I am a plant scientist with a background in crop breeding and genomics. Since 2011, I am working in Pakistan's apex National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad. As a lead breeder, I have developed two high-yielding soybean varieties, "NARC-Golden-Soy" and "NARC-Soy-2021," both of which have been fully commercialized. As soybean PI since 2015, I am leading a diverse team to study genetic variation, adaptation, grain yield, biotic & abiotic stresses in soybean. Presently, we are evaluating a diverse soybean germplasm for selecting climate ready, high yielding disease resistant genotypes. Additionally, we are planting our materials in different ecologies of the country to develop MGs specific cultivars. We are using multidisciplinary approaches such as genomics (molecular markers/QTLs/NGS), agronomics, modeling for multi-environment GxE interaction, AI/ML/DL based disease classification from image processing and UAV-mounted multispectral sensors based high throughput phenotyping. I have strong collaboration within National Agricultural Research System (NARS) as well as academia and industry.
Previously I have worked as Research Fellow in a project "Conservation and sustainable utilization of aromatic and medicinal plants" at Bio-resources Conservation Institute, NARC. I have been engaged with team of researchers to assess genetic diversity in oilseeds brassica species and medicinal plants.
I have authored more than 40 research articles and chapters.
