Faculty Proflle

Biography:

Dr. Muhammad Sajjad holds the position of 'Tenured Associate Professor' in the Department of Bioscience at COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan. He is also a member of the National Center for Genome Editing (NCGE). Dr. Sajjad's research interests revolve around enhancing yield potential, stress tolerance, and nutritional quality in cereals by leveraging the latest genetics, genomics, and genome editing tools. He earned his PhD from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, with an international fellowship at ARS-USDA, California. Following that, he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at IGDB, CAS, Beijing (2015-2017), and successfully completed his CAS-PIFI fellowship at CIB, CAS in 2023.

Dr. Sajjad is renowned for his discoveries of novel yield and quality-related genes in bread wheat, along with the development of user-friendly markers for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in wheat. He has also devised a protocol for the discovery and haplotyping of multiple genes within a vast collection of accessions in bread wheat, which has been filed for a patent in Beijing. Additionally, he has introduced a simplified method for preserving wheat pollen grains and developed first high amylose wheat line in Pakistan. Dr. Sajjad's contributions to the field are reflected in his extensive publication record, with over 80 research articles in SCI journals.

Furthermore, he serves as an editor for Frontiers in Genetics, Frontiers in Plant Science and Gene. He actively participates as a member of breeders' teams dedicated to the development of new wheat, barley and rice varieties. Currently, Dr. Sajjad is leading three projects in the realm of cereal genetics and genomics, one as a Principal Investigator (PI) and the others as a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI). He also mentors a team of 4 MS students and 2 PhD students. To complement his research, Dr. Sajjad has contributed significantly to education, having taught a diverse range of 13 undergraduate and graduate courses, consistently achieving an average teaching score of over 90%.

Educational Information

Year	Degree	Board / University

2013	PhD	University of Agriculture Faisalabad
2013	PhD	University of Agriculture Faisalabad
2007	MSs(Hons)	University of Agriculture Faisalabad
2013	PhD	University of Agriculture Faisalabad
2007	MSc(Hons)	University of Agriculture Faisalabad
2005	BSc(Hons)	University of Agriculture Faisalabad

Academic Experience

From	To	Post Held	Organization

June 2013 to	June 2014	Assistant Professor	PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi
August 2014	to date	Assistant Professor	COMSATS University Islamabad
11th August, 2014	To date	Assistant Professor	COMSATS University Islamabad
20th June 2013	19th June 2014	Assistant Professor	PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi

Publications

Key Publications

Shoaib Muhammad,Yang Wenlong,Shan Q, Sajjad M''Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of new cytokinin metabolic genes in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)'',PeerJ,2019.
Gulnaz Saima,Zulkifal,Sajjad M''Identifying Pakistani Wheat Landraces as Genetic Resources for Yield Potential, Heat Tolerance and Rust Resistance'',International Journal Agriculture and Biology,2019.
Ahmad HGM,Sajjad M,Li Mingju''Selection Criteria for Drought-Tolerant Bread Wheat Genotypes at Seedling Stage'',Sustainability MDPI,2019.
Sher Muhammad,Muhammad Sajjad,Sultan H Khan'' Genome wide association analysis for stripe rust resistance in spring wheat ( L.) germplasm.'',ELSEVIER,2019.
Tayyab N,,''Combined seed and foliar pre-treatments with exogenous methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid mitigate drought induced stress in maize. '',Plos,2019.
Ma Xiaoling,,'' Transfer PinbD1x to soft wheat produces a hard wheat kernel texture'',Elsevier,2019.
Ayub R,,''Antibiotics, Acid and Heat Tolerance of Honey adapted Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhi and Klebsiella pneumonia'',MDPI,2019.
Ariceaga CCG,,''Physicochemical, Sensorial and Microbiological Characterization of PoroCheese, an Artisanal Mexican Cheese Made from Raw Milk.'',MDPI,2019.
Ahmad MQ,,''Agronomic, physiological and molecular characterization of spring wheat accessions for drought tolerance index. '',BD Society of Botany,2019.
Ahmed HGMD,,''Genome wide diversity in bread wheat evaluated by SSR markers.'',Friends Science,2019.
Wahab U,,''Effects of different plant growth regulators on in vitro growth of aloe vera L '',BD Society of Botany,2019.
Gad M,,''Geographical distribution and virulence phenotypes of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici from wheat in Yunnan, China.'',Science Asia,2019.
Ashfq M,,''Molecular and agronomic characterization of selected rice germplasm under normal and water stress conditions. '',PakJAS,2019.
Shahzad M,,''Allelic composition at Glu genes in a collection of spring wheat germplasm. '',BD Scociety of Botany,2019.
Wattoo, J,,''Genetic mapping of grain nutritional profile in rice using basmati derived segregating population revealed by SSRs. '',Friends Science,2019.
Bakhat,,''.Factors controlling arsenic contamination and potential remediation measures in soilplant systems. '',Elsevier,2019.
He,,''Yield Gap Analysis of Wheat in Rice-wheat Rotation Regions of Anhui Province,China. '',cstm,2019.
Sajjad M,,'' Patterns of allelic diversity in spring wheat populations as revealed by SSRs. '',Springer,2018.
Shah GM,,''Biosorption potential of natural, pyrolysed and acid-assisted pyrolysed sugarcane bagasse for the removal of lead from contaminated water.'',PeerJ,2018.
Tariq,,'' Prevalence of higher glutenin variation in synthetic wheat germplasm.'',JAPS,2018.
Sher Muhammad,,'' Genome wide association analysis for leaf rust resistance in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm'',Friends Science,2018.
Sajjad Muhammad,Khan Sultan,Shahzad Munawar''Patterns of Allelic Diversity in Spring Wheat Populations by SSR-Markers'',Cytology and Genetics,2018.
Sajjad Muhammad,Ma Xiaoling,Khan Sultan''TaFlo2-A1, an ortholog of rice Flo2, is associated with thousand grain weight in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)'',BMC Plant Biology,2017.
Ma Xiaoling,Sajjad Muhammad,Wang Jiang''Diversity, distribution of Puroindoline genes and their effect on kernel hardness in a diverse panel of Chinese wheat germplasm'',BMC Plant Biology,2017.
Sajjad M,,''TaFlo2-A1, an ortholog of rice Flo2, is associated with thousand grain weight in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)'',BMC,2017.
Ashfaq M,,''Grain discoloration: an emerging threat to rice crop in Pakistan'',JAPS,2017.
Ashfaq M,,''Diversity and correlation analysis in basmati rice germplasm. '',BD society of Botany,2017.
Ahmad MQ,,''.Analysis of drought responsive traits in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).'',PakJAS,2015.
Sajjad M,,''Association mapping identified QTLS on wheat chromosome 3A for yield related traits.'',Springer,2014.
Rehman,Sajjad M,''Lower tendency of allelic variation of Glu genes and absence of 1BL-1RS translocation in modern Pakistani wheats.'',Springer,2014.
Ahmad M. F,,''Influence of fusarium moniliforme inoculationon on heterosis and heterobeltiosis for agronomic traits in maize (Zea mays L.)'',Friends Science,2014.
Rehman,,'' Prospects of wheat breeding for durable resistance against brown, yellow and black rust fungi. '',Friends Science,2013.
Sajjad M,,'' Selection of Pakistani and CIMMYT wheat lines for better grain yield and quality.'',Friends Science,2012.
AlMaskri,,''Association mapping: A step forward to discovering new alleles for crop improvement'',Friends Science,2012.
Sajjad M,,'' Exploitation of germplasm for grain yield improvement in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum).'',Friends Science,2011.
Gulnaz s,Sajjad M,'' Relationship among coleoptile length, plant height and tillering capacity for developing improved wheat varieties'',Friend Science,2011.
Ali A,,'' Evaluation of selection criteria in Cicer arietinum L. using correlation coefficients and path analysis'',CopJ,2009.

Conferences

Year	Level	Country	City	Conference

No records to display.

Awards

Year	Awarding Organization	Description

2015	HEC	High resolution mapping for brown, yellow and black rust resistance genes in Pakistani wheat germplasm
2017	USPCAS-PARB	Rapid development of high yielding drought tolerant lines of wheat through introgression of stable QTLs/Genes based on novel 90K iSELECT SNP assay and Circular Consensus Sequencing (CCS).
University Merit Scholarship	University of Agricultute Faisalabad	Univesity Merit Scholarship was awarded on Merit from the year 2002-2005
CAS-PIFI 2016	Chinese Academy of Sciences	CAS-PIFI is an International Postoctral Fellwoship
2017	Beijing Patent Office	Patent on Developing a novel protocol for library construction for SMRT-PacBio sequencing in hexaploid wheat/polyploid cop species
2019	Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences	TYSP: Talented Young Scientist Program 2019-2020

Memberships

From	To	Title	Organization

No records to display.

Courses Taught

Course Code	Type	Title	University	Semester

	Under Graduate	Introductory Genetics	PMAS Arid Agriculture University	Fall 2013
	Under Graduate	Breeding Pulse Crops	PMAS Arid Agriculture University	Fall 2013
	Graduate	Breeding for Quality	PMAS Arid Agriculture University	Fall 2013
	Under Graduate	Cytogenetics for Crop Plants	PMAS Arid Agriculture University	Spring 2014
	Graduate	Molecular Plant Breeding	PMAS Arid Agriculture University	Spring 2014
Env 605	Graduate	Enivironmental Impact Assessment	COMSATS University Islamabad	Fall 2014
ENV 755	Under Graduate	Food Chain Contamination	COMSATS University Islamabad	Spring 2015
	Under Graduate	Environment and Development	COMSATS University Islamabad	Fall 2017
MGT 461	Under Graduate	Project Management	COMSATS University Islamabad	Fall 2017
	Under Graduate	Environment and Development	COMSATS University Islamabad	Spring 2018
Bio310	Under Graduate	Introduction to Bioinformatics	COMSATS University Islamabad	Spring 2018
Env 605	Graduate	EEnivironmental Impact Assessment	COMSATS University Islamabad	Fall 2018
DEV441	Under Graduate	Natural Resourse Management	COMSATS University Islamabad	Fall 2018
Env 605	Under Graduate	Environment Impact Assessment	COMSATS University Islamabad	Spring 2019
Bio310	Under Graduate	Introduction to Bioinformatics	COMSATS University Islamabad	Spring 2020
Bio100	Under Graduate	Introduction to Biosciences	COMSATS University Islamabad	Fall 2019

Supervisions

Title	From	To	Organization / Institute	Type

No records to display.

Services

From	To	Institute / Organization	Job Specification

25-02-2019	27-02-2019	COMSATS University Islamabad	Member Printing and Press committee International Conference -ESCON2019
September 2018	May 2019	COMSATS University Islamabad	Batch advisor BS Environmental Sciences
May 2018	May 2019	COMSATS University Islamabad	Member wheat Sale committee CUI, Vehar
January 2019	May 2019	COMSATS University Islamabad	Member of Campus Proctorial committee
September 2018	May 2019	COMSATS University Islamabad	Member of performance evaluation committee
January 2019	May 2019	COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari	Departmental Convener of Proctor Committee
May 2017	December 2018	COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari	Departmental Convener Cricket
Februry 2015	August 2015	COMSATS University Islamabad	Vehari Campus Cricket Convener
September 2014	May 2015	COMSATS University Islamabad	Member of Research farm committee

Books

Title	Subject	First Author	Second Author	Third Author	Year	Publisher

No records to display.

Fundings

From	To	Type	Title	Source	Amount

2019	2021	Research Grant	Development of Protocol for long reads haplotyping in hexaploid wheat using PacBio Circular Consensus Sequencing	Pakistan Science Foundation	1.20
2017	2020	Research Grant	Rapid development of high yielding drought tolerant lines of wheat through introgression of stable QTLs/Genes based on novel 90K iSELECT SNP assay and Circular Consensus Sequencing (CCS).	USPCAS-PARB	6.50
2017	2018	Research Grant	Biochemical and immunochemical prospects of modified wheat gluten in relation to gluten sensitive enteropathy	HEC	0.40
2016	2017	Research Grant	High resolution mapping for brown, yellow and black rust resistance genes in Pakistani wheat germplasm.	HEC	0.50

Active Collaborations

From	To	Type	Country	Organization

No records to display.

Industrial / Consulting Experience

From	To	Post Held	Organization

No records to display.

Extracurricular Activities

Hobbies	Interests

No records to display.

Languages and Skills

Languages	Skills

No records to display.

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Publication Year	Key Publications

1 2019	1 Shoaib Muhammad,Yang Wenlong,Shan Q, Sajjad M''Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of new cytokinin metabolic genes in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)'',PeerJ,2019.
2 2019	2 Gulnaz Saima,Zulkifal,Sajjad M''Identifying Pakistani Wheat Landraces as Genetic Resources for Yield Potential, Heat Tolerance and Rust Resistance'',International Journal Agriculture and Biology,2019.
3 2019	3 Ahmad HGM,Sajjad M,Li Mingju''Selection Criteria for Drought-Tolerant Bread Wheat Genotypes at Seedling Stage'',Sustainability MDPI,2019.
4 2019	4 Sher Muhammad,Muhammad Sajjad,Sultan H Khan'' Genome wide association analysis for stripe rust resistance in spring wheat ( L.) germplasm.'',ELSEVIER,2019.
5 2019	5 Tayyab N,,''Combined seed and foliar pre-treatments with exogenous methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid mitigate drought induced stress in maize. '',Plos,2019.
6 2019	6 Ma Xiaoling,,'' Transfer PinbD1x to soft wheat produces a hard wheat kernel texture'',Elsevier,2019.
7 2019	7 Ayub R,,''Antibiotics, Acid and Heat Tolerance of Honey adapted Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhi and Klebsiella pneumonia'',MDPI,2019.
8 2019	8 Ariceaga CCG,,''Physicochemical, Sensorial and Microbiological Characterization of PoroCheese, an Artisanal Mexican Cheese Made from Raw Milk.'',MDPI,2019.
9 2019	9 Ahmad MQ,,''Agronomic, physiological and molecular characterization of spring wheat accessions for drought tolerance index. '',BD Society of Botany,2019.
10 2019	10 Ahmed HGMD,,''Genome wide diversity in bread wheat evaluated by SSR markers.'',Friends Science,2019.
11 2019	11 Wahab U,,''Effects of different plant growth regulators on in vitro growth of aloe vera L '',BD Society of Botany,2019.
12 2019	12 Gad M,,''Geographical distribution and virulence phenotypes of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici from wheat in Yunnan, China.'',Science Asia,2019.
13 2019	13 Ashfq M,,''Molecular and agronomic characterization of selected rice germplasm under normal and water stress conditions. '',PakJAS,2019.
14 2019	14 Shahzad M,,''Allelic composition at Glu genes in a collection of spring wheat germplasm. '',BD Scociety of Botany,2019.
15 2019	15 Wattoo, J,,''Genetic mapping of grain nutritional profile in rice using basmati derived segregating population revealed by SSRs. '',Friends Science,2019.
16 2019	16 Bakhat,,''.Factors controlling arsenic contamination and potential remediation measures in soilplant systems. '',Elsevier,2019.
17 2019	17 He,,''Yield Gap Analysis of Wheat in Rice-wheat Rotation Regions of Anhui Province,China. '',cstm,2019.
18 2018	18 Sajjad M,,'' Patterns of allelic diversity in spring wheat populations as revealed by SSRs. '',Springer,2018.
19 2018	19 Shah GM,,''Biosorption potential of natural, pyrolysed and acid-assisted pyrolysed sugarcane bagasse for the removal of lead from contaminated water.'',PeerJ,2018.
20 2018	20 Tariq,,'' Prevalence of higher glutenin variation in synthetic wheat germplasm.'',JAPS,2018.
21 2018	21 Sher Muhammad,,'' Genome wide association analysis for leaf rust resistance in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm'',Friends Science,2018.
22 2018	22 Sajjad Muhammad,Khan Sultan,Shahzad Munawar''Patterns of Allelic Diversity in Spring Wheat Populations by SSR-Markers'',Cytology and Genetics,2018.
23 2017	23 Sajjad Muhammad,Ma Xiaoling,Khan Sultan''TaFlo2-A1, an ortholog of rice Flo2, is associated with thousand grain weight in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)'',BMC Plant Biology,2017.
24 2017	24 Ma Xiaoling,Sajjad Muhammad,Wang Jiang''Diversity, distribution of Puroindoline genes and their effect on kernel hardness in a diverse panel of Chinese wheat germplasm'',BMC Plant Biology,2017.
25 2017	25 Sajjad M,,''TaFlo2-A1, an ortholog of rice Flo2, is associated with thousand grain weight in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)'',BMC,2017.
26 2017	26 Ashfaq M,,''Grain discoloration: an emerging threat to rice crop in Pakistan'',JAPS,2017.
27 2017	27 Ashfaq M,,''Diversity and correlation analysis in basmati rice germplasm. '',BD society of Botany,2017.
28 2015	28 Ahmad MQ,,''.Analysis of drought responsive traits in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).'',PakJAS,2015.
29 2014	29 Sajjad M,,''Association mapping identified QTLS on wheat chromosome 3A for yield related traits.'',Springer,2014.
30 2014	30 Rehman,Sajjad M,''Lower tendency of allelic variation of Glu genes and absence of 1BL-1RS translocation in modern Pakistani wheats.'',Springer,2014.
31 2014	31 Ahmad M. F,,''Influence of fusarium moniliforme inoculationon on heterosis and heterobeltiosis for agronomic traits in maize (Zea mays L.)'',Friends Science,2014.
32 2013	32 Rehman,,'' Prospects of wheat breeding for durable resistance against brown, yellow and black rust fungi. '',Friends Science,2013.
33 2012	33 Sajjad M,,'' Selection of Pakistani and CIMMYT wheat lines for better grain yield and quality.'',Friends Science,2012.
34 2012	34 AlMaskri,,''Association mapping: A step forward to discovering new alleles for crop improvement'',Friends Science,2012.
35 2011	35 Sajjad M,,'' Exploitation of germplasm for grain yield improvement in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum).'',Friends Science,2011.
36 2011	36 Gulnaz s,Sajjad M,'' Relationship among coleoptile length, plant height and tillering capacity for developing improved wheat varieties'',Friend Science,2011.
37 2009	37 Ali A,,'' Evaluation of selection criteria in Cicer arietinum L. using correlation coefficients and path analysis'',CopJ,2009.

Dr. Muhammad Sajjad

Tenured Associate Professor of Bio Science, CUI Islamabad Campus