Page 65 - Drug Discovery and Development: Prospects and Challenges

Curriculum Vitae

Muhammad Taher bin Bakhtiar was born on 16 March 1973 in
th
Bukittinggi, West Sumatra. He had completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy
with honours from the University of Andalas in 1997 by completing
his final year project with title “An alkaloid from Ophiorrhiza species”
which was supervised by Prof. Dr. Dayar Arbain. From this final project
his interest in research is growth. He pursued his professional pharmacy
program at the same University, and he obtained a professional pharmacy
certificate (Apothecary) in 1998.
He was actively involved in an undergraduate organization such
Pharmacy Student Association and student senate at the Faculty of
Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the University of Andalas. He
continued his Master study at the University Teknologi Malaysia to obtain
a Master of Science degree in organic chemistry in 2000 with project title
“Chemical and Bioactivity studies of three selected Guttiferae” species
under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sum Idris. By
completing this project make him expert with chromatographic separation
and spectroscopic elucidation of natural products compound using
ultraviolet, infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy.
He obtained a PhD degree in 2005 at the Bioprocess Department,
Faculty of Chemical Engineering focused on the antidiabetic study of
cinnamon extract on adipocyte cells, understanding the mechanism of
hypoglycemic activity of cinnamon extract and its active principle on
adipocyte cells. His PhD was conducted under the supervision of Prof.
Dr. Mohamad Roji Sarmidi and Prof. Dr Fadzillah Adibah Abdul Majid.
Soon after completing his PhD, he joined UTM as a visiting lecturer for
few months.
Since April 2006, He joined the International Islamic University
Malaysia (IIUM) as an Assistant Professor at the Department of
Pharmaceutical Technology, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, Kuantan. He
involved in teaching undergraduate and supervising Postgraduate
students. He established animal cell culture laboratory at the Kulliyyah