DM

Bilal Ahmad Mir

University of Kashmir, Kargil Campus, University of Ladakh, University of Kashmir (Kargil Campus)

ORCID iD 0000-0003-1286-890X
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About

I am currently working as Senior Assistant Professor at Department of Botany, University of Kashmir (North Campus). Well before this I was working as Assistant Professor at Department of Botany, University of Kashmir (Kargil Campus). Before this, I worked as DBT-Energy Bioscience Overseas Fellow at University of Kashmir. I also worked as postdoctoral Fellow at University of Pretoria, South Africa with Prof. Don Cowan from 2012 to 2015 and worked on Expression of hyperthermophilic lignocellulose digesting enzymes in Plants and E. coli. I also worked as Research Associate at Department of Botany, University of Delhi with Prof. Shashi B. Babbar form March 2012 to November 2012 and worked on ‘Development of tissue/suspension culture protocols of some selected medicinal plants.’ I did my PhD in Botany from CSIR-IIIM, Jammu & GNDU, Amritsar, India. During my PhD I worked on Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha)-a multipurpose medicinal plant of immense therapeutic value and pharmaceutical demand due to the presence of bioactive withanolides. I proposed new species W. ashwagandha to the cultivated taxon of W. somnifera based on multidisciplinary genome diagnostic approaches and morpho-chemical and cytological data. On the basis of withanolides content and root biomass, I identified two elite accessions from the ashwagandha germplasm bank collected from different regions of India and studied production dynamics of withanolides in the elites both in vitro and in vivo. I also elucidated the role of withanolides in fighting against cold stress and raised the in vitro plants lets of elites in addition to understanding the seasonal variations in the bioactive metabolites. I am working on cloning and characterization of biosynthetic pathway genes in W. somnifera and other medicinal plants for enhancing the accumulation of the targeted active principles. I have published over 50 high impact research articles in renowned journals like Trends in Biotechnology, Industrial Crops and Products, Scientific Reports, Phytomedicine, Phytochemistry, Biomolecules, Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants & Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, EJMC, Chemosphere etc. I am currently acting as Editorial Board Member and reviewer of many reputed journals. I am awarded with a number of national and international Awards & fellowships including Young Scientist Award-2021 in Botany by Society for Plant Research (Vegetos), Bioenergy Awards for Cutting Edge Research (B-ACER) by DBT-IUSSTF, Visiting Academic at The University of Queensland, Australia, DBT-Energy Bioscience Overseas Fellowship (Re-entry fellowship) by DBT, Govt. of India, New Delhi, Prestigious Vice-Chancellors Postdoctoral Fellowship by University of Pretoria, Prestigious Freestanding Postdoctoral Fellowship by National Research Foundation, South Africa, Dr. D.S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship by University Grants Commission and INSA Visiting Scientist Fellowship by INSA DST. In addition, I have completed/ongoing four Research project of over Rs. 1.25 Cr from DBT, SERB and UGC. Recently I was elected as the Fellow of International Society for Development & Sustainability (Japan) and Member Royal Society of Biology (London, UK). My research interests span various areas of plant sciences viz., Plant Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, biofuels, Secondary metabolites, Plant tissue Culture, Genetic diversity and Chemical Ecology and microbiome studies of Ladakh (recently expanded). In addition I am currently working on understanding adaptation of high altitude plants at morphological, biochemical and molecular levels.

Employment

  • University of Kashmir Senior Assistant Professor
    2023 - Present
  • Kargil Campus, University of Ladakh Assistant Professor
    2021 - 2022
  • University of Kashmir (Kargil Campus) Assistant Professor & Coordinator; DBT-Energy Bioscience Overseas Fellow
    2016 - 2021
  • University of Pretoria Vice Chancellors's Postdoctoral Fellow; NRF-Freestanding Postdoctoral Fellow
    2012 - 2015
  • University of Delhi Research Associate
    2012 - 2012
  • University of Kashmir Assistant Professor (C)
    2011 - 2012
  • Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine CSIR Research Fellow
    2007 - 2011

Education

  • University of Kashmir B. Sc. (Gen. Sciences)
    2000 - 2003

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (50)