CURRICULUM VITAE

Dr. FARHA MASOOD

Department of Biosciences COMSATS Institute of information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad, Pakistan

Phone # +923325143115; 0514541405 Email:

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

PhD / Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan / Microbiology / 2012 / Grade A; %age = 80.2
Thesis Topic / Characterization and applications of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate produced by Bacillus cereus
MPhil / Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan / Microbiology / 2009 / Grade A; %age = 83.3
Thesis Topic / Production, Optimization and Characterization of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by
Selected Microbial Strains
MSc / Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan / Zoology (Biological Sciences) / 2006 / Grade A; %age =82.4
BSc / University of Punjab Lahore, Pakistan / Zoology, Chemistry, Botany / 2003 / Grade B; %age =60
FSc / FBISE Islamabad, Pakistan / Biology, Chemistry, Physics / 2001 / Grade A; %age =70
Matric / FBISE Islamabad, Pakistan / Biology, Chemistry, Physics / 1999 / Grade A; %age =72

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

·  Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan (Jan 2013 to Present)

·  Internship under National Internship Program in Ministry of Health Pakistan (2007-2008)

·  Lecturer (Biology) Paramount College Wah Cantt (contract post) (2006-2007)

ACHIEVEMENTS AND HONORS

·  Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan approved supervisor

·  Referee to 3 Research Journal

·  Indigenous PhD Fellowship Program (5000 Fellowships)

·  International Research Support Initiative Program Scholarship at University of Waterloo, Canada

·  Merit scholarship in MPhil

·  2nd position in MPhil.

·  First division throughout Academic career with above 70% marks.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

·  Nanotechnology/Targeted Drug delivery

·  Applied/Environmental Microbiology

·  Applications of Biotechnology

·  Green composite synthesis and its applications

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Sr. No / RESEARCH PROJECTS / Sponsoring Agency / Amount (PKR)
As Principal Investigator (PI)
1.  / Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable nanocomposites for commercial food packaging applications / IFS (Submitted) / Rs. 1 M
2.  / Designing, characterization and comparative evaluation of biodegradable polymer based nanoparticle delivery systems for sustained drug release / HEC (In progress) / Rs. 0.5 M
As Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI)
1. / Making environmental friendly biodegradable green plastics and its commercial use in food packaging industry / PSF (In progress) / Rs. 3.5 M

COURSES TAUGHT

Research Techniques, Introduction to Microbiology

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR to theses currently enrolled

·  Shafi Mohammad (M. Phil) Comparative evaluation of delivery systems based on polymeric nanoparticles for multi drug resistant infections (2013-2014)

·  Maryam Zahra (BS) Molecular modeling of PHA synthase enzyme produced by Bacillus cereus FC11 (2013)

STUDENTS FOR WHOM THE APPLICANT WAS RESEARCH ADVISOR (when the applicant was a Ph.D. student with Professor Dr. A. Hameed at the Quaid-i-Azam University) M.Phil. students: 6

NAME / TITLE / YEAR
Sidra Irum / Optimization and characterization of Polyhydroxyalkanoates produced by Bacillus cereus 2 (S10) isolated from sewage sludge /

2011

Farah Nawaz / Biosynthesis and characterization of Polyhydroxyalkanoates by Brevibacillus laterosporus (BM) /

2011

Humera Khalid / Biodegradation of polyhydroxyalkanoate-polypropylene blends by Bacillus species. /

2012

Saddiqa Gul / Studies on utilization of polyhydroxyalkanoate-polypropylene blend as carbon source by a microbial consortium under different environmental conditions. /

2012

Maria Abdul Salam / Tailoring of monomer composition of polyhydroxyalkanoates produced by Bacillus cereus FA11 for green composite synthesis /

2013

Sadaf Noureen / Effect of co-substrates on the production of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate produced by Bacillus cereus FC11 /

2013

SCIENTIFIC SKILLS

·  Microbial isolation, cultivation, maintenance and storage

·  Metabolite extraction and purification

·  Spectrophotometric analysis

·  High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

·  Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy

·  Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

·  Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

·  Fluorescent Microscopy

·  Synthesis of polymeric composites

·  Biodegradation of natural plastics

·  Biodegradation of polymeric composite

·  Polymeric nanoparticles synthesis and its application on cancerous cell line

·  Cytotoxicity test (MTT assay)

·  Particle size measurement

·  Enzyme activity through UV/VIS spectrophotometer

·  Genomic DNA extraction

·  Standardization of PCR process

·  Agarose gel electrophoresis

·  Gene sequencing

PATENTS:

·  Masood F, Chen P., Yasin T, Hameed A. Novel drug delivery system for anticancer drug loading based on poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-15 mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV-15) nanoparticles. (Submitted to Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan for evaluation)

·  Masood F, Yasin T, Hameed A. Novel biodegradable polymeric blend based on poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate and polypropylene (Submitted to Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan for evaluation).

PUBLICATIONS:

·  Masood, F., Hasan, F., Ahmed S., Hameed, A. Biosynthesis and characterization of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) from Bacillus cereus FA11 isolated from TNT-contaminated soil. Annals of Microbiology. 2012. 62(4):1377-1384. DOI 10.1007/s13213-011-0386-3 (Impact factor 2012; 1.54)

·  Masood, F., Hasan, F., Ahmed, S., Chen, P., Hameed, A. Biosynthesis and characterization of poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) by Bacillus cereus S10. Journal of Polymer Environment (2012) 20:865–871. DOI 10.1007/s10924-012-0457y (Impact factor 2012; 1.49)

·  Masood, F., Chen, P., Tariq, Y., Fatima, N., Hasan, F., Hameed, A. Encapsulation of ellipticine in poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) nanoparticles and its in vitro application. Accepted in Material Science & Engineering C. (2013) 33; 1054–1060. DOI 10.1016/j.msec.2012.11.025 (Impact factor 2012; 2.40).

·  Masood, F., Chen, P., Tariq, Y., Hasan, F., Ahmad, B., Hameed, A. Synthesis of poly-(3-HB-co-12 mol% 3HV) by Bacillus cereus FB11, its characterization and application as a drug carrier. (Accepted in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine) (2013) 24 (8):1927-1937. DOI 10.1007/s10856-013-4946-x (Impact factor 2012; 2.32).

·  Masood, F., Tariq, Y., Hameed, A. Comparative oxo-biodegradation study of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate/polypropylene blend in controlled environments (Int Biodegrad Biodeter; Impact factor 2.01).

MANUSCRIPTS UNDER PEER REVIEW:

·  Masood, F., Tariq, Y., Hameed, A. Production and characterization of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate by Bacillus cereus FC11 (Under peer review in Iran Polym J; Impact factor 1.05)

·  Masood, F., Tariq, Y., Hameed, A. Down-stream processing of bacterial poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (green plastics) and its biodegradability studies. (Under peer review in J Appl Polym Sci; Impact factor 1.21).

·  Masood, F., Chen, P., Tariq, Y., Hameed, A. Screening of poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-5 mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate) based nanoparticles as drug carrier for cancer therapy. (Under peer review in Material Science & Engineering C; Impact factor 2.40).

·  Masood, F., Hameed, A. Process optimization for PHBV (poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) production on small and pilot scale by Bacillus cereus FA11. (Manuscript under preparation).

·  Masood, F., Hameed, A. Batch and Fed-batch production of PHBV-11 (poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-11 mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate) by Bacillus cereus FC11. (Manuscript under preparation).

REVIEW ARTICLE

·  Masood, F., Tariq, Y., Hameed, A. Applications of microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates. (Under peer review in Material Science & Engineering C; Impact factor 2.40).

WORKSHOP(S) AND SEMINAR ATTENDED

·  WIN-Soochow Nanotechnology Workshop on July 19th-27th 2011 (held in University of Waterloo, Canada)

·  Seminar on “ Waste Water treatment and its reuse” on May 17th 2012 (held in Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in collaboration with the George Washington University, Washington DC, USA).

·  Seminar series “Bio Medical Materials” on March 23th 2013 (held in Pak-China Business Forum, Pak-China Friendship Center, Islamabad, Pakistan).

POSTER PRESENTATION

·  Masood F, Hasan F, Fatima N, Hameed A, Sheinin T, Chen P. Poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) nanoparticles mediated delivery of the anticancer drug ellipticine. WIN-Soochow Nanotechnology Workshop on July 19th-27th 2011 (held in University of Waterloo, Canada).

·  Masood F, Hasan F, Hameed A. Microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates, optimization and characterization. 1st National Symposium on "New Horizons of Microbiology" Steps of Microbes on the Ladder of Life. On November 7-8, 2012 (held in Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology, Karachi).

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

·  Masood F, Yasin T, Hasan F, Hameed A. Study on degradation of green composites in the environment. 9th International Biennial Conference of Pakistan Society of Microbiology (held in University of Karachi, Karachi on Jan 28-31, 2013)

TRAINING COURSE

·  Biosecurity/Food Safety Enhancement Program

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

·  Computer skill especially in MS Office

·  Adobe acrobat professional

·  SPSS

·  Internet and Web Surfing

LANGUAGES

-  Very good command of English (fluent in written and spoken)

SEQUENCE SUBMISSION IN NCBI GENBANK

·  Masood, F, Fatima, N., Hasan F., Ahmed, S and Hameed A. 16 S rRNA sequence of Bacillus cereus FA11. Accession No. JN593008.

·  Masood, F, Fatima, N., Hasan F., Ahmed, S and Hameed A. 16 S rRNA sequence of Bacillus cereus FB11. Accession No. JN593009.

·  Masood, F, Fatima, N., Hasan F., Ahmed, S and Hameed A. 16 S rRNA sequence of Bacillus cereus FC11. Accession No. JN593010.

·  Masood, F, and Hameed A. PHA synthase gene of Bacillus cereus FA11. Accession No. JX142186.

·  Masood, F and Hameed A. PHA synthase gene of Bacillus cereus FC11. Accession No. JX142187.

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