DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY

The Department of Biochemistry is currently chaired by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shakil, who is a medical graduate with PhD in the subject of Biochemistry. The department was first established in King Edward Medical College, Lahore on 29th April 1980 as a separate entity and Prof. Abdus Salam was its founding head. In 1990, the University of Punjab awarded status to the subject to be separately examined in MBBS degree program thereafter. Biochemistry encompasses metabolism of biomolecules, enzymology, endocrinology and genetics. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful at explaining living processes. Almost all areas of life sciences are being uncovered and developed by biochemical methodology and research.
Undergraduate students of MBBS are being trained in the subject of Medical Biochemistry with the belief that understanding the biochemical basis of health and disease may help in the practice of clinical medicine. Students must focus not only on the accumulation of factual knowledge of the subject but also on the development of ideas & relationships that will be helpful in their clinical practice. Moreover, undergraduate & postgraduate students are being taught the molecular & biochemical basis of genetics considering the current era as the genomic era of molecular medicine.
Department of Biochemistry has been recognized for M.Phil. and Ph.D. (Biochemistry) by PM&DC & accredited for FCPS-II training in Biochemistry by CPSP. Efforts are being made to uplift the standard of teaching and research in the subject of medical Biochemistry to produce the graduates (MBBS, DPT, BSc Nursing & Allied Health Sciences) and post-graduates (M.Phil., FCPS, Ph.D.) at par with the modern era of genomic medicine.

Goals:

• To enable undergraduate students to critically evaluate & interpret biochemical basis of biological processes.
• To provide postgraduate students with the ability to master the discovery & translation of new knowledge concerning the molecular basis of life through interdisciplinary research and training.
• To produce aspiring molecular life scientists who can make discoveries in the field of health to prevent, diagnose or treat diseases

Objectives:

• To make medical, & Allied health undergraduate students understand fundamental concepts of biochemistry and to enable them to apply those concepts to the practice of medicine.
• To provide teaching assistance to nursing undergraduate students in the subject of biochemistry.
• To provide an advanced understanding of the core principles of Biochemistry and their molecular basis to the postgraduate students, and to enable them to acquire a specialized knowledge and understanding of integral aspects through assignments and research project.
• To develop psychomotor skill in undergraduate students for practical work based on principles of various conventional & specialized lab investigations, instrumentation analysis.
• To introduce students to modern methods of biochemical experimentation and employing those methods to promote research at postgraduate level in the field of clinical & molecular Biochemistry.

• MBBS
• Doctor of Physiotherapy
• BSc Vision & Allied Health Sciences
• BSc Nursing
• M.Phil (Biochemistry)
• FCPS (Biochemistry)
• Ph.D (Biochemistry)

Lab Facilities

• Microlab 300 a semi-automated clinical chemistry analyzer which is used to perform tests on serum, plasma, or urine samples to determine concentrations of analytes (e.g., cholesterol, electrolytes, glucose, calcium) and to assay certain therapeutic drugs.
• Thermal cycler or PCR machine  used for isolation of DNA fragments, forensic analysis – to analyze extremely small amounts of sample, detection of infectious agents, diagnosis of genetic diseases, study of mutations & polymorphisms, testing of genetic carriers, isolation and amplification of tumor suppressors, assistance in DNA sequencing etc.