Biography

+Dr. Nousheen Yousaf is a Pakistani mycologist and molecular taxonomist specializing in fungal biodiversity, phylogenetics, and green mycosynthesis of nanoparticles. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Botany at the Department of Botany, Government College University (GCU), Lahore, where she has been a faculty member since 2016.

Dr. Yousaf’s research focuses on the taxonomy, diversity, and molecular systematics of macrofungi, pathogenic fungi, and filamentous fungi. Her work also extends to the eco-friendly mycosynthesis of nanoparticles and the assessment of their antimicrobial and biological potential. She has significantly contributed to documenting the fungal wealth of Pakistan and has described numerous new fungal records, expanding global understanding of fungal diversity in South Asia.

She earned her PhD in Botany from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, where she conducted extensive research on “Taxonomy, Diversity, and Phylogeny of Gasteroid Fungi from Pakistan” at the renowned Fungal Systematics and Biology Research Laboratory. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded a prestigious Higher Education Commission (HEC) research fellowship that enabled her to work for six months at the Pfister Lab, Harvard University Herbaria, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, USA (2013–2014). She was also the recipient of the HEC Indigenous PhD Fellowship (Batch VI) from 2011–2013.

Education

• PhD in Botany, Department Of Botany, University Of The Punjab, Lahore (Lahore, Pakistan) 2015
• MS/MPhil in Botany, Department Of Botany, University Of The Punjab, Lahore (Lahore, Pakistan) 2010
• Masters in Botany, Department Of Botany, University Of The Punjab, Lahore (Lahore, Pakistan) 2007
• BA/BSc(Hons) in Botany, Zoology, Government Postgraduate College For Women, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi (Rawalpindi, Pakistan) 2004

Teaching Areas

Experience

Journal Papers

• Iqbal, A., Ali, H., Sarwar, S., Krisai-Greilhuber, I., Yousaf, N., Fiaz, M., ... & Majid, A. (2026). "First Phylogenetic and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) Analysis of Lycoperdon Perlatum (Lycoperdaceae, Agaricales) from Pakistan.." The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences , Vol. 36 (4) . DOI: https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2026.4.0097 [Link]
• Amanat, R., Hanif, M., Zain, A. U. M., Ashraf, Z., Bashir, S., Yousaf, N., & Sarwar, S. (2026). "Inocybe sineofibulae sp. nov.(Sect. Marginatae), a new clamp-less ectomycorrhizal species from Kumrat valley, KP, Pakistan. ." Pakistan Journal of Botany , Vol. 58 (10) . DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2026-7(10) [Link]
• Saeed, S, Yousaf, N, Rukhsar, S, Ali, S, Nawaz, M, Fazal, M. (2026). "Three New Records of Agaricus (A. bisporus, A. glabriusculus, A. trisulphuratus) from district Gujranwala, Pakistan.." LGU Journal of Life Sciences. , Vol. 10 (01) , pp. 17-36.
• Rukhsar, S., Yousaf, N., Sadaf et al. (2026). " First molecular record of Panaeolus subbalteatus (Psathyrellaceae, Agaricales) from Pakistan.." Antonie van Leeuwenhoek  , Vol. 119 , pp. 158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-026-02361-3 | Impact Factor: 2.0

Awards/Achievements

• IRSIP FELLOWSHIP (2013), HEC, Pakistan. Awarded with research fellowship at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA for six months, funded by Higher Education Commission, Pakistan
• Indigenous 5000 Fellowship Program, Batch VI (2011), HEC, Pakistan. Awarded with a scholarship for PhD studies by Higher Education Commission, Pakistan under Indigenous 5000 Fellowship Program, Batch VI.