Prof. Zeba Islam Seraj (Ph.D.)
Contact Address
Qualifications
Job Experience
Research Interest
Honours, Distinctions, PI of Research Grants

Students awarded Ph.D.

Professional Membership

Prof.  Zeba Islam Seraj

Contact address :
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka,
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.
Phone: 880-2-8614708, 9661921-59 extn 7647,  Fax: 880-2-8615583/9143332
E-mail: zebai@univdhaka.edu

Post Doctoral in Biochemistry (1986-1987). Exploration of the diversity of protein coding sequences in RNA from bovine retina in the laboratory of Prof. B.E.H. Madden, Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Liverpool, U.K.

Ph. D. in Biochemistry (1982-1986). Worked on Isolation and characterization of the core proteins of rat liver heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) particles. Under supervision of Dr. J.T. Knowler, Department of Biochemistry, University of Glasgow, U.K.

Master of Science in Biochemistry (1982). From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thesis supervision: Prof. Kamal Uddin Ahmed. Secured First Class Third position.

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (1980).From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Secured First Class First position.

University of Dhaka:

Have been responsible for teaching Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for more than 19 years. Am teaching on a voluntary basis at the Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, DU, since the latter's inception in 2001. Have been extensively involved in designing and supervising Masters and 4^th year honors practical as well as training of students in current methods in Biotechnology. Have brought in many international as well as local grants (details below) and established a well-equipped Biotechnology and Molecular Biology laboratory at the Department.

• Professor :in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Dhaka, since December 1997 to date. Have been teaching  molecular biology to under graduate students and molecular biology and plant biotechnology to master's students. Have supervised M.Sc thesis of more than 40 students/research associates in plant biotechnology and plant molecular biology. Two students have received M. Phil. And two have received Ph.D. degrees under my supervision. Currently have 2 more Ph.D. and 1 M.Phil. students as well as graduate research associates at the moment (2008).

• Associate Professor : in the same department  from December 1991 till December 1997, working as above.

• Assistant Professor : in the  same department since 1988  working as described above.

• Principal Investigator: Have supervised work on plant biotechnology funded by foreign and local grants since 1991 (details below).

• Co-Principal Investigator with IRRI scientists on development of rice varieties suited to adverse soils under a Generation Challenge program. Details of partnership and work published in 'Partners and Product Highlights, 2006', whose web copy is available currently at www.generationcp.org. This work has put Dhaka University and my laboratory as a partner internationally.

Awards for Visiting Scientist

• Visiting Scientist, Department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Texas at Austin, USA, August 15-December 15, 2005. Awarded Norman Borlaug fellowship for this work as first Bangladeshi to receive this honor.

• Visiting Scientist at USDA research station at Beaumont, Texas, USA: August 4-16, 2003.

• Visiting Research Fellow at PBGB & CSWS Division, IRRI: IRRI-PETRRA Bangladesh project on development of high yielding rice varieties for the coastal wetlands of Bangladesh. June 11-29, 2002 and June 16-20, 2003. Supervision and report writing on fine mapping of the major QTL of Pokkali.  

• Visiting Scientist, IRRI, January-March 1998: Cloning, subcloning and transformation in E.coli and Agrobacterium. 

Organizing Faculty and Update in Biotechnology:

• Secretary and Organizer of  Conference on promotion of Biotechnology in Bangladesh, National and International Perspectives, April 4-7, 2007, Dhaka, Bangladesh, http://www.promotebiotechbd.net

• Organizer & Faculty: International Practical Workshop on 'Novel DNA markers for crop improvement', sponsored by ICGEB and jointly organized by the Department of Botany and Biochemistry, University of Dhaka 4-13^th November, 2001.

• Developing country collaborator: Invited to present on IRRI Day at IRRI Los Banos, October 29^th, 2002

• Biosafety Guidelines for Bangladesh, Resource Person: Ministry of Science & Technology, 1999.

• Participant: USDA sponsored Two-week Cochran Fellowship program in USA on current status of crop transformation, IPR and Biosafety issues, August 15^th to September 3, 2001.

• Participant: IRRI-sponsored ARBN workshop on 'Proteomic analysis of abiotic stress responsiveness of rice' held in the Agricultural Biotechnology Institure of Iran (ABRII). From 28^th April –9^th May, 2001.

• Participant: Microarray and Bioinformatics workshop III at IRRI, Feb 23-26, 2004

Salinity tolerance in rice:

• Rice transformation with antiporter and other genes for production of salt tolerant rice. Cloning with various genes, using the PCR and recombination vectors. Transgenic rice being tested for salt tolerance in confined conditions.

• Isolation and characterization of salt-inducible promoters.

• Use of DNA markers in breeding programs (in collaboration with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, BRRI), for producing salt tolerant versions of mega rice varieties.

• Fine-mapping and progeny testing of major QTLs for salinity tolerance in rice.
   

 Establishment of International and National Collaborative links:

• Links with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) -joint collaborative research. Md. Sazzadur Rahman, SO, Physiology Division of BRRI, completing research work on Marker aided selection for production of saline tolerant rice.

• Links with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Co-PI of joint projects. MOU with Dhaka University and IRRI arranged.

• Generation Challenge Program (GCP) partner in International Agricultural Research.

Invited speaker/ research Reports at conferences

• Van Humboldt invited speaker at Alumni on, 'Biotechnological solutions for sustainable crop production in the changing environment of Bangladesh', February 2008.

• FAO sponsored lecture/report on 'Status of Dhaka University Biotechnological Research, November, 2002, BARC, Dhaka.

• Plenary Lecture at Annual Conference of the Bangladesh Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology, BRRI auditorium, Gazipur, December 2002, entitled, 'Progress and Potential in Rice Research'

• Lecture at Meijo University, Nagoya Japan, December, 2003, on 'Characterization and genetic variation of the traditional coastal rice cultivars of Bangladesh' during International Symposium on Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants.

• Lecture on 'Research at the DU Affiliated center' (Plant Biotechnology and Genetics laboratories of Biochemistry and Botany) of ICGEB in Board of Governors meeting, November, 2004.

• Lecture on 'Biotechnology and Genetic Modification for Crop Improvement in Bangladesh' in Report from Regional Public Hearing Workshop on GMO, 12^th February, 2006, organized by IUCN, IPSU-MoEF, DANIDA and Orbicon.

• Invited by UGC to be part of Team for World Bank Sponsored Study on, 'A Strategic Plan for Higher Education', submitted in August 2006.

 Noorain M. Rasul, 2005: Isolation and Characterization of Vacuolar OsNHX1and

 its Expression in Transgenic Rice

 Laisa A. Lisa, 2006: Molecular Investigation on Salt Tolerance of Coastal Rice Landraces at

 Reproductive and Seedling Stages

 

• Member, Board of Trustees, Bangladesh Rice Foundation.

• Member, Editorial Board, Bangladesh Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology (BAPTCB) Journal.

• Life Member, Bangladesh Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology (BAPTC&B)

• Life member Bangladesh Biochemical and Molecular Biology Society (BMBS)

• Life member, Graduate Biochemists Association (GBA)

• My laboratory is part of the Affiliated Center jointly with the Department of Botany for the International Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).