Speakers - 2026

Biography

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Saeed earned his Ph.D. (2010) in Crop Genetics and Breeding from State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China under Overseas Scholarship for PhD studies in Selected Fields program initiated by Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan. Prof. Saeed is currently serving as Tenured Professor in the Department of Botany, Faculty of Life Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), Pakistan. During his diverse and dynamic career, he served as Technology Transfer Officer (May 1999-December 2004) in the Nature Farming Research and Development Foundation (NFRDF), Faisalabad, Pakistan promoting the concept of organic farming among farmers of Pakistan. He also served as Assistant Professor (August 2010-November 2011) in the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore. Prof. Saeed has over 25 years’ experience in academics, research and development activities. He has significantly advanced the field of cotton organic farming, nanotechnology, cotton genetics, genomics and molecular breeding. He established a state-of-the art Molecular Genetics & Genomics Lab at Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), Faisalabad and developed a comprehensive teaching and research program (BS, M.Phil. and Ph.D.) in Applied Molecular Genetics and Genomics and earned international recognition as an eminent cotton molecular breeder and geneticist. To recognize his excellent contributions in the field of cotton molecular genetics and genomics, he was awarded Esquel Fellowship to present his research findings at the world meritorious forum of International Cotton Genome Initiative (ICGI)-2014 Research Conference held in Wuhan, China, September 25-28, 2014. He has supervised 5 Ph.D. and 47 M.Phil. students, contributing significantly to capacity building in plant molecular genetics, genomics, and nanotechnology. His research is widely recognized, with 2 book chapters and over 30 peer-reviewed publications in national and international scientific journals, with a cumulative impact factor exceeding 70 and over 900 citations. Dr. Saeed has served as principal or co-principal investigator on number of research projects funded by leading national and international agencies, including HEC, and Shandong Agricultural University, China. He has developed elite cotton lines having excellent climate resilience using genomics-assisted breeding approach. His research interests focus on basic and applied research using modern molecular genetics, genomics, molecular breeding, and nanotechnology approaches to enhance crop production in Pakistan and worldwide.