Keeping genes active
How do trithorax group proteins and their partners maintain developmental gene activation through successive cell divisions?
Our central question
Gene regulation across generations of cells
Cell identities depend on patterns of gene expression passed on as cells divide. We investigate how Polycomb and trithorax proteins preserve that transcriptional memory during development.
Research at a glance
From chromatin to cell fate.
Balancing two systems
We study how Polycomb and trithorax systems antagonize each other to maintain repression and activation.
Connecting signals to memory
Which signaling pathways modulate chromatin regulators and the maintenance of cell fate?
The lab at LUMS
Building a home for discovery in Pakistan.
Professor Muhammad Tariq founded the Biology program at LUMS in 2009 and established an epigenetics research group centered on the fruit fly. The lab has built a sustained research and training program in a challenging resource environment.
The Fly Room at SBASSE is the first fruit fly research laboratory in Pakistan. Its experimental work and hands on teaching have made Drosophila a living part of biology education at LUMS.
Meet the lab →People and mentorship
A lab built through its people.
Our work is inseparable from the students and researchers who have shaped it. Since 2009, the lab has trained researchers at every level, from undergraduate theses to doctoral work.
10PhD graduates
24MS theses
43BS theses
Mentorship totals provided by the lab, as of 2026.