Profile
Molecular Biologist, Vaccine Researcher and Educator
Dr. Shahid is a highly motivated and experienced researcher with expertise in plant molecular biology, plant transformation, plant tissue culture, and the expression of antigenic proteins in plants for possible vaccine production, with over 18 years of biological research experience, including 5 years at the University of the Punjab's bio-pharmaceutical unit and Interferon research group.
Her research focuses on producing plant-based edible vaccines for infectious diseases in humans and animals, aiming to develop low-cost vaccine alternatives that address the limitations of traditional vaccines such as high costs, cold storage requirements, and administration complexity.
She contributed to the University of Pennsylvania's edible vaccine production group (2015-2016 as a researcher; 2021-2022 as a postdoctoral fellow) under Dr. Henry Daniell, co-authoring research on a coronavirus-trapping chewing gum containing ACE2 protein that generated significant global media coverage. At Penn's Perelman School of Medicine she also developed the Microbubbling Digital Assay technology for sensitive protein biomarker detection using smartphone analysis, and evaluated the antiviral activity of plant powder against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Selected contributions
Science translated into capability
Edible vaccine research
Focuses on plant-based edible vaccines for infectious diseases in humans and animals as low-cost, heat-stable alternatives to traditional vaccines.
International collaboration
Worked with Dr. Henry Daniell's lab at the University of Pennsylvania as a researcher (2015-2016) and postdoctoral fellow (2021-2022).
COVID-19 research
Co-authored widely covered research on an ACE2-containing chewing gum designed to trap and reduce SARS-CoV-2 oral transmission.
Biomarker detection technology
Developed the Microbubbling Digital Assay, a smartphone-based method for sensitive protein biomarker detection, at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine.