NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) on Thursday announced that three of its PhD scholars—Dr. Md Iqbal Azmi, Dr. Saleem Anwar, and Dr. Khursheed Ul Islam—have recently secured prestigious postdoctoral positions in the United States.
The scholars completed their doctoral research under the supervision of Dr. Jawed Iqbal at the Multidisciplinary Centre for Advanced Research and Studies (MCARS), JMI.
Dr. Md Iqbal Azmi, who was awarded the ICMR Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) and the TNQ Inspiring Science Award-2022, is recognized for his groundbreaking development of a CRISPR-based COVID-19 detection technology during his PhD. He is currently pursuing his postdoctoral research at the University of Rochester, New York.
Dr. Saleem Anwar, also an ICMR-SRF fellow, received the Best Oral Presentation Award at a conference organized by the Department of Biosciences, JMI. He has now joined the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
Dr. Khursheed Ul Islam, another PhD scholar from the same laboratory, has also commenced his postdoctoral research at the University of Rochester, New York.
All three scholars received their postdoctoral offers shortly after defending their doctoral theses and joined their respective institutions within a span of three months. Their achievements are a testament to the exceptional mentorship of Dr. Jawed Iqbal and the high-quality research conducted at his laboratory.
Dr. Iqbal, who joined MCARS in July 2017, has played a pivotal role in the centre’s academic and research growth. In addition to guiding PhD scholars, he has mentored numerous master’s students. Among them, Ms. Fatemah Rizvi (M.Sc. Virology) was awarded the prestigious Reliance Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship, and Ms. Adila Khanam received the esteemed Princeton Foundation Scholarship Award, USA.
Many other master’s students trained under Dr. Iqbal have gone on to join reputed national and international institutions to pursue further academic and research opportunities.
Currently, Dr. Iqbal’s research is supported by three major grants from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), with a combined funding of Rs 2.36 crore.