University of the Punjab.

Samra Kousar began her professional career as a Research Officer at the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), Lahore, in 2008, following the completion of her M.Sc. from the Institute of Chemistry at the University of the Punjab, Lahore. Her post was subsequently upgraded to Research Officer cum Lecturer in January 2010.
She received training in DNA genetic analysis for Fragment analysis and DNA Sequencing Analysis, as well as various related techniques, at the DNA core facility of CEMB, a high-throughput facility in Pakistan. She also received specialized training in Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) long-read sequencing, including library preparation, MinION sequencing, and bioinformatics analysis for genomic applications. Over the years, she helped researchers within the centre and across the country in data analysis, troubleshooting, SNP Analysis, and Fragment Analysis.
She earned her Ph.D. from CEMB, with the title of her Ph.D. thesis being “Case-Control Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Association Studies with SNP Variants of Potential Candidate Genes in the Pakistani Population.” During her MPhil degree, she gained working experience in the Genetic Diseases lab at CEMB, where she conducted research on hearing impairment and screened various loci that are prevalent in the Pakistani population.
During her Ph.D. studies, she was awarded the IRSIP scholarship and served as a Research Fellow for six months in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. She engaged in collaborative work on “Common and rare genetic variants in respiratory health: the UK Biobank Lung Exome Variant Evaluation (UK BiLEVE) consortium” with the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester, UK.
She was subsequently awarded the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Postdoctoral Fellowship and is conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. Her research focuses on employing CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) and functional genomics approaches to investigate the regulatory effects of genetic variants associated with pulmonary diseases and to facilitate variant-to-gene mapping for improved understanding of disease mechanisms.
Samra Kousar also successfully completed a project awarded by HEC (NRPU #8460) titled “Study of the Association of Potential Candidate SNPs Residing on Chromosome 14 with Inherited Emphysema in the Local Population in 2021,” where she served as the Principal Investigator (PI). She has a keen interest in the study of human genetics and population genetics, particularly in the field of pulmonary complex traits, using next-generation sequencing and functional genomics approaches. Additionally, she is interested in establishing various screening test facilities for genetic diseases at CEMB, including Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT)-based long-read sequencing assays for BRCA1/2 genetic screening and other hereditary disorders. Beyond her professional responsibilities, she has served as the Joint Secretary of the Congress of Molecular Biology, organizing various scientific seminars, conferences, and training workshops.