Qualification:

• PhD (Microbiology & Molecular Genetics), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan - 2010.
• M.Sc. (Botany), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan - 1988.
• B.Sc. (Botany, Zoology), Forman Christian College, Lahore, Pakistan - 1986.

Research Interests:

• Engineering plants for salt and drought stress tolerance
• Development of synthetic toxin genes (spider toxins, Bt toxins) and their transformation into plants for insect resistance
• Transgenic plants for herbicide tolerance
• Transformation of rice, tomato and potato

Research Publications:

• Ghaffar, A., Khan, S.A., Mukhtar, Z., Rajoka, M.I. and Latif, F. (2010). Heterologous expression of a gene for thermostable xylanase from Chaetomium thermophilum  in Pichia pastoris GS115. Mol. Biol. Rep., (Published online DOI 10.1007/s11033-010-9996-2) (Impact factor 1.75)
• Ibrahim, M., Khan, S.A., Zafar, Y., Mansoor, S., Yusuf, A. and Mukhtar, Z. (2009).  Expression of a full length Arabidopsis vacuolar H⁺-pyrophosphatase (AVP1) gene in tobacco (Nicotiana tabbacum) to increase tolerance to drought and salt stresses. J. Phytol., 1: 433-440.
• Haq, I-U., Chang-Xing, Z., Mukhtar, Z., Jaleel, C.A. and Azooz, M.M. (2009). Effect of physical desiccation on plant regeneration efficiency in rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety super basmati. J. Plant Physiol., 166: 1568-1575. (Impact factor 2.437).
• Wajid,S., Shahid, S., Latif, F., Mukhtar, Z., Afzal, S. and Mansoor, S. (2009). Heterologous Expression of Chaetomium thermophilum Xylanase 11-A (CtX 11-A) Gene. Pak. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 52(2): 100-106.
• Ghaffar, A.,  Khan, S.A.,  Mukhtar, Z. , Latif,  F. and Rajoka, M. I.  (2009). Optimized expression of a thermostable xylanase 11 A gene from Chaetomium thermophilum NIBGE 1 in Escherichia coli. Protein & Peptide Letters, 16(4): 356-362. (Impact factor 1.097).
• Wajid, S., Latif, F., Afzal, S., Mukhtar, Z., Ghaffar, A., Mansoor, S. and Rajoka, I. (2008). Cloning and expression of Chaetomium thermophilum xylanase gene 11A in prokaryote. The Nucleus, 45(3-4): 149-156.
• Andleeb, S., Latif, F., Afzal, S., Mukhtar, Z.,  Mansoor, S. and Rajoka, I. (2008). Cloning and expression of Chaetomium thermophilum xylanase 11-A gene in Pichia pastoris. The Nucleus,   45 (1-2): 75-81.
• Asad, S., Mukhtar, Z., Nazir, F., Hashmi, J.A., Mansoor, S., Zafar, Y. and Arshad, M. (2008).