Dr. Asad Ullah Khan did his undergraduate studies in chemistry and post-graduate studies in biotechnology at the
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) after which he pursued his doctoral studies at the
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,
New Delhi to secure a PhD in biochemistry from Aligarh Muslim University.[1] He started his career as a lecturer at AMU in 1997 and during his career there, he did his post-doctoral studies at
Rutgers University during 2000–03. He returned to India to resume his career at AMU where he holds the position of a professor and the coordinator of the Biotechnology Unit.[2]
Professional profile
Khan's research focus is on developing new inhibitors against
multidrug resistant clinical
strains with special interest on
extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL) such as
NDM-1 and
CTX-M, using QSARR modeling and structure-based virtual screening methods.[1] The team led by him collect Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae strains from hospital and community-acquired infection sites and it was during one of those explorations that he discovered a variant of
New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 named NDM-4, more commonly known as Aligarh super bug, in the sewage drains of
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh, in 2014.[3][4] This was the first recorded sighting of the antibiotic-resistant
super bug in India;[note 1][6][7] the finding was later disclosed by Khan in an article published in the
Journal of Medical Microbiology.[8] Later, Khan and his colleagues developed a protocol for detecting super bugs and was successful in sequencing the genes of three variants of NDM-1.[9] His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles[10][note 2] and
ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 241 of them.[11] Besides he has also edited three books.[2]
Khan is a member of the scientific committee of the Indian Academy of Biomedical Sciences[12] and sits in the advisory board of the Sir Syed Global Scholar Award (SSGSA) committee.[13] He is an associate editor of
BMC Microbiology for their section on Clinical microbiology and vaccines[14] and is a member of the Task Force on Bioinformatics, Computational and Systems Biology of the
Department of Biotechnology.[2] He has also conducted workshops and seminars on the subject.[15]
Awards and honors
Recipient of Sri Om Prakash Bhasin Award-2019 and visitor's Award 2019 for his trail-blazing research in Biotechnology; The Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI) awarded Khan the Young Scientist Award in 2006;[2] AMI honored him again in 2009 with the Alembic Award.[16][17] He received the Most Active Teacher Award from Aligarh Muslim University in 2010[18] and the Cutting-Edge Research Enhancement and Scientific Training (CREST) Award of the Department of Biotechnology in 2011.[2] The
Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India awarded him the
National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2012.[19] When Aligarh Muslim University instituted the Outstanding Research Award in 2014, he was the first recipient of the award.[20]
Khan was elected as a fellow by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2017.[21] He is also an elected fellow of the Biotech Research Society, India[22] and the Indian Academy of Microbiological Sciences[23] and the various research fellowships he has received include
University Grants Commission fellowship (1995–98), Boyscast fellowship of the
Department of Science and Technology (2004–05) and the visiting fellowship of the
Indian National Science Academy (2006–07).[20]
Zaidi, Sahar; Misba, Lama; Khan, Asad U (2017). "Nano-therapeutics: A revolution in infection control in post antibiotic era". Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine. 13 (7): 2281–2301.
doi:
10.1016/j.nano.2017.06.015.
PMID28673854.
Ahmad, Nayeem; Ali, Syed Manazir; Khan, Asad U (2017). "First reported New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1-producing Cedecea lapagei". International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 49 (1): 118–119.
doi:
10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2016.10.001.
PMID28244375.
Liu, Yi-Yun; Wang, Yang; Walsh, Timothy R; Yi, Ling-Xian; Zhang, Rong; Spencer, James; Doi, Yohei; Tian, Guobao; Dong, Baolei; Huang, Xianhui; Yu, Lin-Feng; Gu, Danxia; Ren, Hongwei; Chen, Xiaojie; Lv, Luchao; He, Dandan; Zhou, Hongwei; Liang, Zisen; Liu, Jian-Hua; Shen, Jianzhong (2016). "Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance mechanism MCR-1 in animals and human beings in China: A microbiological and molecular biological study". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 16 (2): 161–168.
doi:
10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00424-7.
PMID26603172.
Danishuddin; Khan, Asad U (2016). "Descriptors and their selection methods in QSAR analysis: Paradigm for drug design". Drug Discovery Today. 21 (8): 1291–1302.
doi:
10.1016/j.drudis.2016.06.013.
PMID27326911.
Danishuddin, Mohd; Khan, Asad U (2015). "Structure based virtual screening to discover putative drug candidates: Necessary considerations and successful case studies". Methods. 71: 135–145.
doi:
10.1016/j.ymeth.2014.10.019.
PMID25448480.
Islam, B; Khan, S. N; Haque, I; Alam, M; Mushfiq, M; Khan, A. U (2008). "Novel anti-adherence activity of mulberry leaves: Inhibition of Streptococcus mutans biofilm by 1-deoxynojirimycin isolated from Morus alba". Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 62 (4): 751–757.
doi:
10.1093/jac/dkn253.
PMID18565974.
Khan, Asad U; Hampsey, Michael (2002). "Connecting the DOTs: Covalent histone modifications and the formation of silent chromatin". Trends in Genetics. 18 (8): 387–389.
doi:
10.1016/S0168-9525(02)02746-4.
PMID12142001.
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ab"National Fellowships and Awards". Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit Aligarh Muslim University India. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.