About

Dr. Muhammad Iqbal received PhD degree in Molecular Biology from National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (NCEMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan in 2010. He worked on molecular basis of inherited ophthalmological disorders in Pakistani population and identified a novel locus RP51 for autosomal recessive Retinitis pigmentosa during genome wide scan. He sequenced candidate genes harboring the locus and identified a gene, TTC8 causing non syndromic autosomal recessive Retinitis pigmentosa. This gene was previously reported for syndromic Retinitis pigmentosa (BBS). He also sequenced different genes in various families affected with hereditary ophthalmological disorders and found different novel and reported mutations in these families.

Dr. Muhammad Iqbal joined the Islamia University of Bahawalpur soon after his PhD graduation. At the present institute, he has been actively engaged in the academic, research and administrative activities. He has developed and taught basic and advanced courses of Human Molecular Genetics at graduate and post graduate levels. .He has developed a research group on human genetic disorders and has established research collaboration at national and international levels. He is focusing research on hereditary vision impairment, deafness and intellectual disability in the population of South Punjab. He has been supervising PhD & MS research scholars working on different human genetic disorders. He has participated in different conferences of national & international levels in the country and has shared knowledge of human genetics by presenting research outcome.

Dr. Iqbal was awarded a travel and training grant to the International Summit in Human Genetics and Genomics, hosted by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA from Aug. 28-Sept. 28, 2019 and completed a comprehensive course in Human Genetics & Genomics. He was also awarded the travel and training grant to the Department of Genetic Medicine and Development of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, Switzerland during October, 2021 to learn Genome Data Analyses techniques and research collaboration.

Currently, Dr. Iqbal is focusing on genetic disorders in the population of Southern Punjab region of Pakistan where consanguineous marriages for several generations are common.  He has also been enthusiastically involved in providing genetic counseling to this population to reduce the recurrence of genetic disorder in the family. He plans to play a significant role in reducing the burden of disease and disability in the family.