The Plant and Biofuel Group (PABG) at Akhuwat-FIRST involves the following research areas.
Plant Stress Resistance:
- Study of plants’ interactions to varied environmental conditions and stress factors.
- Understanding how plants react to limited or excessive water supply, sunlight, and nutrients leads to an understanding of the most strategic growing practices.
- Engineering biotic and abiotic stress resistance in plants using new-plant breeding techniques (CRISPR-Cas Technology).
Biofuel Production:
- Conversion of Lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels using biological machinery
- Establishment of an eco-sustainable biorefinery
- Environmental bio-cleaning for biofuel production
Micropropagation of Disease-free Plants:
- Tissue-culture micropropagation of Disease-free potato seed tubers.
- Data-palm micropropagation for commercial plant multiplications.
- Tissue-culture of ornamental plants for bio-conservation and commercial purposes.
Techniques/Expertise:
- CRISPR-Cas-based genome engineering in plants
- ELISA, molecular screening of plant pathogens
- PCR/RT-PCR/qPCR assays for molecular biology
- Tissue-culture technology, micropropagation techniques
- Gene cloning, construct designing and plant transformation techniques
- Bioinformatics including sgRNA designing, RNAi in-silico designs, phylogenetic analysis, sequencing, etc.,
- Biofuel technology including pyrolysis, fermentation, biodegradation, HPLC, SEM analysis, FTIR-based functional modifications,
Group Leader: Dr. Amir Hameed; amirhameed73@gmail.com
Ph.D. Biotechnology
PIEAS, PAKISTAN
Cornell University, USA
Recent Publications:
- Hameed A, Mehmood MA, Shahid M, Fatma S, Khan A & Ali S (2019). Prospects for potato genome editing to engineer resistance against viruses and cold-induced sweetening. GM Crops and Foods. DOI: 10.1080/21645698.2019.1631115 IF=3.3
- Hameed A, Zaidi SSA, Sattar MN, Iqbal Z, & Tahir MN (2019). CRISPR technology to combat plant RNA viruses: A theoretical model for Potato virus Y (PVY) resistance. Microbial Pathogenesis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2019.103551IF=2.5
- Hameed A, Zaidi SSA, Shakir S, & Mansoor S (2018). Applications of new breeding technologies for potato improvement. Frontiers in Plant Science. DOI:10.3389/fpls.2018.00925. IF=4.1
- Khan MZ, Amin I, Hameed A & Mansoor S (2018). CRISPR/Cas13a: Prospects for plant virus resistance. Trends in Biotechnology. DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2018.05.005. IF=13.6
- Hameed A, Bilal R, Latif F, Van Eck J, Jander G & Mansoor S (2018). RNAi-mediated silencing of endogenous Vlnv gene confers stable reduction of cold-induced sweetening in potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Désirée). Plant Biotechnology Reports, 1-11. IF=1.5