DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY

The Department of Biochemistry is currently chaired by Prof. Dr. Nakhshab Choudhry 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, University of the Punjab awarded status to the subject to be separately examined in MBBS degree program thereafter. Biochemistry encompasses molecular genetics, protein science and metabolism. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful through these three disciplines at explaining living processes. Almost all areas of the 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 this belief that understanding biochemical basis of diseases may help in the practice of clinical medicine. Students have to focus not only on 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 molecular & biochemical basis of genetics considering the current era as genomic era of molecular medicine.

Department of Biochemistry has been recognized for PhD (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 so as to produce the graduates (MBBS, BDS, DPT, BSc Nursing & Allied Health Sciences) and post-graduates (MPhil, FCPS, PhD) at par with modern era of genomic medicine. Postgraduate students of this department are facilitated and enabled to carry out their research projects in the field of biochemistry & molecular genetics employing required equipment already in working state.

Goals:

• To enable undergraduate students to critically evaluate & interpret biochemical basis of biological processes.
• To provide postgraduate students with the ability to master 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, dental & 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
• BDS
• Doctor of Physiotherapy
• BSc Vision & Allied Health Sciences
• BSc Nursing
• MPhil (Biochemistry)
• FCPS (Biochemistry)
• PhD (Biochemistry)

Besides routinely used laboratory equipment , Biochemistry lab is equipped with following working instruments :

• 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.
• Real time PCR used for estimation of the amount of a given DNA sequence present in a sample that is often applied to quantitatively determine levels of gene expression.
• High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) used for quantitative analysis of the sample components e.g for drug analysis & nutrient analysis in samples.
• Genetic analyzer/DNA sequencer an automated system capable of sequencing DNA or analyzing fragments for a variety of applications. Knowledge of DNA sequences of genes and other parts of the genome of organisms has become indispensable for basic research studying biological processes, as well as in applied fields such as diagnostic or forensic research. The advent of DNA sequencing has significantly accelerated biological research and discovery.