Muhammad Naseem

Associate Professor

N/A

Muhammad.Naseem@zu.ac.ae

AUH Campus

Education

PhD: 2009 University of Wuerzburg, Germany, Thesis: The role of cytokinins in plant-microbes-interactions.
MPhil: 2003 Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of Punjab, Thesis: Transformation of Indica rice with DREB transcription factors.
BS: 2001 Agricultural University Peshawar, Thesis: Antisense suppression of gene expression in plants.
PGD: 2022 in “Innovation & Design Thinking” Emeritus: from MIT-Sloan Capstone: Sustaniable business model for vertical farming.
Diploma: 2023 in Diploma “Creativity Theory, History & Philosophy” from Cambridge University. Essay: Kantian perspective on synthetic biology.

Research Areas

Functional genomics of Quinoa-pathogen interaction system.
Systems biology of infections in plants.
Plant synthetic biology and CO2-Sequestration.
Understanding the biology of invasion in plants by applying OMICs.
Pedagogy of active learning and higher order thinking.

Academic Experience

Associate Professor: Department of Life & Environmental Science, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi 1.08.2023-date
Assistant Professor: Department of Life & Environmental Science, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi 15.01.208-01.01.2023
Visiting professor: Department of Bioinformatics University of Würzburg, Germany 2018-todate
Assistant Professor: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bosphorus University Istanbul 2016-• 2017
Research Scientist: Department of Bioinformatics, Biozentrum, University of Würzburg, Germany 2009-2016
Lecturer: in Biotechnology BUITMS, Quetta-Pakistan 2004-2005
Research Officer: CEMB, University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan 2003-2004.

Professional Experience

Collaborator to Gracia Farms: Vertical farming since
Harvard-BOK Certified in the Teaching of Higher Education 2021.
Fellow of Higher Education Academy 2023
Research partner Dyson International: Microbial and non-microbial allergens of the Built-Environments since 2019
Independent Consultant: Biotechnology Market Research for Pacific Rim Technology Solutions, Singapore 2004-2005
EIT-Climate (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) -KIC Trainer of “Circularity Thinking” 2021
PI, Establishing the non-invasive phenotyping of quinoa under pathogen infection, hydroponic growth unit and extra-terrestrial conditions as food security measures for the UAE. R20141, (Dec 2020-2023), 441,220 AED
PI, Omics of trophy: dissecting the role of cytokinin in pathogen life-style specific networks in plants (R19073). Research Incentive Fund (1.01.2019-15.12.2022), 300,000 AED
Co-PI, Integrated inference of the indoor and outdoor dust using microbiomes assessment and particulate analysis, R201155 (Dec 2020 until 30 Nov. 2022), 285,000 AED
PI- Assessing the microbial communities in the UAE indoor dust samples by Dyson International 2019-2020. 40,000 AED
PI, Zayed University Star-up grant (R18045), Assessing the impact of elevated CO2 on plant defense response to pathogen infection, 2018-2019, 25,000 AED
PI, Expo2020, Hydroponics Farming Champions(G18002)2018-2019, 20,000 AED
PI, Trans-kingdom-immune regulations by cytokinin, Bosphorus University Istanbul, (BAP-Grant No.13203), 2017-2018, Amount 170,000

Professional Affiliations and Activities

Grant reviewer for Czech Science Foundation - The main public funding agency in the Czech Republic. 2017, 2018.
Grant reviewer for Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) Germany 2018
Journal review works on the theme of plant-microbes-interaction studies: Gene 2012, 2013, Plant Omics 2012, Virology Journal 2010, 2012, Molecular Plant 2014, Bioinformatics and Biology Insights 2014, PlosOne 2014, Immunity and Diseases 2014, 2015. Plant Molecular Biology 2014, Food Chemistry 2013, 2014, Plant Sig & Beh 2013. Plant Omics 2014, 2015. Pak J. Bot 2014. Current Protein & Peptide Science 2014, Methods in Mol. Biol 2015, Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 2016. Advancements in Life Sciences 2016 and Gene 2016, Turkish Journal of Biology 2017. Applied Soil Ecology 2017, BMC bioinformatics 2017 and Scientific Report 2017,2018,2019, 2020. Plant Cell & Environment 2017,2018, Physiologia Plantarum 2017, Systems Biology and Applications 2017, Scientific Reports 2018, 2019 and Current Genetics 2018, Plant Methods 2018, 2019, npj Systems Biology and Applications 2018. ISMEJ 2021, Plant Communications 2021, Trends in Biotechnology 2022, Front. Plant Sci 2022. Chemical Engineering Journal 2022, Plant Molecular Biology 2023
Edited a book volume on Auxin and Cytokinins together with Thomas Dandekar; Methods in Molecular Biology as part of Springer Protocols 2017.
Editing a method book for MIMB (Methods in Molecular Biology) springer on Plant Stem Cells and scheduled for publishing in December 2019.
Editorial board member Scientific Reports 2022- up to date

Publications

Lina M, Nazzal Y, Howari FM, Yaslam A, Iqbal J, Maloukh L, Ambika LK, Al-Taani AA, Ali I, , Sharma M, Naseem M. (2023). Metagenomic analysis of the outdoor dust microbiomes: A case study from Abu Dhabi, UAE. Atmosphere 14 (2), 327.

Kaltdorf M, Breitenbac T, Karl S, Fuchs M, Kessie DK, Psota E, Prelog M, Sharukanyan E, Ebert R, Jakob F, Dandekar G, Naseem M, Liang C, Dandekar T. (2023). Software JimenaE allows efficient dynamic simulations of Boolean networks, centrality and system state analysis. Scientific Reports 13 (1), 1855.

Moustafa Fathy, Mostafa A Darwish, Al-Shaimaa M Abdelhamid, Gehad M Alrashedy, Othman Ali Othman, Naseem M, T, Dandekar T, Othman EM. (2022). Kinetin Ameliorates Cisplatin-Induced Hepatotoxicity and Lymphotoxicity via Attenuating Oxidative Damage, Cell Apoptosis and Inflammation in Rats. Biomedicines. 2022, 10,7,1662

Özge Osmanoglu, Mariam Khaled AlSeiari, Hasa Abduljaleel AlKhoori, Shabana Shams, Elena Bencurova , Thomas Dandekar and Naseem M (2021). Topological analysis of carbon-concentrating-CETCH cycle and a photorespiratory bypass reveals boosted CO2-Sequestration by plants. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 9:7084417.

Naseem M, Özge Osmanoglu O, and Dandekar T (2019) Synthetic rewiring of plant CO2-sequestration galvanizes plant biomass production. Trends in Biotechnology (TIBTECH-19-00157 Volume 38, Issue 4, April 2020, Pages 354-359

Naseem M, Ozge Osmanoglu, Kaltdorf M, Srivastava M, Afnan Ali M.A. Alblooshi; Fares M. Howari and Dandekar T, (2020) An Integrated Framework of the Immune-defense Transcriptional Signatures in the Arabidopsis Shoot Apical Meristem. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (BINF-D-19-008890)

Naseem M, Benchoruva E. Dandekar T. (2018) The cytokinin-activating LOG-family proteins are not lysine decarboxylases. Trends in Biochemical Sciences.

Kaltdorf M and Naseem M (2013) How many salicylic acid receptors does a plant cell need? Science Signaling 6(279),Jc3. PMID: 23757021

Naseem M and Dandekar T (2012) The role of auxin-cytokinin antagonism in plant-pathogen interactions. PLos Pathogen 8(11): e1003026. doi:10.1371/ journal. ppat.1003026. PMID: 23209407

Naseem M, Wölfling M, and Dandekar (2014) Cytokinin for immunity beyond growth, galls and green islands. Trends in Plant Science. 19(8):481-4. PMID: 24794463

Naseem M, Philippi N, Hussain A, Wangorsch G, Ahmed N, and Dandekar T (2012) Integrated Systems View on Networking by Hormones in Arabidopsis Immunity Reveals Multiple Crosstalk for Cytokinin. Plant Cell 24:1793-814. PMID: 22643121

Honors and Awards

EIT- Food Innovator Fellowship (6 months) 2021.
Winner of EIT-Innovator Challenge 2021; Project: QualLink, An AI based grain quality check for wheat grain millers and processors.
Travel award from BÜVAK foundation for MCCMB`17 conference talk 2017
TÜBİTAK, Above Average Award (Project 2024) Amount: 10,000TL 2017.
EMBL- EBI short fellowship, Structural Bioinformatics Course, Cambridge 2016
ICGEB- Advanced Training Fellowship on Systems Biology in Trieste Italy, 2011
DAAD-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Germany Oct-2005 to March-2009
DAAD-German Language & Culture Award for 6-Months in Germany 3/2005-9/2005
ICGEB-Fellowship Computer Methods in Molecular Biology, Trieste Italy 2005
Research Scholarship 2003-2004, Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology Lahore Pakistan
Best Presentation Award on “Pathogen resistance: its pros and cons 2001” Department of Plant Pathology NWFP Agri. University, Peshawar