Experts call for more research on diseases

LAHORE: The scientists at a symposium have called upon the need to do more research on diseases and drought-resistant seeds of vegetables to resolve the issues in agriculture sector.

They were addressing Pakistan’s biggest three-day international symposium organised by Punjab University National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology titled “Advances in Molecular Biology of Plants and Health Sciences” at Riazuddin Auditorium here on Wednesday.

PU Faculty of Life Sciences Dean Prof Dr Firdous-e-Barin, CEMB Director Prof Dr Tayyab Husnain, Dr Razi Abbas Shamsi, Prof Dr Ikramul Haq, Prof Dr Fazal-e-Majid, faculty members and over 100 scientists from Japan, Malaysia, Turkey, Nigeria, as well as from different prestigious institutes of Pakistan were present on the occasion.

Addressing the symposium, the scientists explained that various recent researches had explored to cure serious and ordinary diseases in human beings while research was also being done on genetic reasons behind deafness, blindness and other such diseases.

CEMB Director Dr Tayyab Husnain said that CEMB was working hard to explore molecular biology in various research areas, including plant biotechnology, seed technology, plant genomics, functional genomics, forensics sciences, virology, genetic diseases, stem cells and bio safety related issues.

He said the CEMB has already developed Bt cotton varieties CEMB 33 and CA 12 which have been approved by Punjab Seed Council and were available in the market. He said that the idea behind the international symposium was to gather scientists; share science and search ways to collaborate.

He said the participation of such a large number of molecular biologists from agriculture and health side in the symposium showed the magnitude of the interest of the participants. He also thanked Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the major sponsors for collaborating in organising the mega event.

Prof Dr Firdaus-e-Bareen said researchers at CEMB were working for welfare of the common man. She applauded the efforts of scientists and staff of CEMB for organising the mega event and appreciated the productive idea of Dr Tayyab Husnain to provide a platform for scientists to present their research.

workshop: A two-day workshop for practicing and aspiring hematologists is being organised in Lahore in collaboration with Royal College of Pathologists UK. On the first day, different Consultant Hematologists, including Dr Waseem Nagi from UK discussed various clinical dilemmas in Hematology, which is the branch of medicine involving study and treatment of the blood.

The workshop aims to diagnose and manage different hematological disorders in a better way. PHC: The Punjab Healthcare Commission has sealed 47 outlets of quacks in different cities during the last two days.

As per census, the PHC enforcement teams had closed down 10 centres each in Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi Khan, nine each in Rawalpindi and Mandi Bahauddin, four each in Kasur and Bhakkar. The teams had visited 232 treatment centres, and found out 69 shops of quacks had been turned into other businesses.