Dr. Hira Niazi, a scientist trained in the field of molecular biology and biotechnology, has been working as an Assistant Professor at the the Department of Allied Health Sciences, Pak-Austria Fachhochschule: Institute of Applied Sciences & Technology, Mang, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since February 2024 . She has a PhD in cellular and molecular biology from Université de Paris wherein her main focus of research was on studying the role of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), which is a bioactive lipid mediator which functions intracellularly as well as by signaling via a G protein coupled receptor family, known as S1P receptor family (S1PR1-5). The important physiological roles of this signaling that she studied are in hematopoietic cell production and trafficking (including stem progenitor cells, lymphocytes, monocytes and especially, platelets) as well as maintenance of vascular barrier function in transgenic mice models both under homeostasis as well as under diseased conditions such as Gaucher disease (a lipid storage disease with abnormally high S1P levels in circulation) and sickle cell anemia (with high S1P levels in circulation as well). Her findings were published in good impact factor journals such as Circulation Research, eLife and Blood advances, with a total impact factor of 41. In addition, she has recently published a review paper with her collaborators on the role of 3 lipid mediators (S1P, LPA and ATX) in the Journal of cancer metastasis and treatment.
She worked in France for 5 years on a highly prestigious grant offered by the Government of Pakistan and Campus France. Moreover, she was awarded the young investigator grant (YIG) by the SphingoNet transatlantic consortium that comprises European and American partners. She also presented in multiple international conferences and received the best short talk prize at the prestigious FASEB SRC meeting held in 2019 in Lisbon where a jury of senior researchers from her field participated and commended her communication skills. Furthermore, her thesis defence jury also praised her thesis to be in the top 10% of the best theses. As French universities do not allow the jury to give honors title for the doctorate degree, she was given an informal honors title by the jury.
After completion of her doctoral studies, she moved to Germany for a postdoctoral fellowship on blue card talent visa at Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf; working on in vitro platelet production from murine stem cells. After her return to Pakistan, she qualified for HEC’s IPFP fellowship and underwent national faculty development program (NFDP) training provided by NAHE, Pakistan in 2022. In 2023, she worked as Assistant Professor (IPFP) at the Government College University, Lahore on one year long contract where she has taught advanced courses to BS Honors Biotechnology and BS Honors Microbiology such as protein purification, Recombinant DNA technology, Microbial Genetics, Genetic engineering and DNA damage, repair and carcinogenesis. In addition, she has worked with Campus France Pakistan office and French embassy, Pakistan for the «choose France» educational outreach program.
She has joined PAF-IAST in 2024 and is teaching courses to BS Honors Biotechnology and BS Honors Biomedical Sciences. The next aim for her was to work at a prestigious university with the best research infrastructure, collaboration possibilities and teaching opportunities which PAF-IAST and Allied Health sciences department are providing. As a believer of women representation in science, she is committed to woman empowerment. She is interested in health and disease research in Pakistan and wants to establish her own research lab in Pakistan for translational medical research according to the United nations sustainable development goal # 3: «Good health and well-being».