RSG Pakistan
An initiative to provide a platform for Pakistani students to train, network and
endeavor in the field of computational biology and bioinformatics in Pakistan.
About us
Who we are?
RSG-Pakistan is a member of The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Student Council (SC) Regional Student Groups (RSG). We are a non-profit community composed of early career researchers interested in computational biology!
What we do?
We organize webinars regarding computational biology and bioinformatics. We have started a webinar series for students to have awareness of computational biology and bioinformatics considering latest research. We will also organize career building webinars for personal development of the students. Additionally, students will also have the opportunity to present their research work on the platform of RSG-Pakistan and help them connect them with international society of computational biology (ISCB).
Who can join us?
Anyone interested in computational biology & bioinformatics is welcome to join our community. We love meeting new people, join our growing network now!
To join RSG Pakistan, you can simply fill our membership form using the button below.
Upcoming webinar
Past Webinars
Join RSG Pakistan
Our team
Chair
Laiba Shah
Laiba Shah is the current president of RSG Pakistan. She is a master student of biotechnology at IIB CECOS University Peshawar, a volunteer in an organization working for thalassemic kids, (@JZT) Science communicator, Entrepreneur, and a research student at Precision Medicine Lab working on network analysis of miRNAs in cancers. More focused on the thoughtful insights and fascinating aspects of science. She loves to travel, discover nature and think deeply about stuff. Spiritual reading, Art, DIY designing, and being creative is all she does in her me time. Talk to her about the real science behind every fascinating thing of the universe, fashion colors, and art-related stuff to cheer her up.
Arsalan Riaz
Arsalan is the Vice President of the RSG Pakistan. He is a graduate of Biotechnology and is a research fellow at the precision medicine lab based in Rehman Medical Institute. His research work focuses on the computational analysis of epigenetic markers and their potential role in the progression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Arsalan has played leadership roles in many events and is a problem-solver who is passionate about digital transformation and entrepreneurship. In his spare time, he likes to learn tech, play games, and read books.
Leads
Quratulain Danish
Quratulain Danish is Creative Director of RSG Pakistan. She is a student of Biotechnology at IIB Peshawar, perusing her goal of research in Science. Outside research, she welcomes opportunities for learning and communicating science to local people. Currently, she is design director of @hultprizececos, a content curator @UnikornCurator, and is also an ambassador at one of the most promising art communities of Pakistan named @yarcollective. Art, colors, and a cup of coffee are her ultimate source of happiness. Talk to her about Apollo Space Missions, Studio Ghibli, and good things that are not in the swim.
Muneef Ur Rehman
Muneef Ur Rehman is the Community Lead at RSG Pakistan. Currently, he is a Biotechnology student at IIB CECOS, Peshawar, pursuing his dream career in Astrobiology. He has been associated with other scientific societies like Decoders, which drives his passion to be a science communicator. Also, he has also been part of @hultprizececos as an organizer and a participant with additional exposure to other startup events held in Peshawar. Gaming, reading books and sports are some of the things that shape his personality. Talk to him about Elon Musk, his future mission plans, Space shuttles, International Space station, and Mars and he will spot you in a humungous crowd.
Ahmer Bin Hafeez
Ahmer Bin Hafeez is the Technical Director of RSG Pakistan. He has done his M.phil in microbiology from the University of Peshawar. Currently, he is a research fellow at the precision medicine lab based in Rehman Medical Institute. His research involves, the identification of novel targets for Dengue using an integrated structure and integration approach.
Advising board
Dr. Faisal F Khan
Dr. Khan is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where he completed his doctoral studies at the intersection of Cell Biology and Systems Biology as a member of the Oxford Protein Informatics Group. His research group at IIB is now using the same methods to also investigate important infectious diseases in Pakistan, including Dengue Fever, Hepatitis, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. He has been the founding Director (2014-2018) of the Institute of Integrative Biosciences (IIB), at CECOS University, Peshawar. He led the pioneering SynBioKP project funded by the Government of KP is also the founding Director of the IMSciences-CECOS Joint Centre for Bioeconomy. Dr. Khan is also a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IT Board, the KP Directorate of Science and Technology Advisory Committee, and is the focal person of the Ministry of Climate Change for Synthetic Biology at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Currently, He is the principal investigator at the Precision Medicine lab located in RMI Peshawar which is a cross-disciplinary laboratory that allows data analysts and deep learning experts to work very closely with biologists, geneticists and clinicians.
Dr. Ilyas
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas has a PhD from Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, Lahore and Postdoc from University College London. He has vast experience of working in top class international institutes including Korean Bioinformation Center, Harvard University USA and Personal Genomics Institute South Korea. His research group is using innovative molecular and computational approaches to detect ethnic and tribal-specific mutations that may be the key to rare and common diseases with higher prevalence in the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As part of his doctoral research, he sequenced the first Pakhtun genome of Pakistan which has been published in a book form transcribing his research findings in urdu for general public (پشتونوں کا جینیاتی مطالعہ). He has a bright career winning numerous awards including HEC international fellowship, HEC Best Research Paper Award, Outstanding Researcher, Research Productivity award and recently he has been awarded by American Society for Human Genetics for recognition in the field of genome biology.