University of the Punjab.

Centre for Applied Molecular Biology (CAMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Dr. Aleena Sumrin leads research at the intersection of molecular biology, proteomics, and bioengineering, with a focus on discovering plant-derived proteins for therapeutic applications. Her recent work as Co-Principal Investigator involved developing tumor-targeting peptide-cytokine recombinant fusion proteins as an alternative cancer therapy. Her research program centers on Ribosome Inactivating Proteins (RIPs) and RIP-like proteins from indigenous Pakistani flora. Using Nano LC-MS/MS, chromatography, cloning, and functional assays, her group has identified novel proteins with strong glycosidase activity, high cytotoxicity against cancer cells, and significant antimicrobial and antifungal properties. She has successfully led multiple university and national-level research projects and has supervised 7 PhD and 47 MPhil/MS students. Her students’ research spans antiviral therapy for HCV, epigenetics of rheumatoid arthritis, genetic diversity of date palm, cytotoxic plant and fungal proteins, and transgenic expression of RIPs in crops for self-defense. Dr. Sumrin gained international research exposure at the University of Edinburgh, UK, through a Charles Wallace Visiting Fellowship, where she trained in primary cell culture, immunoblotting, and flow cytometry. She also contributed to infectious disease diagnostics for HCV, HBV, and COVID-19 in Lahore during the pandemic. Currently, she is focused on LC-MS/MS de novo sequencing of indigenous RIP proteins to expand the pipeline for novel therapeutics. Research Interests: Therapeutic proteins | Cancer therapeutics | RIP proteins | Proteomics & LC-MS/MS | Protein expression & purification | Antimicrobials | Molecular diagnostics.