News
May 2022: Dr Amir Faisal wins the prestigeous Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award.
Celebrating teaching excellence at LUMS! LUMS is excited to announce the winners of the 2022-23 Vice Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence. Congratulations to Drs. Adeel Tariq, Amir Faisal, Ghazal Mir Zulfiqar, Zafar Ayub Qazi, and Mr. Muhammad Usama Waheed! Acknowledging the accomplishments of the faculty, Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, said, “This year’s winners light a spark in their students, inspire their colleagues, and have been instrumental in furthering LUMS’ reputation for educational excellence in Pakistan and beyond.”
If we were to describe Dr. Faisal’s teaching in three words, they would be: engaging, inclusive, and accessible. In his student’s words, “He goes above and beyond to make sure the class progresses together as a pack, and no one is left struggling behind.” Dr. Faisal makes an extra effort to help students build a strong foundation before introducing complex ideas in biology. In the words of another student, “He believes if you can visualise it, you understand it. He reiterates concepts until they become
He is guided by the idea that student learning ‘is often closely tied to their interest and excitement’ so he seeks to inspire, champion, and mentor them in each and every class he teaches. His commitment to excellence makes him one of LUMS’ most cherished teachers.
Dr. Faisal, sharing his thoughts on receiving the award, said, “I have always felt lucky to be able to teach and mentor students at LUMS, and this award motivates me to keep on learning and improving my teaching. I am thankful to many wonderful mentors and engaging students who have inspired and helped me improve as a teacher.”
You can read about the award here
December 2022: Research from the Cancer Therapeutics Lab at SSE, published in the “British Journal of Cancer” received the prestigious Bashir-Alavi award from Shaukat Khanum Symposium 2021.
A research publication from the Cancer Therapeutics Lab at SBASSE, LUMS has received the prestigious Bashir-Alavi award from Shaukat Khanum Symposium 2021. The study, published in the “British Journal of Cancer” was led by MS student Muhammad Usama Tariq and supervised by Dr Amir Faisal with contributions from other MS and PhD students. The LUMS community is proud of this achievement and congratulates the department of life sciences.
Every year, the Bashir-Alavi award celebrates the best cancer research publication to have come out of Pakistan. This is to acknowledge the indigenous research carried out at institutes in Pakistan that helps fight this devastating disease. Different cancer types have different underlying causes that determine the prognosis. One-third of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
that determine the prognosis. One-third of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) patients, for example, have mutated form of a protein called Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) that confers poor prognosis. FLT3 is a receptor tyrosine kinase that regulates the production and differentiation of different blood cells. Different FLT3 inhibitors have been discovered and evaluated in the clinic, but their success has been limited due to the emergence of acquired resistance. The award-winning research at SBASSE has now identified and validated a drug-like molecule, CCT245718, that can kill the AML cancer cells that are resistant to different FLT3 inhibitors. The molecule inhibits two targets Aurora A mitotic kinase and FLT3 tyrosine kinase receptor, that helps it overcome the acquired resistance. The research was funded by the Faculty Initiative Fund (FIF) and Startup Grants awarded by LUMS to Dr Amir Faisal.
November 2022: Second PhD student from CTL , Muhammad Furqan, defends his thesis:
Aurora kinases (Aurora A, B, and C) are a family of serine/threonine kinases that play critical roles during mitotic initiation and progression. Aurora A and B kinases are ubiquitously expressed, and their overexpression and/or amplification in many cancers have been associated with poor prognosis. Several inhibitors that target Aurora kinases A, B, or both have been developed during the past decade with efficacy in different in vitro and in vivo models for a variety of cancers. Recent studies have also identified Aurora A as a synthetic lethal target for different tumor suppressors, including RB1, SMARCA4, and ARID1A, which signifies the need for Aurora-A-selective inhibitors. Here, we report the screening of a small library of quinones (nine naphthoquinones, one orthoquinone, and one anthraquinone) in a biochemical assay for Aurora A kinase that resulted in the identification of several quinones as inhibitors. IC50 determination against Aurora A and B kinases revealed the inhibition of both kinases with selectivity toward Aurora A. Two of the
compounds, natural quinone naphthazarin (1) and a pseudo anthraquinone, 2-(chloromethyl)quinizarin (11), potently inhibited the proliferation of various cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 0.16 ± 0.15 to 1.7 ± 0.06 and 0.15 ± 0.04 to 6.3 ± 1.8 μM, respectively. Treatment of cancer cells with these compounds for 24 h resulted in abrogated mitosis and apoptotic cell death. Direct binding of both the compounds with Aurora A kinase was also confirmed through STD NMR analysis. Docking studies predicted the binding of both compounds to the ATP binding pocket of Aurora A kinase. We have, therefore, identified quinones as Aurora kinase inhibitors that can serve as a lead for future drug discovery endeavors.
August 2021: Researh by CTL MS and PhD students, Usama Tariq, Muhammad Furqan, Hira Parveen and Rahim Ullah published in British Journal of Cancer:
Research work led by Muhammad Usama Tariq identifies an Aurora A kinase inhibitor as a dual FLT3/Aurora A inhibitor that overcomes TKD-mediated resistance to FLT3 inhibitors. FLT3 is an important oncogene that is activated in nearly 30% of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Several FLT3 inhibitors have progressed to clinical trial with tw obtaining FDA approval for FLT3 dependent AML. However, acquired resistance to some of these inhibitors has been seen in patients undergoing clinical trials. Dual FLT3 inhibitors represents one of the strategies to overcome such TDK-mediated resistance. CCT245718 exhibits potent antiproliferative activity towards FLT3-ITD + AML cell lines and strongly binds to FLT3-ITD and TKD (D835Y) mutants in vitro. Activities of both FLT3-ITD and Aurora A are also inhibited in cells. Inhibition of FLT3 results in reduced phosphorylation of STAT5, downregulation of survivin and induction of apoptotic cell death. Moreover, CCT245718 overcomes TKD-mediated resistance in a MOLM-13-derived cell line containing FLT3 with both ITD and D835Y mutations. It also inhibits FLT3 signalling in both parental and resistant cell lines compared to FLT3-specific inhibitor MLN518, which is only active in the parental cell line. Our results demonstrate that CCT245718 is a potent dual FLT3/Aurora A inhibitor that can overcome TKD-mediated acquired resistance.
September 2020: BS student from CTL, Haleema Sadia Malik, publishes her SRPOJ research in Journal of Natural Products:
Haleema Sadia Malik, a Biology undergraduate from 2018 batch, has published a part of her senior year’s project in American Chemical Society’s “Journal of Natural Products”. Haleema used two cell-based screening assays to identify cellular targets of a compound with an as yet, unknown biological activity. The study design focused on targeting “oncogenic addiction” of two leukemia cell lines (Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Chronic Myeloid Leukemia cell lines) with a library of chalcone derivatives. Screening of the chalcone library in oncogene-dependent leukemia cell lines and a dot blot assay for mitotic inducers resulted in the identification of “chalcone 4” as a novel dual inhibitor of FLT3 kinase and microtubule polymerization. Inhibition of both these targets by chalcone 4 was confirmed in biochemical assays. In cells, the compound inhibited signaling downstream of FLT3 and caused mitotic arrest. As a result, cells treated with this inhibitor underwent apoptotic cell death. Finally, the dual inhibition of FLT3 and microtubule polymerization by the compound was able to overcome TKD-mediated resistance in an in vitro model. “Chalcone 4”, therefore, represents a promising lead for targeting a subset of AML as a single agent. Further lead
optimization, selectivity and pharmacokinetic studies are required for in vivo evaluation of this inhibitor.
This interdisciplinary work was supervised by Dr Amir Faisal and involved researchers from Cancer Therapeutics Lab (Department of Biology; SBASSE), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at SBASSE and Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany. The paper can be accessed here.
August 2020: Rahim Ullah’s PhD work published in Stem Cell Research and Therapy:
A part of Dr Rahim Ullah's PhD thesis entitled "Transcriptomic analysis reveals differential gene expression, alternative splicing, and novel exons during mouse trophoblast stem cell differentiation" has been published in Stem Cell Research and Therapy. Dr Rahim Ullah is the first PhD student to graduate from Cancer Therapeutics Lab. The paper is open access and can be downloaded from here. The paper identified 7800 differentially expressed genes in TGCs compared to TSCs which include regulators of the cell cycle, apoptosis, cytoskeleton, cell mobility, embryo implantation, metabolism, and various signaling pathways. It also shows that several mitotic proteins, including Aurora A kinase, were downregulated in TGCs and that the activity of Aurora A kinase is required for the maintenance of TSCs. The paper also identifies hitherto undiscovered, cell-type-specific
alternative splicing events in 31 genes in the two cell types. Finally, the paper reports 19 novel exons in 12 genes which are expressed in both TSCs and TGCs.
June 2020: Rahim Ullah successfully defends his PhD thesis:
Congratulations Dr Rahim Ullah for successfully defending your PhD thesis (26-06-2020). Rahim Alhamdullilah is the first PhD student from my lab and I have to say, he has been an exemplary student. Thank you to the thesis committee members, Dr Muhammad Tariq, Dr. Syed Shahzad ul Hussan and examiners Dr Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem and Dr Jamshed Iqbal. Rahim is one of the most hardworking and dedicated researchers who indulges himself in his work. In addition to his exemplary demeanour, Rahim has grown intellectually and understands his work thoroughly. Rahim worked on several projects but his main and most significant work has been the transcriptional profiling of trophoblast stem cell differentiation. Trophoblast stem cells and the differentiated trophoblast giant cells are essential for the development and functioning of placental. Rahim identified many interesting differentially expressed genes, new splicing events and novel exons during this differentiation process. His work has opened up several directions that we will follow up to understand this fundamental developmental process. Rahim also identified why developmentally polyploid cells are resistant to genotoxic-stress induced apoptosis. At the end of his PhD, Rahim is full of ideas and that is the most pleasing thing for me. Well done Rahim, I wish you all the luck for the future. Keep up the good work!
June 2020: Rahim Ullah successfully defends his PhD thesis:
Working in Dr. Amir Faisal 's group in biology, MS student Rida Zahra's paper titled 'A cell-based high-throughput screen identifies inhibitors that overcome P-glycoprotein (Pgp)-mediated multidrug resistance' has been published in PLOS One. Co-authors include two PhD students and Dr Aziz Mithani from Biology as well as Dr Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem from Chemistry. The research team used a cell-based high throughput screening approach to identify 8 compounds with known biological targets that can overcome multidrug resistance in cancer. The work also spells out the underlying mechanisms of how these compounds overcome resistance. This work represents an important step in enabling researchers to tackle one of the major challenges in cancer therapeutics. You may read the paper here
Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering (DIGS-BB). DIGS-BB cooperates with International Max Planck Research School for Cell, Development and System Biology (IMPRS-CellDevoSys) under the umbrella of Dresden International PhD program (DIPP). She will join the research group of Prof. Attila Tóth (mammalian meiosis lab) at the Medical Theoretical Centre (MTZ) of Technical University, Dresden (TU Dresden). Rida’s MS thesis involved “High throughput cell-based screening for drugs that can overcome multidrug resistance in cancers”. Following the completion of her MS, she worked as a research associate in CTL.