Moazur Rahman has completed MSc in Chemistry from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, MPhil (Biotechnology) from NIBGE Faisalabad/Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and PhD (Molecular Membrane/Structural Biology) from the University of Leeds, UK. From 2012-2013, he worked as Fulbright Fellow at the Harvard Medical School, Boston. Before joining School of Biological Sciences, University of the Punjab, Prof. Rahman headed the structural biology research at National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, and developed state-of-the-art structural biology laboratory which is among the leading laboratories in Pakistan (http://www.nibge.org/Profile.aspx?PID=56).
Prof. Rahman has published many research articles in international peer reviewed journals on structure and function of diverse membrane- and viral proteins, highlighting important features of these proteins which render them attractive for use as diagnostic antigens or as drug- and vaccine targets. He has also filed patents in the US/Pakistan on development of diagnostic tools for infectious bursal disease in poultry. On applied fronts, for the first time in Pakistan, he has successfully developed recombinant vaccines and diagnostic tools for poultry infectious bursal disease virus and Fowl adenovirus. He has also identified and characterized a multidrug resistance pump, STY4874, in local isolates of Salmonella Typhi to combat antimicrobial resistance in typhoid patients.
To strengthen research in the fields of protein structural biology, vaccine development and disease diagnostics, he has won 3 international and 15 national competitive research grants, amounting to > 312 million PKR from diverse funding agencies such as ICGEB (Italy), IAEA (Austria), ALP-PARC (Pakistan), PSF (Pakistan), HEC (Pakistan).  Moreover, he has established collaborations with leading research groups in China, Denmark, Australia, UK, Italy, USA, and with the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle-East (SESAME) facility, Jordan, in the field of protein crystallography, vaccine development and disease diagnostics. To train the human resource in the field of structural biology, he has organized/co-organized 4 international workshops on ‘‘X-ray Crystallography in Structural Biology and Modeling/Simulation’’ in Pakistan, and Prof. Rahman is an active member of the National Committee of Crystallography / IUCr Adhering Body, Pakistan. He has also served as a member of the Technical Committee of PAEC-International Nathiagali Summer Colleges (2016 to 2017, 2020).
During his career, Prof. Rahman has won several research and fellowship awards (Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) PhD Scholarship award (2002), IsDB excellent leadership award (2009), Fulbright Postdoctoral fellowship (2012), SESAME and IAEA Fellowship awards (2010, 2011, 2015 and 2017), PAEC-NIBGE Gold Medal (2014), Research Productivity awards by the Government of Pakistan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015), and Pakistan Academy of Sciences (Biotechnology) ZKS-Gold Medal award (2018). Moreover, Prof. Rahman is a member of the scientific expert panels of IsDB, Fulbright-USEFP, HEC, MoPET, several national Universities and a number of international scientific journals, and is a visiting faculty member of HEJ, Karachi.
Research Interests:
The research work of Prof Rahman is focused on:
Structure-function studies of proteins: Membrane proteins including multidrug efflux transporters
Vaccines and Diagnostics: Viral vector, virus-like particle, subunit and live-attenuated vaccines, and rapid and on-site diagnostics
Enzyme inhibition: Proteases (HCV and Dengue)
Prof. Rahman is interested in employing structural biology techniques such as X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infra-red and Fluorescence spectroscopy for understanding structure-function relationships of proteins relevant to human and animal diseases. The ultimate goal is to generate knowledge by uncovering the molecular basis of drug resistance and virulence of pathogens, and to utilize this knowledge for devising novel preventive and therapeutic strategies, and diagnostics. In particular, molecular mechanisms underlying the transport of various solutes through multidrug efflux transporters of Gram negative bacteria such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi are being studied through the use of a battery of molecular biology techniques for understanding the drug resistance mechanism.
A major thrust of the research work is also on development of modern recombinant vaccines (through prediction and validation of potent epitopic regions on protein targets, protein engineering and production, and development of viral vector vaccines) and diagnostics for diseases caused by Fowl adenovirus (FAV)n infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV), which inflict significant damages to the poultry industry worldwide, including Pakistan and more recently on development of viral vector vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.
Research Profile Key Words:
Membrane/Multidrug resistance transport proteins • Human and poultry viral proteins • Recombinant vaccine development • X-ray/protein crystallography • Structural Biology • Enzyme Biotechnology