Dr. Rashid did his MPhil from CEMB, University of the Punjab, Lahore and started to serve the centre (CEMB) as a Research Officer in 2004. In CEMB, as a research officer, he worked in two different fields of molecular biology i.e., “Genetics” and “Virology”. In genetics, his research was on the most prevalent genetic disease in Pakistan i.e., deafness. In virology, he worked in a diagnostic laboratory and participated in the PM’s Program for Prevention & Control of Hepatitis. Later, He got Ph.D. scholarship from HEC Pakistan under 5000 indigenous scholarship scheme and did Ph.D. in 2015. He also got IRSIP scholarship from HEC, Pakistan and completed his six-month training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, University of Cincinnati, USA. His areas of interest are genetic diseases and molecular medicine. In genetic diseases, his focus is to understand the molecular mechanisms behind Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases in the Pakistani population which will be helpful in the development of strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases in future. In molecular medicine, he focuses on screening Pakistani medicinal plants against Cancer and neurological diseases to identify the therapeutic plants and compounds which will be helpful in the development of medicine against these diseases.

Research Interests:
•	Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Diseases
	• Identification of Biomarkers & Molecular Pathways
	• Screening of potent plants and chemicals against these diseases
	• Mutational spectrum of these diseases in the Pakistani Population
•	Cancer
	• Identification of potent plants and chemicals against various cancers
Selected Publications:
1.	Akram, M., Khan, M.A., Ahmed, N., Bhatti, R., Pervaiz, R., Malik, K., Tahir, S., Abbas, R., Ashraf, F. and Ali, Q., 2023. Cloning and expression of an anti-cancerous cytokine: human IL-29 gene in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. AMB Express, 13(1), pp.1-9.
2.	Ashraf, F., Khan, M.A., Ahmed, N., Umar, M., Khan, M.I., Akram, M., Bhatti, R. and Malik, K., 2023. Development of transgenic algae strain expressing CTB-M2e fusion gene an approach towards the development of a universal edible vaccine in Algae. Journal of Biotechnology.
3.	Sultan, A., Khan, M.A., Ahmed, N., Hassan, M., Bhatti, R., Naeem, H., Khan, M.I., Tahir, S., Afzal, S. and Shahid, A.A., 2023. Gene Multimerization in Expression Vector: A Potential Strategy for Enhanced Protein Expression in E. coli. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 55(3).
4.	Bhatti, R., Shakeel, H., Malik, K., Qasim, M., Khan, M.A., Ahmed, N. and Jabeen, S., 2022. Inorganic Nanoparticles: Toxic Effects, Mechanisms of Cytotoxicity and Phytochemical Interactions. Advanced Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 12(4), p.757.
5.	Aamir, S., Mir, I., Shahid, M., Amin, I., Afzal, S., Rafique, S., Bhatti, R., Nawaz, A., Butt, F., Munir, R. and Idrees, M., 2022. Insights into the Structure, Replication, and Pathogenesis of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. Re: GEN Open, 2(1), pp.85-92.
6.	Tariq, M.H., Bhatti, R., Ali, N.F., Ashfaq, U.A., Shahid, F., Almatroudi, A. and Khurshid, M., 2021. Rational design of chimeric Multiepitope Based Vaccine (MEBV) against human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1: An integrated vaccine informatics and molecular docking based approach. Plos one, 16(10), p.e0258443.
7.	Kausar, N., Haque, A., Masoud, M.S., Nahid, N., Ashfaq, U.A., Waryah, A.M., Bhatti, R. and Qasim, M., 2021. Disease-associated variants of Gap Junction Beta 2 protein (GJB2) in the deaf population of Southern Punjab of Pakistan. PLoS One, 16(10), p.e0259083.
8.	Ashfaq, U.A., Saleem, S., Masoud, M.S., Ahmad, M., Nahid, N., Bhatti, R., Almatroudi, A. and Khurshid, M., 2021. Rational design of multi epitope-based subunit vaccine by exploring MERS-COV proteome: Reverse vaccinology and molecular docking approach. Plos one, 16(2), p.e0245072.