundamental science among the life sciences, genetics has found ever more applications in health sciences, especially since the Human Genome Project, and has allowed many allied sciences to reach new heights in industrial biotechnology, cloning and gene therapy.
CareersCareer Opportunities
Genetics is applied across medical diagnostics, agricultural and livestock enhancement, and industrial microbiology and biotechnology — with strong industry demand for manpower skilled in genetic engineering and molecular biology.
Introduction
Chairperson: Prof. Dr. Erum Shoaib
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 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.
The Department of Genetics was established in 1969 at the University of Karachi, offers the degrees of M.Sc., M.S. and Ph.D. in Genetics. A bachelor’s program is expected to start soon. All of these programs are conducted by a staff consisting of highly qualified faculty that includes nine PhDs.
Teaching and Assessment
Graduate students learn in a conducive and comfortable environment with modern teaching aids in classrooms and labs as well as computer labs. Assessments are done as university policies.
Career Opportunities
Since late, Genetics is being applied in many diverse fields of science and industry. Main application of genetics include: medical diagnostics; enhancement of agricultural, livestock, and poultry products; industrial microbiology and biotechnology. There are many fields in the industry requiring manpower highly skilled in genetics in general, genetic engineering and molecular biology in particular.
Faculty
Professors
Dr. Maqsood A. Ansari
Dr. Uzma Badar (SL)
Dr. Erum Shoaib
Dr. Jameela Akhtar
Associate Professor
Dr. Obaid Y. Khan
Dr. Fouad M. Qureshi
Dr. Rifat
Assistant Professors
Dr. Nadia Khan
Dr. Shumaiza Anis
Dr. Sarwat Afshan
Dr. Ayesha Riaz
Lecturers
Dr. Aribah Naz
| Dr. Maqsood A. Ansari | M.Sc., (Karachi) MS, PBC Biotech (USA), Ph.D. (UK) |
| Dr. Uzma Badar | M.Sc., Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Simeen Mansoor | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Erum Shoeb | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Obaid Y. Khan | M.Sc. , (Karachi), Ph.D. (UK) |
| Dr. Fouad M. Qureshi | M.Sc., Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Rifat | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Nadia Khan | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Shumaiza Anis | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Sarwat Afshan | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
| Dr. Ayesha Riaz | M.Sc. (Karachi) Ph.D. (UK) |
| Dr. Aribah Naz | M.Sc, Ph.D. (Karachi) |
Programs
Eligibility & Allocated Seats
Masters: 72 seats
- B.Sc. with Biology subjects including Zoology, Botany, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Physiology, and Chemistry.
- B.Sc. with Psychology, Geography, Geology or Statistics with any two subjects mentioned above.
- B.Sc. Medical Technology, B.Sc. Agriculture, B.Pharm. or equivalent.
- B.Sc. (Honours Biology Group) second year with an application for conversion through chairperson.
MS leading to PhD: 10 seats
- M.Sc. in genetics or allied subjects (biochemistry, microbiology, physiology).
- Graduates holding MBBS degree may also be admitted to this program provided they pass the make-up courses.
Facilities
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. There are four research labs for MS and PhD students.
Research
Research Activities
With a focus on the genetic phenomena in nature various different research programs exist including microbial genetics, plant genetics, human genetics and biotechnology involving all the teaching faculty of the department.
Publications
All of the faculty members of the department have contributed numerous publications to scientific knowledge nationally and internationally.
Contact
For further information please contact:
DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS
DR. SYEDNA BURHANUDDIN HALL
UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI, KARACHI-75270
Telephone: 99261300-06 Ext: 2218 / 3218
Email: genetics@uok.edu.pk
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