ABOUT US
About Us
The Precision Medicine Lab is a non-profit, interdisciplinary research institute that uses the latest methods and tools in the biological sciences to solve some of the most pressing problems that we face today. The Lab is an affiliate of the National Centre for Big Data and Cloud Computing, funded by the Federal Government of Pakistan.
We are located at the heart of Phase 5 (of Hayatabad, Peshawar) which is arguably the densest healthcare cluster in Pakistan. The Lab is blessed to be surrounded by collaborators in leading institutions in the cluster, Peshawar and nationwide.
The Lab occupies approximately 5200 sq. ft. of space with a state-of-the-art central laboratory space that supports our work in microbiology, molecular biology, genomics, biochemistry and human cell culture. The Lab also has a GPU-enabled workstation, known as the ‘Little Beast’ which supports our dry pipelines for bioinformatics analyses and most of our machine learning experiments. All biological samples are stored at the PML Biorepository with 4C, -20C and -80C facilities.
Our Origins
The Precision Medicine Lab spawned from the research laboratory of Dr Faisal Khan which has roots at the University of Peshawar where he spent his first year after returning to Pakistan in 2013. This was followed by a ground-breaking phase when he was entrusted to design and build a biology institute in one of the oldest engineering universities – this was the Institute of Integrative bioscience at CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences. The Lab and the Institute grew at a rapid pace under the university administration at that time. Thi was soon followed by the groundbreaking SynBioKP project funded by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to promote synthetic biology in Pakistan in 2016. In 2018, after a highly competitive process involving more than a hundred other groups, Dr Khan’s Lab was amongst 11 who were funded under the National Centre for Big Data and Cloud Computing by the Planning Commision in Islamabad. The Precision Medicine Lab was born, with the mandate to build a consortium and undertake the country’s first federally-funded precision medicine pilot focusing on oral cancer.
Dr Khan earned his MSc in Integrative Biosciences (‘09) and DPhil in Cells and Systems Biology (‘13) at St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford. His doctoral research studied mitotic microtubule-associated proteins using protein-interaction networks under the supervision of Prof Charlotte Deane MBE at the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, and then undertook in vitro and in vivo experiments in the fruit fly system, using RNAi, GFP co-localisation and MT spin-downs, under the supervision of Prof James Wakefield, Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter.
The Lab pursues work in a broad range of areas in pursuit of impact, owing to Dr Khan’s diverse interests. The Lab has several groups of varying sizes working in areas ranging from cancer biology, genomics and digital health to bioart, bioeconomy and bioentrepreneurship.
We aspire for a scientific culture that espouses high-levels of integrity, scientific rigor and responsible innovation and strives for excellence. We believe in creating a space for discovery and responsible innovation, which at the same time is bold and not afraid of making mistakes and taking risks. We are biased towards prototypes, versus papers and lives impacted versus impact.
We hope to share the joy, wonder and love of science with everyone.
Our Vision and Mission
We are an interdisciplinary research institute that is dedicated to leveraging the power of the latest tools in biology at its interfaces, for improving human life on the planet, and beyond. We believe in the power of home-grown, world-class research to solve some of the most pressing problems that surround us. Our vision embraces science that transcends traditional boundaries (interdisciplinary) and overcomes resource constraints (accessible to all).
We aspire for a scientific culture that espouses high-levels of integrity, scientific rigor and responsible innovation and strives for excellence. We believe in creating a space for discovery and responsible innovation, which at the same time is bold and not afraid of making mistakes and taking risks. We are biased towards prototypes, versus papers and lives impacted versus impact.
We hope to share the joy, wonder and love of science with everyone.
Our Values
The following are values and principles that guide our work at the Lab.
- We believe in Science. We value the scientific method and deeply respect its disciplined approach. We are committed to rigorous, evidence-based work and remain open to correction, valuing growth through constructive feedback. We reject pseudoscience and superficial “fluff” that undermines credibility. We believe less is more when it comes to publications and we take rankings with a pinch of salt.
- We believe in the Pursuit of Excellence. In everything that we do. We defy boundaries and break barriers in doing so. We disregard constraints when we think of ideas. We immediately become resourceful and frugal, when it comes to action. Some of us can happily take the blame to be perfectionists. Others come in to balance them off.
- Trust and Freedom is a given. Labbers are very carefully inducted. And everyone in the Lab is given trust and the academic freedom to think and express ideas. We believe this is a cornerstone of great science. And that Labs without them are intellectually dead. We espouse and expect the highest levels of integrity and respect.
- We are always Open and Inclusive. Open to ideas, questions and critique. To different beliefs, opinions and perspectives. We believe diversity is a force multiplier. Our team is inclusive of people from all sorts of cultural, socio-economic and religious backgrounds. We share, we care and we always empathise.
- We are Bold and Responsible at the same time. We are not afraid to avoid well-trodden paths, take risks and make mistakes on our way. Failure is the last thing to be afraid of. Infact, ‘Failure is not an option’. But we do so responsibly. Responsible towards self, family, co-workers, patients, people at large, nature and the planet.
- Our work is driven by Impact. Action on the ground. Not IFs, indices and rankings. We are always biased towards action. That too with a sense of urgency. To solve, to deliver, to help. To help everyone, especially the common man. We are most driven by areas where we can help and alleviate suffering.
- Polymathy is back. We believe some of the most exciting ideas are located at the interfaces of different disciplines and they come out when two fields, or more, rub against each other. We believe interdisciplinarity is richer, more exciting and perhaps inevitable to solve complex problems around us.
- We are Positive and full of Hope. We are perpetual optimists. We see opportunities where others see problems. We remain positive, and driven by the change we can bring, locally and globally, and we are excited about what the future holds.
Our Model
Our deep-rooted values and unique constraints and as well as strengths allow us to undertake science in unique ways.
We have uniquely carved out a space for discovery, innovation and impact that allows our Labbers to unleash their creative and intellectual best. We sit outside the typical university system, but we work very closely with several of them. We sit in a hospital setting which ensures all our basic needs are met (24/7 power, heating, ice, gas and incineration). That too in a dense cluster of hospitals giving us access to a broad set of patients, clinicians and researchers. We are funded by grants especially from public sources to meet specific research goals, but we are also funded by both restricted and unrestricted, private and philanthropic funds that fuel all other research works as well as innovation and educational initiatives.
The Lab can be imagined to be made of a hard core at the centre surrounded by a fluid matrix, or the soft core. Which is incubated in a medium with three key ingredients.
- The hard core represents extremely rigorous scientific research and technological development including clinical studies under respective IRB approvals.. These projects use state-of-the-art methods and the best tools available to enable scientific discovery to enhance our knowledge of the biology underlying disease and other processes, as well as technological problem-solving that uses the latest in biological tools to develop solutions for solving problems.
- The soft core represents bold, sometimes frugal experiments, which others might shy away from. These experiments defy boundaries and constraints and may involve resourcefully coming up with new methods to test ideas in a wide range of areas from health, agriculture and the environment to space, biodiversity and even bioart.
- The medium has three ingredients. Which can be considered as key inputs that helps us curate and sustain our model. These include Talent, Density and Culture. We are blessed to attract and recruit some of the best talent out there from all corners of the country and from all sorts of disciplines. The Lab is both proud and upset at a less than 1% acceptance rate. Second, our interdisciplinary team benefits from density both inside and outside the Lab. Finally, the most important ingredient of all, is culture. We espouse a distinct set of values at the Lab and the guides how we live and do our work within the Lab and also with collaborating Labs, institutions and partners.