Dr. Shaheen Shahzad
About me
Dr. Shaheen is an accomplished academic, researcher, and higher education professional with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan, and over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, academic leadership, and scientific training. She currently serves as an Associate Professor at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), specializing in Molecular Biology, Human Genetics, and Cancer Biology.
She pioneered the establishment of the first Genomics Research Laboratory at IIUI and has successfully secured HEC-funded research grants worth PKR 12 million, along with funding for scientific workshops and conferences. She has supervised numerous Ph.D., MS, and BS students, reviewed over 100 MS and 20 Ph.D. theses, and published more than 50 research papers in ISI-indexed journals, with an H-index of 13 and over 1,500 citations.
Dr. Shaheen has served as Head of the Department of Biological Sciences and contributed extensively to academic administration, strategic planning, curriculum development, and institutional strengthening. She has also served on various Boards of Studies and academic committees at leading Pakistani universities.
Her academic achievements include an M.Sc. Gold Medal, Merit Scholarship, and HEC Postdoctoral Fellowship. She is a Life Fellow of the Zoological Society of Pakistan, Fellow of the Pakistan Fisheries Society, and Life Fellow of the Pakistan Biological Safety Association. Her career reflects a strong commitment to research excellence, postgraduate education, academic leadership, and capacity building.
Dr. Shaheen is an accomplished academic, researcher, and higher education professional with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan, and more than 20 years of professional experience in teaching, research, academic leadership, and scientific training. She currently serves as an Associate Professor at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), with a primary research focus on Molecular Biology, particularly Human Genetics and Cancer Biology.
Dr. Shaheen has made significant contributions to the development of molecular biology and genomics research at IIUI. She was the pioneer in establishing the first Genomics Research Laboratory at IIUI, providing advanced research facilities and opportunities for MS and Ph.D. students. She has successfully secured two HEC-funded research grants worth PKR 12 million demonstrating her strong capacity for competitive research funding and project management. She has also obtained funding from HEC and the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) for organizing scientific training workshops and national and international conferences.
Her academic supervision includes numerous Ph.D., MS, and BS research students. She has also reviewed more than 100 MS and 20 Ph.D. theses and has served as an evaluator of research projects at both national and international levels. Her research contributions include more than 50 publications in ISI-indexed journals, including two book chapters. She has an H-index of 13 with more than 1,500 citations, reflecting the impact and recognition of her research work.
Dr. Shaheen has received several academic distinctions and honors throughout her career. She was awarded a Merit Scholarship throughout her M.Sc. degree and received the M.Sc. Gold Medal in recognition of her outstanding academic performance. She was also awarded an HEC Postdoctoral Fellowship, further strengthening her research expertise and international academic exposure.
In addition to her research and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Shaheen has extensive experience in academic administration, institutional development, curriculum planning, and academic leadership. She has served as Head of the Department of Biological Sciences, where she led various academic, research, and co-curricular initiatives. She is also a member of the University's Core Committee for Strategic Planning and serves as a focal person for student activities. She has contributed to institutional strengthening by developing research and academic projects aimed at enhancing departmental capacity and infrastructure.
Dr. Shaheen has also played an active role in academic governance and curriculum development. She has served as a Member of Boards of Studies at the Department of Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University; Department of Health Informatics, COMSATS University Islamabad; Department of Bioinformatics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Peshawar; and Iqra University, Islamabad. Her academic service further includes editorial responsibilities, thesis evaluation, research project assessment, and participation in various academic and scientific committees.
She has actively participated in numerous national and international conferences, where she has presented her research findings and contributed to scientific discussions. She has also organized multiple national and international conferences, seminars, and professional training workshops, securing external funding and facilitating opportunities for knowledge exchange and capacity building among students, researchers, and professionals.
Dr. Shaheen is a Life Fellow of the Zoological Society of Pakistan (ZSP), a Fellow of the Pakistan Fisheries Society, and a Life Fellow of the Pakistan Biological Safety Association, Pakistan. Her career reflects a strong commitment to research excellence, postgraduate education, academic leadership, capacity building, and the advancement of biological sciences.
Other Memberships/Affiliations
Degrees:
• Nurjis, F., Sarwar, S., Ali, JS, Fayyaz, M., Munir, F and Shahzad, S. 2025 “Synergistic combinatorial delivery system based on nanoliposome encapsulating doxorubicin and sorafenib for broad-spectrum cancer treatment” Journal of Microencapsulation, DOI: 10.1080/02652048.2025.2480597
• Aziz, S., Anbreen, S., Shahzad, S., Ahmed, MS., Sharma, V., Yang, J., Ali L., 2025 “Investigating nanoparticle’s utilization in stem cell therapy for neurological disorders” Am J Stem Cells . 14(1):1-13 www.AJSC.us /ISSN:2160-4150/AJSC0163661
• Nurgis F., Sarwar U., Ali JS., Fayyaz M., Mazhar S., and Shahzad S., 2025 Ultrasound triggered in vitro release of co-loaded nanomicelles-based Doxorubicin and Curcumin delivery in Hep2c cancer cells. 2025 Traditional Medicine Research 10(32): doi:10.s3388/TMR0241002001
• Shabbir F. Shahzad S., Qadeer I., Gul A., Aata M., Fayyaz T., 2024 Understanding Suicidal Ideation Among Jail Inmates: A Genetic and Environmental Framework. Kurdish Studies 12(5): pp 1904-1910.
• Jabeen K., Javed A., Manzoor S., Shahzad S. 2023“Antioxidants and calcium modulators preclude in vitro Hepatitis B virus induced mitochondrial damage” Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology 34(10) 34(10): 1052-1061 DOI: 10.5152/tjg.2023.21290 (ISSN: 1300-4948) IF 1.55
• Shafqat I., Shahzad S., Yasmin A. Chaudhry MT., Ahmed S., Javed A., Afzal I. 2023 “Characterization and applications of glutaminase free L-asparaginase from indigenous Bacillus halotolerans ASN9” PLoS ONE (eISSN 1932-6203) 18(11): e0288620. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288620 IF 3.75
• Shafqat I., Shahzad S., Yasmin A. 2023 “Efficient production, purification and characterization of therapeutically significant L-asparaginase from Bacillus licheniformis ASN51” Polish Journal of Environmental Studies (pISSN 1230-1485; eISSN 2083-5906) Vol. 32, No. 5 pp 1-14 IF 1.8
• Zaka A., Yousaf M., Shahzad S*,Hadi Zahid Rao HA., Foo JN., Siddiqi S., 2023 “Structural and Functional Insights into a Novel Homozygous Missense Pathogenic Variant in CUL7 identified in Consanguineous Pakistani family with 3M Syndrome: A Computational and Experimental study” Journal of Bimolecular Structure and Dynamics (ISSN 0739-1102) 1538-0254 Vol 22 IF 5.0
• Jabeen k., Javed A., Waris A., Shahzad S.“Restoration of IL-11 and IL-15 cytokine production post Calcium modulators and ROS treatment can assist viral clearance both in vitro and in vivo” 2022 Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences 26. No. 4 (ISSN: 2008-3874) IF 2.53
• Mukhtar R, Shahzad S, Rashid S, Rozi M, Shaiq, PA, Rasheed M, Afzal, I. 2022, “L237P substitution in the UROS gene causes X-linked Recessive Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria in Pakistani Consanguineous Family through binding shift of Uroporphyrinogen III” Pakistan J. Zool., Vol. 54, Iss. 4, pp. 1849-1857 (ISSN: 00309923) (IF: 0.79)
• Zaka, A, Shahzad, S*, Rao HA, Kanwal, S., Gul, A., Basit, S. 2021“An intrafamilial phenotypic variability in Ellis-Van Creveld syndrome due to a novel 27 bps deletion mutation” American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A 185 (10) (ISSN: 1552-4833. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.a.62360) (IF. 2.8)
• Jabeen, K. Malik, U. Mansoor, S. Shahzad, S. Zahid, S. Javed, A. 2021 “Effect of Oxidative Stress and Calcium Deregulation on FAM26F (CALHM6) Expression during Hepatitis B Virus Infection.” BMC Infectious Diseases 21:228. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-05888-0 (IF: 3.7)
• Zaka, A, Shahzad, S*, Rao HA, Hashim, Y, Basit, S. 2021 “A Novel Homozygous Mutation in the DCC Gene in a Pakistani Family with Autosomal Recessive Horizontal Gaze Palsy with Progressive Scoliosis-2 with Impaired Intellectual Development” Am. J. Med. Genet. 185(2) 10.1002/ajmg.a.61952, ISSN:1552-4833. (IF: 2.8)
• Ullah R., Khan S., Chaudhary II., Shahzad S., Bilal M., 2020 “Cost effective and efficient screening of tuberculosis disease with Raman spectroscopy and machine learning algorithms” Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy, 32 101963 (http//: doi.org/10.1016/j.pdpdt.2020.101963) ISSN: 1572-100 (IF: 3.6)
• Khan, S., Rawlins LE., Harlalka, GV., Umair M, Asmat Ullah, Shahzad, S. Javed, M., Baple, EL. Crosby, AH., Ahmad, W and Gul, A. 2019 “ Homozygous variants in the HEXB and MBOAT7 genes underlie neurological diseases in consanguineous families” BMC Medical Genetics 20:199 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12881-019-0907-7) ISSN: 1471-2350 (IF. 1.98)
• Afzal I, Khan ZS, Sikandar, S, Shahzad S, 2019 “Plant beneficial endophytic bacteria: Mechanisms, diversity, host range and genetic determinants” Microbial Research, 221: 36-49 (ISSN: 0944-5013), (IF: 5.4)
• Ullah R, Khan S, Farman, F, Bilal M, Krafft C. and Shahzad S. 2019 “Demonstrating the application of Raman spectroscopy together with Chemometric technique for screening of Asthma disease” Biomedical Optic Express 10(2): 600-609 (ISSN:2156-7085) (IF 3.5)
• Khan S, Ullah R, Shahzad S, Anbreen N, Bilal M, Khan A. 2018. “Analysis of Tuberculosis Disease through Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning” Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy, 24 (286-291) ISSN: 1572-100 (IF: 3.6)
• Aftab, A, Shahzad ,S, Hussain, HMJ, Khan, R, Irum, S, Tabassum, S. (2019) “CDKN2A/P16INK4A variants association with breast cancer and their in-silico analysis” Breast Cancer. 26(1)DOI: 10.1007/s12282-018-0894-0. (IF:3.6).
• Farooq Ahmad, Ishtaiq Ahmed, Abdul Nasir, Muhammad Umair, Shaheen Shahzad, Dost Muhammad, Regie Lyn P. Santos-Cortez, Suzanne M. Leal and Wasim Ahmad (2018) A Disease Causing Novel Missense Variant in the ST14 gene Underlies Autosomal Recessive Ichthyosis with Hypotrichosis Syndrome in a Consanguineous Family” European Journal of Dermatology28(2): 209-216, doi:10.1684/ejd.2017.3210 (IF: 3.66).
• Khan, S., Ullah, R., Shahzad, S., Javaid S. and Khan, A., (2018)” Optical screening of nasopharyngeal cancer using Raman spectroscopy and support vector machine” Optik 157: 565–570 doi: 10.1177/0003702817723928. (IF: 2.44)
• Asmat Ullah., M.Umair, Umm-e -Kalsoom, Sulman Basit, Shaheen Shahzad and Wasim Ahmed (2017) Exome Sequencing Revealed a Novel Nonsense Variant in ALX3 Gene Underlying Frontorhiny" Journal of Human Genetics, 63(1): 97-100, DOI: 10.1038/s10038-017-0358-y (IF: 3.17)
• Khadim Shah, Sabba Mehmood, Abid Jan, Izoduwa Abbe,Raja Hussain Ali, Anwar Khan, Muhammad S. Chishti, Kwanghyuk Lee, Farooq Ahmad, Muhammad Ansar, Shaheen Shahzad, Deborah A. Nickerson, Michael J. Bamshad, Paul J. Coucke, Regie L. P. Santos-Cortez, Richard A. Spritz, Suzanne M. Leal and Wasim Ahmad 2017 Sequence variants in nine different genes underlying rare skin disorders in 10 consanguineous families, International Journal of Dermatology, 56: 1406–1413 doi: 10.1111/ijd.13778 (IF: 1.31)
• Saira Tariq, Muhammad Bilal, Shaheen Shahzad, Shamaraz Firdous, Uzma Aziz and Mushtaq Ahmed 2017 “Diagnosis of thalassemia and iron deficiency anemia using confocal and atomic force microscopy” Laser Physics Letters, 14(11) (IF: 2.537)
• Madiha Rasheed, Shaheen Shahzad, Afifa Zaeem, Imran Afzal, Asma Gul, Sumbal Khalid (2017) “Updated Strategies for the Management, Pathogenesis and Molecular Genetics of Different forms of Ichthyosis Syndromes with Prominent Hair Abnormalities” Archives of Dermatological Research, 309: 773–785. (IF: 3.0)
• Khan, S., Ullah, R., Javaid, S., Shahzad, S., Ali, H., Muhammad, B.,& Ahmed, M. (2017). EXPRESS: Raman spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis for screening of nasopharyngeal cancer in the human blood sera. Applied Spectroscopy, 0003702817723928 (IF: 3.5).
• S. Khan, M. Ansar, A. Kamal Khan, K. Shah, N. Muhammad, S. Shahzad, D.A. Nickerson, M.J. Bamshad, R.L.P. Santos-Cortez, S.M. Leal and W. Ahmad (2017), “Homozygous Missense Mutation in SLC25A16 is Associated with Autosomal Recessive Isolated Fingernail Dysplasia in a Pakistan Family British Journal of Dermatology” 178(2): 556-558 DOI: 10.1111/bjd.15661 (IF: 11.11)
• Shah, K., Nasir, A., Irfanullah., Shahzad, S., Khan, S. and Ahmad, W. (2016), A novel homozygous mutation disrupting the initiation codon in the SLURP1 gene underlies mal de Meleda in a consanguineous family. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 41: 675–679. doi: 10.1111/ced.12864 (Online ISSN: 1365-2230 )(IF: 3.47)
• Santos-Cortez RL, Faridi R, Rehman AU, Lee K, Ansar M, Wang X, Morell RJ, Isaacson R, Belyantseva IA, Dai H, Acharya A, Qaiser TA, Muhammad D, Ali RA, Shams S, Hassan MJ, Shahzad S, Raza SI, Bashir ZE, Smith JD, Nickerson DA, Bamshad MJ, Riazuddin S, Ahmad W, Friedman TB, Leal SM. 2016. “Autosomal Recessive Hearing Impairment due to Rare Missense Variants within S1PR2” Am J Hum Genet. pii: S0002-9297(15)00499-1. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.12.004 (ISSN: 0002-9297) (IF: 11.0)
• BiBi, Z; Ahmad, J; Ali, A; Siddiqa, A; Shahzad, S; Tareen, SHK; Janjua, HA; and Khusro, S. 2016 “On the modeling and analysis of the biological regulatory network of NF- κ B activation in HIV-1 infection” Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling 4:1 doi:10.1186/s40294-015-0013-4 (Springer series, IF 2.3)
• Sarwar, R., Mansoor, Q., Farooqi, A.A., Shahzad, S., Fayyaz, S., Ismail, M. 2015 “Genetic variants in the tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) do not contribute but Death Receptor (DR4) genes may contribute to susceptibility to head and neck cancer in Pakistani population” Cell. Mol. Biol. 61 (8): 53-56 doi : 10.14715/cmb/2015.61.8.9 (Online ISSN: 1165-158X) (IF: 1.77)
• Zaka, M., Komal, M., Shafique, S. and Shahzad, S. 2015 “In silico Analysis of Candidate Genes Involved in Sanfilippo Syndrome” Int. J. Bioautomation 19(1): 5-14 (ISSN: 1314-2321 (on-line) 1314-1902 (print) IF: 0.35)
• Shafqat, I., Shahzad, S. and Yasmin, A. 2015 “Microbial Potential of Lipase production from Different Industrial Effluents" J. Appl. Biol. Sci., 9(1), 15-19 (ISI indexed)
• Iqbal, J., Safdar, N., Jan, T.,Ismail,M., Hussain, S.S., Mahmood, A., Shahzad, S., Mansoor, Q 2015 “Facile Synthesis as well as Structural, Raman, Dielectric and Antibacterial Characteristics of Cu Doped ZnO Nanoparticles” Journal of Material Science and Technology (doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2014.06.013) ISSN: 1005-0302 (IF: 10.3))
• Shafqat, I., and Shahzad, S. 2012 Fabry Disease: from Diagnosis to Therapy ” IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences 4(1): 33-38 (ISSN Print” 2319-7676) (IF: 1.138)
• Arooj, M., Sattar, M., Safdar, M., Kalsoom, S., Shahzad, S 2012 “In silico Molecular Docking and Design of Anti-Hepatitis B Drugs” IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences 3(6): 41-55.(ISSN Print” 2319-7676) (IF: 1.138)
• Khalid, Z., Sameen, S., Iqbal, S., Shahzad, S 2012 “Computational Analysis on the role of GPM6A in human thyroid cancer” Journal of Data Mining in Genomic and Proteomics 3(1) : 1000114 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2153-0602.1000114 (ISSN: 2153-0602) (IF: 2.706)
• Santos RLP, El-Shanti H, Sikandar S, Lee K, Bhatti A, Yan K, Chahrour MH, McArthur NM, Pham TL, Mahasneh AA, Ahmad W, Leal SM (2006). Novel sequence variants in the TMIE gene in families with autosomal recessive hearing impairment. J Mol Med 84 (3):226-231(ISSN: 0946-2716) (IF: 5.6)
• Santos RLP, Hassan MJ, Sikandar S, Lee K, Ali G, Martin PE, Chahrour MH, Yan K, Ahmad W, Leal SM (2006). DFNB68, a novel autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing impairment locus at chromosomal region 19p13.2”. Hum Genet 120(1):85-92 (ISSN: 0340-6717 print) (IF: 5.88)
• Shaukat, S.S., Siddiqui, I.A., Ali.Z. and Sikandar, S., 2004. “Fecundity and Factors regulating germination of Vernonia cinerascens and V. Cinerea”. Int. J. Biol. & Biotech., 1(3): pp. 279-291. (ISSN: 1810-2719)
• Sikandar, S. 2002. “Evaluation of diversity in schizophrenic population of Pakistan”. Proc. of Pakistan Congr. of Zoology., Vol.22, pp.223-235 (IF: 0.404)