Sohail Asif Qureshi

Sohail Asif Qureshi (also Sohail Qureshi or Sohail A. Qureshi) (born May 21, 1963) is a Pakistani molecular biologist, who is the second dean of School of Science and Engineering at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He also is a Professor of molecular biology at LUMS, and is currently involved in research linked to Archaeabacteria and Hepatitis C virus. Prior to being at LUMS, Qureshi was a Professor in the Department Of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, which is one name in the long list of institutes he has provided his services to. His research interests span a wide range of topics, including gene regulation in hyperthermophilic archaea, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis E, cancer, epigenomics and neuroscience. He has had numerous contributions to the field of science, ranging from various high impact factor research papers to chapters in molecular and cell biology textbooks. He also had an important role along with coworkers in the discovery of the B recognition element in Archaea. On November 14, 2011, he was appointed as the Ahmed Dawood Professor at LUMS.

Life and education

Sohail Qureshi received his Master’s degree in biology from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in 1984. He showed great interest in molecular biology and his passion for the field led him to United States to pursue his education; he received an individualized Ph.D in molecular biology in 1990 from University of Maine under the supervision of Richard D. Blake.

Professional and academic career

Sohail Qureshi has been affiliated with various institutions throughout his life. His professional career took a jump start at the Institute of Genetics at University of Glasgow, Scotland, where he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Prof. Howard T. Jacob’s laboratory from 1990-1993. His research in the laboratory included working on protein-DNA interactions in sea urchin mitochondria. Here he identified several sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins capable of regulating sea urchin mitochondrial DNA replication and transcription. From July 1993 to April 1994 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. D. Bentley’s laboratory at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London. In April 1994, he joined CRC Institute at Cambridge University, U.K. as a Senior Research Fellow and carried out his research in Prof. Steve Jackson’s laboratory working on the transcriptional apparatus in Sulfolobus shibatae.

Following this, Qureshi spent close to four years at University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Neurology. Here he sought extramural funding for research, supervised undergraduate and graduate students and provided a core molecular biology and biochemistry facility for the Neuroscience Training Program. While working on rat hippocampus, Sohail Qureshi identified over fifty novel genes and studied the function(s) of two novel transcription factors in great detail. This work resulted in a patent which was instrumental in getting NeuroGenomeX (a company dedicated to identifying and validating genes/proteins involved in neuronal plasticity) off the ground in early 1999. While in Madison, Wisconsin, he was recruited by Invitrogen Corporation as a Senior R&D Scientist from 2001-2003.

In 2004, Sohail Qureshi joined Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan where he was the Jafferali Lalji Professor till 2010 at the Department of Biological and Biomedical Science. He developed his own research group at the University and taught advanced courses to both medical and postgraduate students. From 2006-2007, he was also a visiting professor at the Centre for Innovations in Medicine, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University where he was involved in the area of genetic vaccines. Sohail Qureshi is currently a visiting professor at Portland State University, Oregon. He teaches there at both undergraduate and graduate level.

Publications

Sohail Qureshi has a couple patents and numerous publications to his credit. The accumulative impact factor for his publications is in excess of 120.

Publications

• Large-scale protein aggregation under heat-shock conditions in the archaeon Sullfolobus solfataricus (In preparation). Iqbal, J. and QURESHI, S.A. (2011).
• Sampling bacterial biodiversity from a highly contaminated stream flowing through a densely populated urban area in Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of Ayub Medical College (In press)
• Beta-lactamase – A reporter for all seasons. PanVera/Invitrogen Discovery HTS. Volume 1(1):2-4. QURESHI, S.A. (2003)

Sohail Qureshi, along with P. S. Jackson is also involved in writing a book chapter. The chapter entitled 'Relatedness between various transcription enzymes' was composed for Modular Texts in Molecular and Cell Biology by R. A. Bradshaw and M. Purton, published by Chapman & Hall, London.

Committee memberships

Sohail Qureshi is a member, Board of governors for the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), Punjab University. He also is a very active member of the Aga Khan University Ethical Review Committee since April 2005. Since July 2004, he has been involved with Aga Khan University, FHS PhD Committee. From 2004 onwards, Qureshi has been the Chairman of AKU Sports and Rehabilitation Centre Advisory Committee. He also is involved diligently in Neuroscience Module Committee and AKU Faculty of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Advisory Committee.

Conference presentations

• Engineering cell-based assays with the Beta-lactamase gene reporter system. Invited speaker. Symposium on Biomarker Measurements in Complex Matrices. School of Biological Sciences, Punjab University, Lahore (Pakistan). April 25–26. QURESHI, S. A (2007)
• Strategies for developing a vaccine against Hepatitis C virus. Invited speaker. National Workshop on Biotechnology Training Activities in Vaccine Development in Pakistan. Karachi University. June 3–8. QURESHI, S. A. (2006)
• Modern technologies for the detection of viral infections. Invited speaker. Workshop on Horizons in PCR, Baqai Medical University, Karachi (Pakistan). May 9. QURESHI, S.A. (2006)
• Hepatitis C Virus – Biology, Host Evasion strategies and Promising New Therapies on the Horizon. Invited speaker. Workshop on the Detection of Infectious Diseases. Karachi (Pakistan). November 26. QURESHI, S.A. (2005)
• Transcriptional regulation in Archaea. Invited speaker. 18th FAOBMB Symposium, Lahore (Pakistan). November 19-13. QURESHI, S.A. (2005)
• PCR – Theory and Practice. Invited speaker. Infectious Disease Society Meeting Workshop. Lahore (Pakistan). March 26–28, 2005. QURESHI, S.A. (2005)
• The Transcriptional Apparatus of Extremophilic Archaea. Plenary lecture. Second National Conference on Biotechnology & Emerging Sciences. Quetta. March 15–17, 2005. QURESHI, S. A. (2005)
• Concordance of small molecule screening data using cell-based versus biochemical nuclear hormone receptor assays. Poster presented at the Society for Biomolecular Screening (SBS) Conference. Geneva (September 11–15). Huwiler, K., Hanson, G., Hoffman, R., QURESHI, S. and Hayes, S. (2005)
• Employing the Beta-lactamase Reporter Gene Technology for the Development of Highly Sensitive and Robust Cell-Based Assays. Invited speaker. 5th Winter Conference on Medicinal and Bio-Organic Chemistry. Steamboat Springs, CO (January 24–31). QURESHI, S.A. (2003)
• Employing the Beta-lactamase Reporter Gene Technology for the Development of Highly Sensitive and Robust Cell-Based Assays. Invited speaker. Cell Based Assays and Screening Conference. Philadelphia, PA (December 4–6). QURESHI, S.A. (2002)
• The role of TATA-binding protein and TFB in the initiation of transcription in the archaeaon Sulfolobus shibatae. Invited speaker, FASEB Summer Research Conferences, Saxtons River, Vermont (USA), July 22–26. QURESHI, S. A., (1997)
• Factor requirements for transcription in Sulfolobus shibatae. Poster presented at the EMBL Transcription Meeting, Heidelberg (Germany), August 24-27th. QURESHI, S. A., and Jackson, S. P., (1996)
• Transcription mapping of the S. purpuratus mitochondrial genome. Poster presented at the Winter Organelle Meeting, Orlando, Florida (USA), February 20-27th. QURESHI, S. A., and Jacobs, H. T., (1990)
• Characterization of Satellite DNA in Bovidae. J. Cell. Biochem. (Supplement 13C). Poster presented at the UCLA Symposium on Molecular Evolution, Lake Tahoe, California (USA), Feb. 26th - March 6. QURESHI, S. A., and Blake, R. D., (1989)

Invited seminars

• Rotary Club of Karachi (2005)
• Department of Pathology & Microbiology, The Aga Khan University (2005)
• Department of Chemistry, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Pakistan (2005)
• Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (2003)
• Department of Bacteriology, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (1997)
• Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Bari, Italy (1993)
• Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, England (1992)

Awards and honors

• Nominated by the Higher Education Commission (Pakistan) for the Presidential Pride of Performance Award (April 2005)
• Imperial Cancer Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellow (April 1993)
• Fred Griffee Award (given to the most promising graduate student), (May 1987)
• Quaid-i-Azam University Academic Distinction (Dec. 1984)
• Quaid-I-Azam University Scholarship (Jan. 1983 - Dec. 1984)
• Recipient of a Ministry of Education Scholarship to study medicine abroad (Oct. 1982)