Faculty Profile

Dr. M. Mahmood Ahmed
Associate Professor
Ph.D. Biotechnology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, P. R. CHINA

Dr. M. Mahmood Ahmed, Ph.D. in Biotechnology, with research career revolves around deciphering growth and stress responses with the use of advanced biotechnological approaches integrated with computational Biology. Also, his expertise in nanobiotechnology is applied to devising novel solutions for sustainable agriculture through the design of nanomaterials for targeted nutrient, drug, and stress-mitigating compounds delivery.

  • Ahmed, M. M., M. W. Akram, A. Hadi, Z. Ali, M. Z. Aslam, N. Maheen and S. B. Hussain (2025). Cotton Biotechnology for Drought Stress: An Overview of Challenges and Strategies for Sustainable Cotton Production. Annual Plant Reviews online: 159-198.
  • Ahmed, M. M., T. Tariq, M. A. Mehmood, M. Ashfaq and M. Hasan (2024). "Advanced strategies to mitigate heavy metals in ground and sewage water." Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 47: 100917.
  • Ahmed, M. M., H. Guo, C. Huang, X. Zhang and Z. Lin (2013). "Selection of core SSR markers for fingerprinting upland cotton cultivars and hybrids." Australian Journal of Crop Science 7(12): 1912-1920.
  • Ahmed, M. M., C. Huang, C. Shen, A. Q. Khan and Z. Lin (2020). "Map-based cloning of qBWT-c12 discovered brassinosteroid-mediated control of organ size in cotton." Plant Science 291: 110315.
  • Ahmed, M. M., M. Mukheed, T. Tariq, M. Hasan, M. Shaaban, G. Mustafa and M. Hatami (2025). "Physio-biochemical insights into Arsenic stress mitigation regulated by Selenium nanoparticles in Gossypium hirsutum L." BMC Plant Biology 25(1): 482.
  • Ahmed, M. M., S. Perveen, R. Shabir, A. Hadi, N. ul Ain, M. A. Mehmood, Z. Ali and Z. J. P. B. Khan (2024). "Optimization of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation conditions for efficient Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton transformation." Plant Bulletin 3(1): 113-120.
  • Ahmed, M. M., C. Shen, A. Q. Khan, M. A. Wahid, M. Shaban and Z. Lin (2017). "A comparative genomics approach revealed evolutionary dynamics of microsatellite imperfection and conservation in genus Gossypium." Hereditas 154(1): 12.
  • Ali, Z., M. T. Azhar, M. M. Ahmed, U. Akram and A. Hussain (2022). Breeding Cotton for Salt Tolerance. Cotton Breeding and Biotechnology, CRC Press: 157-170.
  • Ashfaq, M., I. Mushtaq, S. B. Kayani, M. Shaaban, M. M. Ahmed and M. A. Mehmood (2025). Plant Microbe Interaction for Sustainable Agriculture. Soils and Sustainable Agriculture: Interplay of Soil, Plant, Water and Environmental Systems for Sustainable Agriculture. M. Shaaban. Cham, Springer Nature Switzerland: 511-547.
  • Atta, N., M. Shahbaz, F. Farhat, M. F. Maqsood, U. Zulfiqar, N. Naz, M. M. Ahmed, N. U. Hassan, N. Mujahid, A. E.-Z. M. A. Mustafa, M. S. Elshikh and T. Chaudhary (2024). "Proline-mediated redox regulation in wheat for mitigating nickel-induced stress and soil decontamination." Scientific Reports 14(1): 456.
  • Batool, S., I. Ahmed, C. Howells, L. Haitao, M. S. Saif, T. Tariq, R. Hussain, M. M. Ahmad, S. Tauheed, C. Hong, T. Munawar, S. G. Hassan, G. Mustafa and M. Hasan (2026). "Betaine-loaded Foeniculum vulgare@Fe-MOF: A novel approach to combat bleomycin-induced hepatotoxicity in rats." Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 14(1): 120642.
  • Fahad, S., F. A. Khan, N. S. Pandupuspitasari, M. M. Ahmed, Y. C. Liao, M. T. Waheed, M. Sameeullah, Darkhshan, S. Hussain, S. Saud, S. Hassan, A. Jan, M. T. Jan, C. Wu, M. X. Chun and J. Huang (2015). "Recent developments in therapeutic protein expression technologies in plants." Biotechnology Letters 37(2): 265-279.
  • Ahmed, M., N. Naz, M. Abdullah, M. M. Ahmed, M. F. Maqsood, U. Zulfiqar, K. Ahmad, M. S. Alwahibi and M. S. J. P. J. o. E. S. Elshikh (2024). "Evaluation of Climatic and Anthropogenic Impacts on Phytosociological Aspects and Conservation Status of Native Flora in One of Protected and Unprotected Habitats of Cholistan Desert, Pakistan." Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 33(4).
  • Ahmed, M. M., A. Akbar, T. Tariq, S. Ali, A. Hadi, M. S. Rizwan and Q. J. A. S. J. Shakeel (2024). "Determination of insecticidal properties in total soluble proteins of Indigenous plants against crop pests." Agricultural Sciences Journal 6(1): 58-70.
  • Ahmed, M. M., M. W. Akram and Z. Ali (2022). Breeding Cotton for Drought Tolerance. Cotton Breeding and Biotechnology, CRC Press: 139-156.
  • Ahmed, M. M., M. W. Akram, M. H. N. Tahir, S. B. Hussain, J. Ali, A. A. Keerio and A. J. A. R. Abbas (2020). "Genetics and association of yield contributing characters for achene yield in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)." Agrobiol. Rec 1: 26-30.
  • Hasan, M., H. Xue, A. Zafar, A. ul Haq, T. Tariq, M. M. Ahmad, S. G. Hassan, H. U. Javed, X. Chen and X. Shu (2023). "Biochemical surface functionalization of iron oxide for efficient biomarker detector: A new visions of nano-bio interactions." Applied Surface Science Advances 18: 100486.
  • Hasan, M., A. Zafar, M. Jabbar, T. Tariq, Y. Manzoor, M. M. Ahmed, S. G. Hassan, X. Shu and N. Mahmood (2022) "Trident Nano-Indexing the Proteomics Table: Next-Version Clustering of Iron Carbide NPs and Protein Corona." Molecules 27, 5754 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27185754.
  • Huang, C., C. Shen, T. Wen, B. Gao, D. Zhu, X. Li, M. M. Ahmed, D. Li and Z. Lin (2018). "SSR-based association mapping of fiber quality in upland cotton using an eight-way MAGIC population." Molecular Genetics and Genomics 293(4): 793-805.
  • Keerio, A. A., C. Shen, Y. Nie, M. M. Ahmed, X. Zhang and Z. Lin (2018) "QTL Mapping for Fiber Quality and Yield Traits Based on Introgression Lines Derived from Gossypium hirsutum × G. tomentosum." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 19, 243 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19010243.
  • Khan, A. Q., Z. Li, M. M. Ahmed, P. Wang, X. Zhang and L. Tu (2019). "Eriodictyol can modulate cellular auxin gradients to efficiently promote in vitro cotton fibre development." BMC Plant Biology 19(1): 443.
  • Khurshid, M. A., M. A. Mehmood, M. Ashfaq, M. M. Ahmed, N. Ahmed, M. Ishtiaq, A. Hameed and A. Rauf (2022). "Characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis from cotton fields and its effectiveness against Spodoptera litura." Plant Protection 6(3): 209-218.
  • Manzoor, Y., M. Hasan, A. Zafar, M. Dilshad, M. M. Ahmed, T. Tariq, S. G. Hassan, S. G. Hassan, A. Shaheen, G. Caprioli and X. Shu (2022). "Incubating Green Synthesized Iron Oxide Nanorods for Proteomics-Derived Motif Exploration: A Fusion to Deep Learning Oncogenesis." ACS Omega 7(51): 47996-48006.
  • Mateen, A., M. A. Mehmood, M. Ashfaq, A. B. Saddique, R. Binyamin, M. M. Ahmed and H. H. Naeem (2022). "Management of chili root rot pathogen, Rhizoctonia solani, with potential rhizobacteria." Plant Protection 6(3): 275-284.
  • Mehmood, M. A., R. Perveen, S. Chohan, M. Ishtiaq, M. M. Ahmed, M. Shaaban, A. Younas, H. Umer, N. Akram and M. J. P. J. o. P. Abid (2018). "Epidemiological studies of Tomato Leaf Curl Virus and Whitefly population and their management using botanicals." Pakistan Journal of Phytopathology 30(1): 27-36.
  • Mukheed, M., R. Batool, N. Naz, S. Z. Akbar, M. Bourhia, T. A. Shah, K. S. Almaary, A. Bashir, M. Hasan and M. M. Ahmed (2025). "Selenium nanoparticles mitigating arsenic toxicity through modulation in biochemical and anatomical perspectives of Gossypium hirsutum L." New Journal of Chemistry 49(48): 20805-20816.
  • Nazir, M. A., M. Hasan, G. Mustafa, T. Tariq, M. M. Ahmed, R. Golzari Dehno and M. Ghorbanpour (2024). "Zinc oxide nano-fertilizer differentially effect on morphological and physiological identity of redox-enzymes and biochemical attributes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)." Scientific Reports 14(1): 13091.
  • Rashid, S., S. Anjum, M. M. Ahmed, M. N. Iqbal, M. Ashraf, S. Hussain and S. Hamid (2025). "Quercetagetin 3,7 dimethyl ether polymorphs as multi-targeted anti-amyloid agents: Target to cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease." Journal of Molecular Structure 1321: 139792.
  • Saif, M. S., M. Hasan, A. Zafar, M. M. Ahmed, T. Tariq, M. Waqas, R. Hussain, A. Zafar, H. Xue and X. Shu (2023) "Advancing Nanoscale Science: Synthesis and Bioprinting of Zeolitic Imidazole Framework-8 for Enhanced Anti-Infectious Therapeutic Efficacies." Biomedicines 11, 2832 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11102832.
  • Saif, M. S., M. Waqas, R. Hussain, M. M. Ahmed, T. Tariq, S. Batool, Q. Liu, G. Mustafa and M. Hasan (2024). "Potential of CME@ZIF-8 MOF Nanoformulation: Smart Delivery of Silymarin for Enhanced Performance and Mechanism in Albino Rats." ACS Applied Bio Materials 7(10): 6919-6931.
  • Saif, M. S., M. Waqas, R. Hussain, T. Tariq, S. Batool, I. Khan, M. Ghorbanpour, M. M. Ahmed, A. A. Sumra, G. Mustafa and M. Hasan (2024). "Improving the bioavailability of three-dimensional ZIF-8 MOFs against carbon tetrachloride-induced brain and spleen toxicity in rats." Materials Chemistry and Physics 328: 129997.
  • Shaaban, M., L. Wu, Q.-a. Peng, L. van Zwieten, M. A. Chhajro, Y. Wu, S. Lin, M. M. Ahmed, M. S. Khalid, M. Abid and R. Hu (2017). "Influence of ameliorating soil acidity with dolomite on the priming of soil C content and CO2 emission." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 24(10): 9241-9250.
  • Shaban, M., M. M. Ahmed, H. Sun, A. Ullah and L. Zhu (2018). "Genome-wide identification of lipoxygenase gene family in cotton and functional characterization in response to abiotic stresses." BMC Genomics 19(1): 599.
  • Shaban, M., Y. Miao, A. Ullah, A. Q. Khan, H. Menghwar, A. H. Khan, M. M. Ahmed, M. A. Tabassum and L. Zhu (2018). "Physiological and molecular mechanism of defense in cotton against Verticillium dahliae." Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 125: 193-204.
  • Tariq, T., I. Ahmed, M. M. Ahmed, S. Ahmad, R. Batool, S. Tauheed, M. Shabir, G. Mustafa and M. Hasan (2025). "Synthetic, biological and physiological identity of green cobalt oxide nanosponges engineered for multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria." New Journal of Chemistry 49(21): 8991-9002.
  • Waqas, M., M. S. Saif, S. Batool, M. M. Ahmed, T. Tariq, R. Hussain, G. Mustafa, M. Ghorbanpour and M. Hasan (2025). "Green PEGylated-Sily@ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites for amelioration of ROS and DNA damage in rat liver." Scientific Reports 15(1): 28461.
  • Zhan, Q., Y. Fu, G. Feng, M. M. Ahmed, Q. Liu, G. Mustafa and M. Hasan (2024). "Green engineered Mo-CeO2@C nanocomposites for visible light-assisted dye decomposition and microbial apoptosis." Ceramics International 50(22, Part B): 47359-47372.

  • Biotechnology
  • Stress Biology
  • Nano-Biotechnology
  • Computational Biology

  • Awarded Gold Medal for securing the highest academic distinction in BS Program (Plant Breeding & Genetics), at UCA, BZU, Multan (2006 – 2010).
  • Received Merit-Based Scholarship throughout BS Program for outstanding academic performance (2006 – 2010).
  • Competitively selected for a Postgraduate Scholarship for MS Biotechnology by Cultural Exchange Scholarship (PAK)Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) at Huazhong Agricultural University, China (2011 – 2014).
  • Awarded a fully funded Ph.D. Fellowship by Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for research in Biotechnology (2015 – 2018).

  • Reviewer of Journals like BMC Plant Biology, Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology (JPBB), Frontiers in Plant Science, Plant Science, Molecular Biology Reports, Journal of Cotton Research, Current Plant Biology, Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio)
  • Co-PI MNSUA Multan segment in a 320M PKR-funded project for Cotton Seed Development, funded by Punjab Agricultural Department (2019 – 2021).
  • Certificate of Appreciation for contributions in Research, Innovation & Commercialization activities by ORIC, IUB 2024-25.
  • 20 MS Students Supervision Completed, PhD under Supervision.
  • Member of ICGI Home | Cottongen