Qurrat Ul Ain Rana

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | LBL · Joint Genome Institute

In the wake of rapid industrialization and burgeoning transportation networks, the escalating demand for fossil fuels has accelerated the depletion of finite energy reservoirs, necessitating urgent exploration of sustainable alternatives. To address this, current research is focusing on renewable fuels like second-generation bioethanol from agricul...

Generally wastewater such agricultural runoff is considered a nuisance; however, it could be harnessed as a potential source of nutrients like nitrates and phosphates in integrated biorefinery context. In the current study, microalgae Chlorella sp. S5 was used for bioremediation of agricultural runoff and the leftover algal biomass was used as a po...

With the growing demand for vegetable oils, alternative non-edible feedstocks like Jatropha curcas seed oil have gained interest for biodiesel production. The study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the physicochemical properties and biodiesel production potential of locally produced J. curcas seeds in Pakistan. Two different approaches were applie...

Radioresistant microorganisms possess inimitable capabilities enabling them to thrive under extreme radiation. However, the existence of radiosensitive microorganisms inhabiting such an inhospitable environment is still a mystery. The current study examines the potential of radioresistant microorganisms to protect radiosensitive microorganisms in h...

Pseudomonas putida has emerged as a promising host for the conversion of biomass‐derived sugars and aromatic intermediates into commercially relevant biofuels and bioproducts. Most of the strain development studies previously published have focused on P. putida KT2440, which has been engineered to produce a variety of non‐native bioproducts. Howeve...

Spirodela polyrhiza is a fast-growing hydrophyte with the ability to attain high starch and high biomass yield which makes it an excellent alternative feedstock for the production of biofuels. In this study, Spirodela was given nutrient stress to enhance its starch content from 21 to 80%. The plant biomass with high starch was pretreated with dilut...

The depletion of nonrenewable fossil fuels and the rise in their prices depicts that there is a need to fend for alternative fuel resources. Biofuels are one of these renewable alternative options. Among biofuels, bioethanol is one of the most widely used transportation fuels around the world. However, currently, bioethanol is produced from food cr...

Xylanases from microbial sources assume basic jobs in an assortment of industrial applications as a biocatalyst, and its applications generally require immobilization on supports to upgrade their stability. Enzyme immobilization is a thrilling decision to show signs of improved strength of enzymatic procedures. In this work, two sorts of polymeric...

Regardless of a plethora of advanced diagnostics, TB and drug resistance remains a principal killer. We proposed gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) attached with probes to enhance the efficiency of GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay instead of conventional dye probes for molecular detection. A total of 15,000 samples were collected from TB suspects and subjected to X...

Duckweeds are considered more sustainable compared to conventional crops due to no feed versus fuel competition. However, the feedstocks used for bioethanol production require an efficient pretreatment to increase the sugar yield resulting in reduced cost of the process. To combat low sugar yield challenges, five isolates named AG 1, AG 2, AG 3, AG...

Biodiesel production from non-edible feedstocks, e.g., Jatropha curcas, by lipase-producing bacteria is considered a sustainable measure to reduce food versus fuel competition and dependency on fossil fuels. In this study, lipase-producing bacterial strains were isolated from soil contaminated with oil. Their biochemical and molecular identificatio...

The microbiotaarea differing network of microorganisms that colonize the human body. In spite of noteworthy advances in treating irresistible illnesses around the world, the rate of dying and morbidnessrelated tomicrobiota disease rests remarkably high and signifies a basic logical and worldwide health challenge. Presentapproaches to conflict these...

In today's world new emerging infectious diseases, particularly those that directly infect respiratory system like Zika virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are posing a major threat to public health. Regardless of intensive research efforts being put, where, when and how these new diseases appear remains in the realm of unknown

Industrial applications require enzymes to be highly stable and economically viable in terms of reusability. Enzyme immobilization is an exciting alternative to improve the stability of enzymatic processes. Immobilization of β‐1,4‐xylanase produced by Bacillus licheniformis S3 is performed by using two polymer supports (agar–agar and calcium algina...

Lipases with high tolerance to temperature play a significant role in industry from food manufacturing to waste management systems. Thus, there is a need to investigate these enzymes from different geographical areas to look out for a more thermo-stable one. Characterization of lipases through experimental approaches is time consuming process and s...

A xylanase-producing bacterium Bacillus pumilus K22 was isolated from hot spring located in Manghopir area, Karachi, Pakistan. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity by acetone precipitation and size exclusion chromatography. The molecular weight was determined to be approximately 24 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis...

The depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels and a surge in their prices have led researchers to seek alternative, renewable energy sources; among them, biodiesel is a good option, especially in the ever-growing global transport sector. Mustard oil is a potential feedstock for biodiesel production, and because it is non-edible it avoids the food ver...

The current study focuses on the production of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) degrading enzyme from Sphingobacterium sp. strain S2 under optimized conditions. The important variables influencing lipase production were identified by Plackett–Burman Design (PBD) and Central Composite Design (CCD). The results demonstrated NH4Cl as significant independent v...

Biodiesel is one of the best alternative to depleting fossil fuels for transport sector. However, biodiesel production via lipase mediated transesterification has limitation of high costing microbial enzymes. In order to overcome this limitation, a process of sequential treatment of oil industry wastewater using isolated lipolytic bacterial strains...