MAJU to set up country’s first computational genomics centre

The Board of Studies for the Biosciences department at Mohammad Ali Jinnah University (MAJU) has announced that it would set up Pakistan’s first Centre for Computational Genomics (MCCG) this year.

Computational genomics refers to the use of computation and statistical analysis to decipher biology from genome sequences and related genetic data. According a press release issued on Wednesday, the recommendation for the centre was made during a meeting of the department board held at the varsity on Tuesday.

The centre will be dedicated to the developments and advancements in the field of genomics, transcriptomics, computational epigenetics, biological database construction, deep learning-based data and next generation sequencing data analysis. Dean of Life Sciences Professor Dr Kamran Azim presided over the meeting and highlighted the importance of the establishment of such a centre, saying it will be beneficial for the local industry, especially pharmaceutical industry and the agriculture sector.

A massive load of biological data generated throughout the world is available to the scientific community through online repositories for downstream analysis, but there is a lack of analysis due to an absence of collaborative efforts among researchers from computer and biological sciences, Azim added.

He hoped that the centre would prove to be a novel initiative in the ever-growing field of computational biology as well as provide a platform for interdisciplinary collaborations among researchers of various backgrounds.