Established in Lahore in 1882, the University of Punjab is the largest and the oldest seat of higher learning in Pakistan. It was the first to be established in the sub-continent in a Muslim majority area.

The Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore, is one of Pakistan’s premier institutes for research, education, and innovation in molecular biology. It was conceived through visionary discussions in 1979 between Prof. Ahmed Iqbal Bukhari of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and Prof. Dr. Sheikh Riazuddin.