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Wajid Waheed
Ramalingaswami Fellow
CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine,Canal Road, Jammu – 180001
Email: wajid[dot]bhat[at]iiim[dot]res[dot]in
ORCiD ID
Bio Sketch
Dr. Wajid Waheed carried out his PhD at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, in the area of Plant Biotechnology, under the mentorship of Dr. Ram Vishwakarma and Dr. Surrinder Kumar Lattoo. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Biotechnology, by Guru Nanak Dev Univeristy, Amritsar on the topic entitled “Molecular cloning, promoter analysis and expression analysis of some key pathway genes of picrosides biosynthesis from Picrorhiza kurrooa Royle ex. Benth”.
Subsequently, He joined Dr. Elspeth Macrae and Dr. Glenn Thorlby at SCION, New Zealand for a two-year postdoctoral project on the engineering of radiata pine resin canals for high value diterpene production. In 2016, He was awarded the prestigious Indo-US postdoctoral fellowship by Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (SERB-IUSSTF; A part of US India Fulbright organisation). He joined Dr. Bjoern Hamberger’s Lab at Michigan State University in March 2017 where his research was focused on the discovery, regulation, and metabolic engineering of plant diterpenoid biosynthesis. He has been instrumental in decoding the genome of three species of the mint family, including Tectona grandis (Teak), Chiococca alba and Callicarpa americana, with three more genomes of Coleus forskohlii, Prunella vulgaris and Leonotis leonorus in the publication pipeline. He was also involved in a multi-million Mint Genomics Program at Michigan State University during his postdoctoral research, that led to generation of more than 50 transcriptomes, and 10 sequenced Genomes .
His research focus for the last 13 years has been on the discovery, regulation, and metabolic engineering of the biosynthetic pathways of specialized metabolites. He has published more than 28 publications in peer- reviewed SCI journals with a total citations count of 775 (as on Nov 2022).
Education
| Degree | Subjects | University | Qualifying Year |
| PhD | Biotechnology | CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine / Guru Nanak Dev University | 2014 |
| MSc | Biotechnology | University of Kashmir | 2008 |
| BSc | Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, English | University of Kashmir | 2006 |
Position Held
| Position Held | Period | Organization |
| DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellow | Dec 2021-Present | CSIR-IIIM, Jammu |
| Postdoctoral Research Associate | 2018-2021 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA |
| SERB-Indo-US Postdoctoral Fellow | 2017-2018 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA |
| Postdoctoral Associate | 2014-2016 | Biotransformation Group- Plant Biotechnology, SCION Research, New Zealand Forest Research Institute, 49 Sala Street, Rotorua, 3046, New Zealand |
| CSIR-Senior Research Fellow | 2012-2014 | CSIR- Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine |
| Project Associate | 2008-2012 | CSIR- Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine |
Area of Expertise
- Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
- Gene Discovery and Pathway elucidation of Plant Specialized Metabolism
- Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology approaches for production of high value biofuels, feedstock and genetically encoded novel metabolites.
Projects
- Discovery, Evolution and Engineering of Terpenoid Biosynthetic Pathways for the Development of Novel Terpene Scaffolds. Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship Grant, Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, 2021 (GAP3118)
- Decoding the Genetic Architecture of Picrorhiza Kurrooa to Understand Specialized Metabolite Biosynthesis and Adaptation to Alpine Environments, DST SERB Grant, 2022
Publications
| Authors | Title | Journal |
| Wajid Waheed Bhat†, Kin H. Lau†, John P. Hamilton, Joshua C. Wood, Brieanne Vaillancourt, Krystle Wiegert-Rininger, Linsey Newton, Britta Hamberger, Daniel Holmes, Bjoern Hamberger and C. Robin Buell (2020) (†equal contribution) |
Genome assembly of Chiococca alba uncovers key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of unusual terpenoids. | DNA Research,
27(3), dsaa013, https://doi.org/10.1093/dnares/dsaa013. |
| Garret P. Miller, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Emily R. Lanier, Sean R. Johnson, Davis T. Mathieu, Björn Hamberger (2020) | The biosynthesis of the anti-microbial diterpenoid leubethanol in Leucophyllum frutescens proceeds via an all-cis prenyl intermediate. | The Plant Journal,
https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.14957. |
| Wajid Waheed Bhat†, Sean R Johnson†, Jacob Bibik, Aiko Turmo, Britta Hamberger, Evolutionary Mint Genomics Consortium, &Bjeorn Hamberger (2018)
(†equal contribution) |
A database-driven approach identifies additional diterpene synthase activities in the mint family (Lamiaceae). | The Journal of Biological Chemistry
294(4), 1349–1362. |
| Sean R Johnson, Wajid Waheed Bhat, RadinSadre, Garret P. Miller, Alekzander S. Garcia & Bjoern Hamberger (2019) | Promiscuous terpene synthases from Prunella vulgaris highlight the importance of substrate and compartment switching in terpene synthase evolution. | New Phytologist.
doi:10.1111/nph.15778 |
| John P. Hamilton, Grant T. Godden, Emily Lanier, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Taliesin J. Kinser, Brieanne Vaillancourt, Haiyan Wang, Joshua C. Wood, Jiming Jiang, Pamela S. Soltis, Douglas E. Soltis, Bjoern Hamberger and C. Robin Buell (2020) | Generation of a chromosome-scale genome assembly of the insect-repellant terpenoid-producing Lamiaceae species, Callicarpa americana | GigaScience
http://dx.doi.org/10.5524/100777 doi:10.1093/gigascience/giaa093. |
| Dongyan Zhao, John P Hamilton, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Sean R Johnson, Grant T Godden, Taliesin J Kinser, Benoît Boachon, Natalia Dudareva, Douglas E Soltis, Pamela S Soltis, Bjoern Hamberger, C Robin Buell (2019) | A chromosomal-scale genome assembly of Tectona grandis reveals the importance of tandem gene duplication and enables discovery of genes in natural product biosynthetic pathways, | GigaScience,
giz005, https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giz005 |
| Shahzad A. Pandith, Niha Dhar, Satiander Rana, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Manoj Kushwaha, Ajay P Gupta, Manzoor Ahmad Shah, Ram Vishwakarma and Surrinder K Lattoo (2016) | Characterization and functional promiscuity of two divergent paralogs of Type III plant polyketide synthases from Rheum emodiWall ex. Meissn. | Plant Physiology.
2016: pp. 00003.2016. |
| Niha Dhar, Satiander Rana, SumeerRazdan, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Surrinder K. Lattoo (2015) | A decade of molecular understanding of withanolide biosynthesis and in vitro studies in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal Prospects and perspectives for pathway engineering. | Frontiers in Plant Sciences
6:1031. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2015.01031 |
| Wajid Waheed Bhat, Satiander Rana, Niha Dhar, SumeerRazdan, Shahzad A. Pandith, Rekha S. Dhar, Ram Vishwakarma, Surrinder K. Lattoo (2014) | An inducible NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase from Picrorhiza kurrooa– an imperative redox partner of cytochrome P450 enzymes. | Functional and Integrative Genomics 10.1007/s10142-014-0362-7 |
| Niha Dhar, Satiander Rana, SumeerRazdan, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Aashiq Hussain, Rekha S Dhar, Samantha Vaishnavi, Abid Hamid, Ram Vishwakarma, and Surrinder K Lattoo (2014) | Cloning and Functional Characterization of Three Branch Point OxidosqualeneCyclases from Withania Somnifera (L.) Dunal, | Journal of Biological Chemistry
jbc. M114. 571919. |
List of Patents
| Inventors/ Contributors | Title & patent number | Description | Year |
| Bjoern Hamberger, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Sean Johnson |
Methods for production of novel diterpene scaffolds,
|
|
US Patent Application, DOCKET NO. 3000.182WO1 (TEC2019-0011-01) |
| Fani Ntana, David B. Collinge, Bjoern Hamberger, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Sean Johnson, Birgit Jensen, Hans Jorgen Lyngs Jorgensen | Method for producing the sesquiterpene viridiflorol with a fungal enzyme | US Patent Application, DOCKET NO.: 3000.192prv. | |
| Garret Miller, Wajid Waheed Bhat, Emily R. Lanier, Sean Johnson, Davis M. Mathieu and Björn Hamberger | Method to produce the anti-microbial diterpenoid leubethanol and related serrulatanetype diterpenes. |
|
US Patent Application, Docket No.: 3000.197PRV |
Awards and Honours
- Awarded prestigious DBT-Ramalingaswami Reentry Fellowship by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, 2021
- Awarded SERB Indo-US Postdoctoral fellowship by Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, Department of Science and Technology, India 2017-2018.
- Awarded Travel Grant for attending Phytochemical Society of North America Meeting, 2017 (PSNA 2017).
- Awarded Postdoctoral Fellowship by New Zealand Forest Research Institute 2014-2016.
- Awarded 1st Best paper (2015), 2nd best paper award (2014) and 1st best paper award (2012) by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Canal Road, Jammu, India.
- Qualified Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board – National Eligibility Test (ASRB-NET), conducted by Indian council of Agricultural research, New Delhi, India.
- Qualified J&K State Eligibility Test for Lectureship 2013.
- Awarded travel grant by New Zealand Forest Research Institute for attending TERPNET 2015, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Canada.
- Awarded Travel Grant for attending EMBO meeting, Nice, France, 2012 by Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India and Indian Council of Medical research, New Delhi, India.
- Won award for the best poster presentation at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISC-Bangalore) during 79th Annual meeting of the Society of Biological Chemists (SBC, India- 2011).
- Awarded Senior research Fellowship (2012) by Council of scientific and Industrial research, New Delhi, India.
- Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE 2011), with a GATE percentile of 94%.
- Qualified CSIR-UGC National Eligibility Test for Lectureship DEC-2009, JUN-2010, DEC-2010, DEC-2011.
Membership in Scientific Societies
Member, American Society of Plant Biologists
Member, New Zealand society of Plant Biologists
Member, The Indian Science Congress Association
Member, Phytochemical Society of North America
Editorial Work
Early Career Reviever : Journal of Biological Chemistry
Academic Editor : Frontiers in Genetics
Review Editor : Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
Peer reviewer : Plant and Cell Physiology; Journal of Biological Chemistry; PLOS One; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
- Associate Editor in Plant Genomics
- Guest Associate Editor in Plant Systems and Synthetic Biology
- Review Editor in Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
- Review Editor in Natural Product Biosynthesis
- Review Editor in Protein Biochemistry for Basic and Applied Sciences
Students
| Photo | Name | Area of intrest | Position | Education |
 |
Neha Rana | Terpenoid Biosynthesis and Engineering in Lauraceae | Project Associate II | Masters in Biotechnology |
 |
Sheetal Sharma | Engineering E. coli for the production of high-value terpenoids | Project Trainee | Masters in Zoology |