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Dr. Muhammad Zakir Ali

Assistant Professor,

Department of Environmental Sciences,

COMSATS University Islamabad,

Vehari Campus.

Email: zakirali@ciitvehari.edu.pk

Phone: +92 (0) 334 0634526

Personal Details

CNIC No: 31101-7206574-1

Date of Birth: November 10, 1980.

Place of Birth: Bahawalnagar, Pakistan.

Sex: Male.

Marital Status: Married.

Nationality: Pakistani

Residence Permit: Permanent Residence Permit of Sweden (PR)

Educational Background

PhD Division of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology,

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Alnarp-Sweden.

Specialization: Biology esp. Chemical Ecology Duration: 2007-2012

B. Sc. (Hons) Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-

Pakistan

Subject: Agronomy (Agriculture) Duration: 2002-2006

F. Sc. Govt., Degree College, Bahawalnagar-Pakistan

Subject: Pre-Medical Duration: 1996-2001

Matriculation Govt., High School Haroonabad, Bahawalnagar-Pakistan.

Subject: Science Duration: 1995-1996

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Current and Previous Position

Oct 2014 – Present: Assistant Professor (IPFP) in the Division of Biochemistry &

Microbiology, Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information

Technology (CIIT), Vehari, Pakistan.

Mar 2013 - Sep 2014: Assistant Professor (TTS) in the Department of Plant Sciences,

Institute of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, Pakistan.

Nov 2007- Nov-2012: PhD Student, Division of Chemical Ecology, Department of Biology,

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Alnarp, Sweden.

Laboratory and data analysis skills

l Electrophysiological analyses; GC-MS analyses using DB-Wax and fused SiO2 columns;

l Plant volatile collection, Identifications and Applications

l Omics data analyses including Metabolomics, Proteomics, Lipidomics data processing and

analyses.

l Hematological parameter analyses including CBC, Haemoglobin (Hb), white platelet

counts and targeted biomarkers in smokers; Morphophysiological and histological analyses

of chickens and chick embryos to targeted heavy metals such as As accumulations.

l Targeted and Non-Targeted Pesticide residual analyses in human blood and milk on

HPLC/GCMS. Microbial degradation of Municipal Solid waste and Industrial waste water;

Risk assessment of carcinogens in occupational workers and farmers.

l Statistical: Minitab, Prism, R, MATLAB, Various bioinformatics Pipelines.

l Electrophysiological, Chemical, Ecological and Behavioural data analyses

Teaching

l 2013 - 14: Assistant Professor QAU-Islamabad: Involved in teaching Courses at

Master level such as Evolutionary Biology, Plant Physiology, Origin and Diversity of Green

Plants, Research Techniques and Instrumentation and Post-graduate level such as

Research Planning & Scientific Writing and Stress Physiology. l 2014 - to date: Assistant Professor CIIT-Vehari: Involved in teaching Courses at

Graduate level such as Fundamentals of Biology and Introduction to Statistics

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Evolutionary Biology and MS level such as Energy and Environment, Environment and

Development.

Research Projects and Funding

1. As PI: HEC-NRPU (2017-18). Exploiting the specificity of Herbivore-induced volatile

chemicals in real-time crop monitoring for sustainable agriculture in Pakistan (Duration: 3 years, Approved amount: 12.7M PKRs).

2. As Co-PI: HEC-NRPU (2017-18). Biodegradation of agricultural toxicants persist in food

chain and use of microbial biopesticides to diminish environmental pollution (Duration: 3 years, Approved amount: 2.06M PKRs).

3. As Co-PI: HEC-SRGP (2016-17). Arsenic induced developmental and cytotoxic effects

in chick (Gallus gallus) embryo and preventive role of Vitamin E (PI: Dr Naveed Ahmad, Status: Completed).

Supervision of BS/MS/MPhil Students

l Mr. Waheed Aslam Khan (2014-15). Systematic Assessment of Milk Quality in Vehari:

Evaluation of Public Health Concerns.

l Mr. Muhammad Ali Sial (2014-15). Determination of pesticide residues in cattle milk being

produced in District Vehari, Pakistan.

l Mr. Muhammad Asim (2014-15). Determination of Heavy Metals Residues in Blood

Samples from Inhabitants of District Vehari.

l Ms. Saima Faqir (2014-15). Human health risk assessment of pesticide residues via dietry

intake of market vegetables of District Vehari, Pakistan.

l Ms. Shagufta Guljan (2014-15). Effect of cadmium and plant growth promoting

rhizobacteria (PGPR) on potato plant and Spodoptera litura.

l Ms. Noreen Aslam (2015-16). Qualitative, quantitative and socioeconomic analyses of

animal feed on dairy milk in Multan region, Pakistan.

l Ms. Nida Ahmad (2016-17). Determination of cigrarette smoke induced morpho-

physiological effects in developing chick embryos and adult males.

l Ms. Shabana Kouser (2016-17). Prevalences and Risk factors of Hepatitis in city Vehari.

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l Mr. Hafiz Asad Masood (2017-18). Determination of Workplace Associated Chemical

Exposure Effects on Workers by Hematological Measures and Workers Awareness in

District Vehari.

l Mr. Rashid Mehmood (2018-19). Health Risk Assessment and Remediation of Arsenic

and Lead in Groundwater from Dunyapur, Punjab, Pakistan.

l Mr. Mazhar Hussain (2018-19). Significance of different doses of Magnesium Sulfate on

Plant Growth, Yield and Plant Protection Measures in Bt Cotton.

Conferences and Meetings Participation

l Oral Presentation: Two days workshop organized by Chemical Ecology Alnarp in

collaboration with Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena from April 14-15, 2008

at Häckeberga, Genarp, Sweden.

l Poster Presentation: Presented poster entitled; Herbivore induced volatiles reduce

egglaying in Egyptian cotton leafworm (2009) in the 25th Annual meeting of International

Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE), Neuchatel, Switzerland.

l Poster Presentation: Presented poster entitled; Identification of oviposition deterring

volatiles in Spodoptera littoralis from infested cotton Gossypium hirsutum (2010) in the

26th Annual meeting of International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE), Tours, France.

l Oral Presentation: Two days workshop organized by Chemical Ecology Alnarp in

collaboration with Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena from Sep 29-30, 2010 at

Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden.

l Poster Presentation: Presented poster entitled; Herbivore-induced de novo synthesized

volatile compounds in cotton repel oviposition in Spodoptera littoralis (2012): 16th

International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste (ISOT)-2012, Stockholm, Sweden.

l Poster Presentation: Presented poster entitled; Herbivore-induced de novo synthesized

volatile compounds in cotton repel oviposition in Spodoptera littoralis (2012) in the 14th

International Behavioral Ecology Congress (ISBE)-2012, Lund, Sweden.

l ESCON-2019: Participation as faculty member organizing an international environmental

science conference (ESCON) on environmental health and toxicology at the Department of

Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus.

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Publications

1. Ali Zakir, Medhat M. Sadek, Marie Bengtsson, Bill S. Hansson, Peter Witzgall, Peter

Anderson (2013). Herbivore-induced plant volatiles provide associational resistance

against an ovipositing herbivore. Journal of Ecology, 101, 410-417. doi: 10.1111/1365-

2745.12041. (IF: 5.69)

2. Ali Zakir, Marie Bengtsson, Medhat M. Sadek, Bill S. Hansson, Peter Witzgall, Peter

Anderson (2013). Herbivore-induced de novo synthesized volatile compounds in cotton

repel oviposition in the moth Spodoptera littoralis. Journal of Experimental Biology, 216,

3257-3263. (IF: 3.3)

3. Mehmood Zaffar, Muhammad Farooq Hussain Munis, Fahd Rasul, Sajid Masood, Syed

Waqas Hassan, Muhammad Imran, Wajid Nasim, Ali Zakir, Umar Masood Quraishi and

Hassan Javed Chaudhary (2014) Biological assays of plant extracts from Araucaria

columnaris and Cycas revolute. Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.12 (1):

128-131. (IF: 0.4)

4. Eduardo Hatano, Saveer M. Ahmed, Felipe Borrero-Echeverry, Martin Strauch, Ali Zakir, Marie Bengtsson, Bill Hansson, Rickard Ignell, Peter Anderson, Paul Becher, Peter

Witzgall, Teun Dekker (2015). A herbivore-induced plant volatile interferes with host plant

and mate location in moths through suppression of olfactory signalling pathways. BMC Biology (13:75) DOI 10.1186/s12915-015-0188-3 (IF: 7.98)

5. Ali Zakir, Muhammad Khallaf, Bill S. Hansson, Peter Witzgall, Peter Anderson (2016).

Herbivore induced changes in host plant modulate reproductive behaviours in the moth

Spodoptera littoralis. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2017.00049.

6. Muhammad Farhan Saeed, Mussarat Shaheen, Iftikhar Ahmad, Ali Zakir, Muhammad

Nadeem, Arif Ali Chishti, Muhammad Shahid, Khuda Bakhsh, Christos A. Damalas.

Pesticide exposure in the local community of Vehari District in Pakistan: An overview.

Science of the Total Environment. DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.086 (IF=4.33).

7. Farah Ashraf, Ghulam Abbas, Behzad Murtaza, Muhammad Amjad, Muhammad Imran,

Muhammad Asif Naeem, Muhammad Saqib, Nabeel Khan Niazi, Ali Zakir, Munawar

Hussain and Rahat Shabir (2018). Comparative Tolerance And Phytostabilization Potential

Of Conocarpus Erectus And Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Grown In Cadmium Contaminated

Soil. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Vol. 55(3), 521-529) (IF: 0.690).

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8. Imran, M., Suddique, M., Shah, G.M., Ahmad, I., Zakir, A., Schooting, R. J. (2018). Kinetic

and equilibrium studies for cadmium biosorption from contaminated water using Cassia

fistula. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-1872-y (IF:

2.037).

9. Muhammad Rafique, Ahson Jabbar Shaikh, Reena Rasheed, Muhammad Bilal Tahir,

Syed Sajid Ali Gillani, Arslan Usman, Muhammad Imran, Ali Zakir, Zia Ul Haq Khan, Faiz

Rabbani. (2018). Aquatic Biodegradation of Methylene Blue by Copper Oxide

Nanoparticles Synthesized from Azadirachta indica Leaves Extract. Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials (Vol. 28 (6), 2455–2462).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10904-018-0921-9 (IF: 1.754).

10. Hafiz Muhammad Rashad Javeed, Rafi Qamar, Shahid Ibni Zamir, Atique-ur-Rehman,

Fahim Nawaz, Muhammad Maooz Faheem, Mazhar Ali, Abdul Rehman, Amjad Farooq

and Ali Zakir (2019). Selenate Uptake Through Roots Improves The Tolerance To Cell

Disruptors And Fungal Infection In Canola Seedlings After Exogenous Selenium

Application. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Vol. 56(2), 329-337)(IF: 0.690).

11. Zia Ul Haq Khan, Hafiz Masood Sadiq, Noor Samad Shah, Arif Ullah Khan, Nawshad

Muhammad, Sadaf Ul Hassan, Kamran Tahir, Sher Zaman safi, Faheem Ullah Khan,

Muhammad Imran, Naveed Ahmad, Faizan Ullah, Ashfaq Ahmad, Murtaza Sayed,

Muhammad Shafique Khalid, Saeed Ahmad Qaisrani, Mazhar Ali, Ali Zakir (2019).

Greener Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles using Trianthema Portulacastrum Extract

and Evaluation of its Photocatalytic and Biological Applications Journal: Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology, B: Biology (IF: 3.165).

12. Iftikhar Ahmad, Muhammad Javed Akhtar , Muhammad Yahya Khan , Muhammad Baqir

Hussain, Abdul Khaliq, Muhammad Farhan Saeed, Muhammad Rizwan Ashraf, Ali Zakir, Khuda Bakhsh (2019). Biogas Slurry and Plant Growth Promoting Bacillus Strain CIK-515

Improve Tuber Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Potato. Pakistan Journal of Botany

(Accepted).

13. Behzad Murtaza, Ali Zakir, et al (2019). Municipal solid waste compost improves crop

productivity in saline sodic soil: a multivariate analysis of soil chemical properties and yield

response (2019). Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis (Accepted).

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Conference Proceedings 1. Eduardo Hatano, Saveer M. Ahmed, Felipe Borrero-Echeverry, Martin Strauch, Ali Zakir,

Marie Bengtsson, Bill Hansson, Rickard Ignell, Peter Anderson, Paul Becher, Peter

Witzgall, Teun Dekker (2015). Something does not smell right: induced plant volatiles

inhibit sensory input and behavioural output in insect herbivores. 24th Annual Meeting of

the European-Chemoreception-Research-Organization (March 2015); Chemical Senses

(Vol.: 40) (IF: 3.18).

Language skills

l Proficient: English, Urdu and Punjabi languages

l Basic: Swedish language

Extra-curricular Activities

l Football (Excellent)

l Badminton (Excellent: represented club in Swedish Badminton League)

l Travelling and Photography

l Running (My favorite activity on weekends)

l Tennis (Good)

l Good in Vector Graphic Designing i.e., Illustrator and Photoshop

References

1. Prof. Dr. Peter Anderson Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Box 102, S-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

Email: peter.anderson@slu.se

Tel (office) +46 40 41 52 99

Tel (mobile) +46 (0) 702 214824

2. Prof. Dr. Peter Witzgall Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Box 102, S-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

Email: peter.witzgall@slu.se

Tel (office) +46 40 46 19 91

Tel (mobile) +46 (0) 702 426939