Oxford Pakistan Programme

DPhil
Chemical Biology

Jabir Ali

Jabir Ali comes from an underprivileged village Kundal Khokhran in South Punjab, Pakistan and received his matriculation and intermediate (FSc Pre-Medical) from Government Higher Secondary School Garh Maharaja, and Layyah College of Science Layyah, respectively. Later, he went to the University of Agriculture Faisalabad for his Bachelor of Science (Hons.) and Master of Philosophy degrees in Microbiology. During this period, he realized that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is on the brink of becoming a pandemic due to the non-prudent use of antimicrobials (AMU) in both animals and humans. World Health Organization (WHO) has also identified AMR as one of the top 10 global public health threats that humanity currently faces. That is why Jabir decided to devote higher studies to finding solutions for AMR and playing my part in saving lives.

In his MPhil, he worked to calculate AMU and surveillance of novel AMR genes (ARGs) in Pakistan’s livestock sector. Additionally, Jabir worked as a research consultant for the Fleming Fund for Country Grant II, to devise interventional policies for limiting the misuse of antimicrobials in veterinary practices in Pakistan. Apart from that, he remained involved in social work, supporting underprivileged students through fundraising and organizing seminars to uplift his community. Jabir’s DPhil in Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford will focus on restoring the efficacy of existing drugs and discovering new antibiotics by employing advanced structure biology techniques.