PhD Student

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Biography

I have completed my B.Sc. & M.Sc. in Agriculture with Soil Science as major subject, from University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan. During my final year of B.Sc., I was inclined towards the research field in soil biology. In 2019, I pursued my M.Sc. in Soil Science with soil and environmental microbiology as my research domain. Under the supervision of Dr. Zahir Ahmad Zahir, I evaluated the potential of thermotolerant rhizobacteria for mitigation of heat stress in wheat and their incorporation as biofertilizer for arid/semi-arid climate. Further, I also assisted another lab project with the aim to develop bioherbicides for rice and wheat, using HCN producing rhizobacteria as biocontrol agents.

 

PhD

Nitrification is a key process in global nitrogen cycle and is a key driver of climate change through GHG emissions and eutrophication. Ammonia is released through mineralization of organic matter in soil. Nitrifiers are thought to be chemolithoautotrophs, using energy derived from ammonia and carbon from CO2, but nitrifiers can mineralize small organic molecules like urea and cyanate. This notion challenges the resilience of various ecological zones and food security as urea is widely used as fertilizer throughout the world. The objective of my research is to fil the missing link between carbon and nitrogen cycle by providing robust data on the contribution of ammonia oxidizers involved in urea and cyanate turnover in terrestrial system. For that, I intend to redefine the metabolism of nitrifiers using Dual-Stable Isotope Probing, metagenomics, transcriptomics, enzyme kinetics and physiology.