Dr. Muhammad Zafarullah is Associate Professor of Medicine (Research) since 1998 at University of Montreal, CHUM-Notre-Dame Hospital, currently in charge of a Research laboratory working, on 3 peer reviewed and externally funded projects: Regulation of metalloproteinase and their inhibitor genes in Arthritis and Cardiovascular diseases.
Originally from Pallandri, Azad Kashmir Dr. Zafarullah, graduated (BSc) in Botany And Chemistry from Asghar Mall College, Rawalpindi, University of Punjab in 1973 and gained his Masters (MSc) in Biological Sciences, Major in Microbiology from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan in 1976. He then completed his PhD in Molecular Genetics with great distinction from University of Brussels, Belgium in 1982.
Prior to his current position he has worked from 1990-1998 as Assistant (research) Professor of Medicine, from 1983-1990 - Post-Doctoral Fellow/research associate, University of Calgary: Molecular Cloning, characterization and study of the regulatory Mechanisms of the very first metallothionein (MT) cDNA and gene) and heat shock 70 Cognate genes from Salmon fish, development of gene transfer techniques in fish cell lines, identification of the promoter regions by deletion analysis, Evolutionary comparison between fish and mammalian genes, Environmental, toxicological and physiological studies of MTs.From 1978-1982 - Discovered novel mechanisms of gene reactivation in the arginine ECBH operon of E. coli. These included insertion of IS3 transposable element duplication and inversion of the promoter-less ARG E silent gene, Department of Microbiology, University of Brussels and from 1976-1978 - Construction and characterization of mutants in the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway of Neurosposra crassa by UV irradiation. Department of Biology, University of Islamabad.
Dr. Zafrullah has been involved in many National and International activities including participation in forums such as Osteoarthritis Consensus Conference to decide research priorities organized by CIHR, Canadian Arthritis Network and Arthritis Society in Toronto. He has also collaborated with many other institutions.
He has a vast Teaching and Supervisory experience, obtained major research grants and has earned many honours, prizes and distinctions including Molecular Biology consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) "transfer of knowledge through expatriate nationals" (1998-99); received certificates and honorary plaques from Karachi and Hamdard Universities for delivering several lectures and for organizing a Molecular Biology workshop. Dr. Zafrullah has many research publications to his name and is reviewer for 13 International Journals – reviewing an average of two manuscripts per month.
