P.S. I Thank You

It was 6^th February, 2008, that I was enrolled in a Masters leading to Ph.D. program at CEMB. And by destiny or design, it was the 6^th day of November, 2012, that I was able to submit my Ph.D. Thesis to the University. I spent a little under 5 years in Lahore and every single day was a new experience. Some bad and some good. Now that I lean back and think about the time, I cherish every single bit of memories that I have. I plan to write some of the moments in chronological order shortly. For now, I am pasting the acknowledgement section of my Thesis as a token of thanks to you people. As most of you are not familiar with the system here, I must add that I am not a Doctor YET. Thesis submission indicates that I have achieved the goals of my Ph.D. research and now the University through its own process will determine whether I shall be awarded a degree or not and that process takes a while. A few months if I am lucky. 

All acclamations and appreciations are for ALIMIGHTY ALLAH, the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent, the Compassionate, the Beneficent and the source of all knowledge and wisdom, who bestowed upon me the intellectual ability, courage and strength to complete this humble contribution towards knowledge. I am proud of being a follower of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), the most perfect and exalted among and of ever born on the surface of earth, who declared it to be an obligatory duty of every man and woman to seek and acquire knowledge.

I feel highly privileged to take this opportunity to wish my profound gratitude with a deep sense of obligation to my doctoral research supervisors, Dr. Ahmad Ali Shahid and Dr. Ziaur Rahman, Assistant Professors, National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, for their personal interest, inspiring guidance, helping attitude, and above all for providing necessary laboratory facilities during the whole span of this research work. Thank you for your skillful guidance, invaluable suggestions and sincere attitude throughout the course of my research. Thank you for teaching me the noble arts of science, project management, technical writing, manuscripts preparation and publications.

        My wholehearted thanks go to the worthy Director, Dr. Tayyab Husnain for providing all the necessary facilities for my research at the CEMB. He has been helpful in every facet of my studies and research. He was an excellent advisor in many of the meetings that we had. Furthermore, I am greatly indebted to Dr. S. Riazuddin, National Professor and founding director of CEMB and a researcher par excellence, for his valuable suggestion, sympathetic attitude and cordial co-operation throughout the progress of this research. I would like to thank Dr. Shaheen N. Khan for facilitating my research work by extending her cordial support and guidance during my stay at the Centre.

Nothing happens all of a sudden but is the outcome of something preceding and this thesis is no exception. I would like to thank Dr. Farhat Zaheer, Dr. G.A. Niazi, Dr. Idrees Nasir, Dr. Muhammad Idrees, Dr. Sajida Hassan, Dr. Kausar and Mr. Khalid Masood, all my teachers who taught me during my stay at the Centre. My cordial thanks go to Dr. M. Saqib Shahzad and Dr. Obaid Ullah for their help and immense support during every stage of my research and the write up. I wish to extend my thanks to members of Forensic Research Lab., Genetic Diseases Lab., Genotyping Lab. and Stem Cell Research Lab., especially, Dr. Shahid Yar Khan, Mr. Akram Tariq, Dr. Mohsin Shehzad, Dr. Faizan Cheema, Dr. Farooq Sabir, Ms. Farheena Iqbal and Ms. Samra Kausar for their guidance and cooperation whenever needed. I thank my Lab fellows, Mr. Ghulam Murtaza, Ms. Shahla Nargis Mir, Dr. Usman Ali Ashfaq, Maida, Sana, Tariq Javed, Sidra Rehman, Sana, Ms. Farah Naz, Rahat, Dr. Muhammad Ansar, Rabia Faridi, Maryam, Atiqa and Kiran for their help and support. Moreover I would like to thank Dr. Bushra Rashid, Dr. Sadia Mohsin, Dr. Azra, Dr. A. Qayyum Roa, Mr. Kamran Bajwa, Mr. Fazal-ur-Rehman, Ms. Bushra Ijaz, Mr. Waqar, Mr. Sajid Iqbal, Mr. Imran, Mr. Atif Anwar and Mr. Zulfiqar. Like a Movie where hundreds and thousands of people contribute but we only see the on-screen characters, similarly a lot of people contributed and I would like to thank all the Scientific, Para scientific and Administrative staff of CEMB who had been directly or indirectly instrumental in my research work.

I thank my primary and high school teachers at Govt. Centennial Model School, Daggar Buner. I thank my college lecturers at Excelsior College Swat as well as my university lecturers at Centre of Biotechnology, University of Peshawar for their untiring devotion and dedication to mould us into better humans and achieve something which I would not be able to do without their enthusiasm and teachings.

I would like to thank my friends Sulaiman, Ilyas, Haji Akbar and Mian Sahib Zar for being such wonderful friends during my stay at CEMB. Special thanks to Adnan for his helping me in getting admission at CEMB. I thank Abid Ali Khan for convincing me into reading the first ever novel, “Doomsday Conspiracy”. I thank Malik Badshah, Ihsanullah and Imran, the original TPs, M. Ishfaq, M. Tariq and Haji Khan and all the other TPs and all BBTians around the world. Also thanks to Ibrahim and his cousin Ali, who hosted me in Baluchistan for sampling, and to all the people who participated in this study by giving their blood samples. I would also like to thank, Shakeel, Hayat, Fawad, Khitab, Niaz, Faidad, Masaud, Irshad, Tahir, Liaqat, Ali, Abrar, Islam and Kazim, just a few of all the fantastic “CEMBIANS” at the CEMB, thanks for your friendship and providing such a great research environment. I thank Asma, Sadie, Fatima and Mona for their help and support in my research and write up. I am thankful to all of the fantastic bloggers whom I met online through the wonderful world of blogging and have learnt a lot from you people. I am grateful to you all for helping me get through the difficult times, and for all the emotional support, camaraderie, entertainment, and caring you provided.

No words can express and no deeds can return the love, affection, amiable attitude, sacrifices, advices, unceasing prayers, support, and inspiration that my mother, my little sister Aapa Begum and brothers Shehriyar and Bashar infused in me during my whole academic career. I thank my uncles especially Omar and Ali and all my aunts and cousins particularly Dr. Khizar, Dr. Omar, Zeeshan and Asif Ali, for their utmost support during my career.

Last but not the least; I would like to acknowledge Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for awarding me Indigenous Ph.D. fellowship and supporting a part of this study.

(I have made every effort to include all of you here, but if I could not add any of you, I apologize.)