Committee Meeting VCs' Committee Meeting - Higher Education ...

Commission Events
Joins Sindh Agriculture Department
Liaquat Bhutto Completes PhD in Plant Sciences from UK
Liaquat Ali Bhutto has completed his PhD in Plant Sciences from the University of Sheffield, UK. He
was awarded scholarship for his last year PhD studies at Sheffield under Higher Education
Commission's programme “Partial Support for PhD Studies Aboard”. Dr. Bhutto was supervised by
Prof. W. Paul Quick and Dr. Colin P. Osborne and his project supporter was Prof. Mike M. Burrell. He has
worked on mechanisms of drought tolerance in plants. His research dissertation was entitled
“Understanding the Mechanism of Drought Tolerance in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L)”.
Dr. Bhutto has joined Agriculture Department, Government of Sindh, as Assistant Research Officer
and is Incharge of Molecular Biology and Transformation Laboratory at Cotton Section, Agriculture Research Institute,
Tando Jam. He has 10 research publications in his name since 2005.
AJHG to Highlight Research of Dr. Riazuddin on CSNB
The October issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics (AJHG) will highlight Dr. Sheikh Riazuddin and his team's
research on congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) to chromosome 15q, which shows a two-base pair deletion in
SLC24A1. The research establishes that a putative sodium-calcium channel is the cause of the disease.
The research paper entitled "A mutation in SLC24A1 Implicated in Autosomal Recessive Congenital Stationary Night
Blindness" has also been selected for highlighting in the AJHG podcast.
The research, conducted in collaboration with laboratories in Europe and the US, proves through Expression analysis
using mouse ocular tissues that SLC24A1 is expressed in the retina around postnatal day 7 (P07). Both in situ and
immunohistological studies localized SLC24A1 in the inner segment, outer and inner nuclear layers and ganglion cells
of the retina. In conclusion, this data expand the genetic basis of congenital stationary night blindness and highlight
the indispensable function of SLC24A1 in retinal function and/or maintenance in humans.
AJHG is published monthly by the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) and has an impact factor of 11.029.
AJHG provides a record of research and review relating to heredity in humans and to the application of Genetic
principles in medicine and public policy, as well as in related areas of molecular and cell biology. Topics explored by
AJHG include biochemical and clinical genetics, gene therapy, genetic counselling, genetic epidemiology, genomics,
and human molecular genetics. Every submission is rigorously reviewed by 2-3 leading scientists in the relevant field.
The reviewer's comments are further evaluated by the Editorial Board with an average acceptance of 25-30 per cent.
LCWU Lecturer Attends MEIST Workshop
Ms. Maria Saleemi, Lecturer in
Computer Science, Lahore College
for Women University (LCWU)
recently attended a 15-day
workshop on Multimedia Enhanced
Instructions System for Education
and Training (MEIST), conducted
by the Malaysian Technical
Cooperation Programme and
funded by Malaysian Government.
A total of 20 participants were
selected, each from a different
country. The workshop was
designed to impart knowledge of
instruction system involving duties
and responsibilities of a Project
Development Manager, Graphic
D e s i g n e r, A n i m a t o r, We b
Developer, Talents Coordinator,
Digital AV Producer, AV Editor,
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System Integrator and IT Manager.
Prof. Dr. Madhubala Harji, Director,
Foundation Studies and Extension
Education Centre, Multimedia
University gave the welcome
address. The workshop was
divided into different sessions of
teaching methods. Study tours to
Kuala Lumpur and Cameron
Highlands were also arranged by
Multimedia University, Malaysia.
It is worth mentioning here that the
final project of Ms. Maria Saleemi
was rated number one for
Audio/Video Effects.