— College of Public Health — Departments — Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health — Faculty & Staff — Muhammad Zahid, PhD

Muhammad Zahid, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health

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Phone: 402-559-8912

Muhammad Zahid, PhD, joined UNMC in 2002 and is a research assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health in the College of Public Health.

He previously served as a senior research associate at the UNMC Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, where he also completed a postdoctoral research program.

He was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and a research assistant at the International Center for Chemical Sciences of the H. E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry at the University of Karachi, Pakistan, where he also completed a research fellowship.

Education

2022, MPH, COPH, University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA
2002, Ph.D. (Organic Chemistry), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
1994, MSc (Analytical Science), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
1990, BSc (Physic, Chemistry), Maths, Karachi University, Karachi, Pakistan

Research Interests

Environmental pollutants play a pivotal role in initiating or promoting many diseases. Pesticides are one of the toxic elements released purposely into the environment to kill weeds, fungi, insects, and rodents. Increasing and continuous use of these chemicals in agriculture threatens localized populations and even urban populations are not safe from consuming them. Our lab uses interdisciplinary chemical and biochemical approaches focused on the etiology of human cancer initiation mechanisms and other diseases (Parkinson’s and Fuch eye disorder).

Understand the mechanism of cancer-initiating steps by natural and synthetic estrogens
Development of chemopreventive agent to block breast and prostate cancer initiating steps
Development of biomarkers by applying target/profile-oriented metabolomic methods
Modulation of metabolic profile by using nutritional antioxidants and phytochemicals
Understand the role of UV and estrogen metabolism concerning the mechanism of age-related genetically complex Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD) disease
Detection of agrochemicals in water wells, air, and dust samples and exploring their association with diseases like pediatric cancer

Selected Publications

U. Ahmad, M. Zahid, et al., (1999) Salvadiones-A and B: Two terpenoids having novel carbon skeleta from Salvia bucharica. J. Org. Chem., 64(23), 8465-8467.
Zahid,. et al., (2006) The greater reactivity of estradiol-3,4-quinone versus estradiol-2,3-quinone with DNA in the formation of depurinating adducts. Implications for tumor-initiating activity. Chem. Res. Toxicol., 19: 164-172.

F. Lu, M. Zahid, et al., (2008) Resveratrol prevents estrogen-DNA adduct formation and neoplastic transformation in MCF-10F cells. Cancer Prev. Res., 1: 135-145.

Zahid, et al., (2013). Unbalanced estrogen metabolism in thyroid cancer. Int. J. Cancer, 133: 2642-2649.
Zahid et al., (2014) Unbalanced estrogen metabolism in ovarian cancer. Int. J. Cancer, 134(10): 2414-2423.

Professional Affiliations

American Society of Pharmacognosy (Since 2007)
Pakistan Chemical Society (Since 1994)

Teaching Philosophy

Being a teacher means presenting new information and guiding students to apply the knowledge they possess. I reinforce this through class discussions for the Chemical Carcinogenesis (ENV#914) course. For teaching philosophy, I like Joseph Joubert’s quote, “To teach is to learn twice.” As a teacher, I don’t just pass knowledge on to students; I relish learning from them to view what I already know from a perspective I may never have thought of. In that regard, teaching is an enriching experience for both parties that never grows old.