Dr. Aftab Ahmad Chattha

Aftab Ahmad Chattha, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of the National Academy of Young Scientists (NAYS), Adjunct Professor at Pak-Austria Fachhochschule, Cofounder of GlucoRice, and Future Global Leader at The World Hepatitis Alliance. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Islamic World Young Scientists Academy (IYSA).

He has experience working in microbiology, stem cells, and neuroscience. He has a strong passion for learning and the promotion of science.

At the National Academy of Young Scientists (NAYS), which Aftab founded in 2009, he oversees more than 3,500 registered members and 200 officials engaged in 15 national and international projects.

Since 2015, he has been Research Fellow at the Global Healthspan Policy Institute and Chapter Coordinator for Pakistan at the International Society on Aging and Disease, where he is trying to promote aging research and other aging-related activities in the country.

At the Global Healthspan Policy Institute, a patient-centered, consumer-oriented public policy coalition and nonprofit think tank, Aftab is working directly with members of the healthspan research industry and scientific community worldwide in support of the large-scale research and development of new treatments to address the underlying causes of aging-related disease.

Aftab is the CEO of Chattha Bio Care since 2019. They are a startup focusing on local nitrogen-fixing bacteria and phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria and preparing the inoculants, which help in better growth of food and vegetable crops and also improve soil fertility.

Since 2010, Aftab has been working as Scientist in the Research and Development sector of the Chenab Enterprise, working to formulate feed for animals, poultry, and fish.

In 2021, he cofounded AgriGrow and GlucoRice. He introduced Low GI Rice, which can help regulate blood sugar levels, manage weight, improve heart health, and promote digestive health. They are also working on other healthy and nutritious varieties of rice.

In 2023, Aftab was selected as Future Global Leader at The World Hepatitis Alliance. He is collaborating with other leaders in the field of hepatitis and is contributing to global efforts to eliminate the disease by 2030. This selection is a testament to his dedication and commitment to making a positive impact in the world. His goal is to help reduce the burden of hepatitis on individuals and communities around the world.

Since 2022, Aftab is an Adjunct Professor at the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule: Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnology and an Adjunct Faculty at the Karachi School of Business & Leadership (KSBL).

He offers a Lecture and Course on Educational Neuroscience at Udemy, an online university.

Aftab is Young Scientist Member at the World Economic Forum since 2012, a member of the World Science Forum, Founder and Chairman of the Center for Education, Science, and Technology (CEST), Founder and Chairman of the Research and Innovation Club (RIC), Group Leader at Global Young Academy since 2012, founder of the Pakistan Stem Cell Society (PSCS) and of the Pakistan Aging Research Society (PARS), Chairman of the Islamic World Young Scientists Academy (IYSA), and chief coordinator and former president of Sciforum Pakistan (2006–2010). Read Punjab University Scholar Selected As Young Scientist Member Of WEF.

Previously he was Vice President of the World Merit Pakistan Council, the Director of Innovators Club Pakistan, Ambassador at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), Research Consultant at The Diabetic Center in Pakistan, and Stem Cell Scientist at Trans Continental Pharma where he established a state of the art lab and optimized protocols for stem cell therapy.

In 2008, he got the opportunity to work in the USA at the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences in California. He worked on the yeast expression system of therapeutically important proteins with Professor James Cregg and on the effect of environmental toxicants on the differentiation of Mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts with Professor Ian Phillips.

Aftab earned his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2016 at the University of Punjab with his dissertation Effect of Heavy Metals (Lead and Arsenic) Contaminated Drinking Water on Differentiation of Mammalian Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Osteoblasts. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree of Science with honors in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2012.

He did his postdoc in tissue engineering at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Japan between 2014 and 2015.

During his Ph.D. he worked twice in the USA. In 2008, he did an Internship at BioGrammatics in California where he worked on the construction of new vectors and cloning of therapeutically important proteins. At the same time, he was Researcher and Consultant at the Keck Graduate Institute.

In 2013, Aftab won the AAAS Scientific Exchange Award and worked on the role of miRNA in the differentiation of MSCs into chondrocytes as a Researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In 2009, he received the best young investigator award for his work on cardiac stem cell differentiation from the Pakistan Cardiac Society. He also received an award from COMSTECH for Smart Scientist, an Innovation Award from SATHA, the Scientific Exchange Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), selection as a Young Scientist Member of the World Economic Forum in 2012, and numerous grants and scholarships for international study and research. He is a Fellow of the Zoological Society of Pakistan and a member of many international scientific societies.

Aftab has delivered talks at more than 100 national and international universities on various topics. Aftab has written over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and five books in the local language for public awareness. He is also the coordinator of international affairs for Technology Times and Tech TV in Pakistan.

He has delivered lectures in over 100 universities and institutes across the world on topics from biosafety to educational neuroscience and was the principal organizer of the 2012 National Essay Competition on Science for Peace. He is a member of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace and has represented Pakistan in over 30 countries around the woirld.

Watch Science and Innovation | Dr. Aftab Ahmed | TEDxBahriaUniversity.

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