Five PhD degrees awarded

LAHORE:Punjab University (PU) has awarded PhD degrees to five of its scholars.Ayesha Sadaf has been awarded PhD degree in the subject of Communication Studies after approval of her thesis “Reciprocity of Media, Public and Policy Agenda in the perspective of Network Agenda Setting: A Study on Military Operations in Pakistan (2001-15)”, Sana Saeed in the subject of Chemical Engineering after approval of her thesis “Characterization of Spent Coffee Ground Pretreated by Ionic Liquids for Thermochemical Conversion”, Riffat Mahmood in the subject of Political Science after approval of her thesis “Hereditary Party Politics and Political Development in Pakistan (A Case Study of Pakistan People’s Party)”, Aniqa Naseer in the subject of Communication Studies after approval of her thesis “Video Game Play and Moral Reasoning of Young Gamers in Islamabad” and Bilal Ahmed Farooqi in the subject of Chemistry after approval of his thesis “Structural, Electrical and Sensing Ability Study of Polyaniline and its Composites Based on Density Functional Theory”.

UVAS workshop: The Institute of Biochemistry & Biotechnology of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences organised a day-long national workshop on Whole Genome Variant Calling @ Linux-An introduction here on Wednesday in the City campus. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad chaired the inaugural session of the workshop while Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Masood Rabbani, Founder Decode Genomics Dr Rashid Saif as resource person, Associate Prof Dr Muhammad Waseem, Dr Muhammad Tayyab and a number of students, teachers, researchers and professionals from public and private sector institutions/organisations all over the country were present.

Addressing the audience, Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad said that with the passage of time genome proved its importance as a tool through intervention for the benefit of human medicine. He said that such trainings are necessary to learn about theoretical knowledge as well as innovative practical knowledge related to the field. He said that it is direly needed to learn about such techniques to face emerging issues and this workshop will be beneficial for postgraduate students.

Prof Dr Masood Rabbani advised the training participants to spread this knowledge they learnt during the workshop among other professionals. He said UVAS is focusing on imparting practical knowledge to students so that they can excel in their field.

The objectives of the training were to better understand the latest trends in molecular genetics and bioinformatics to update the participants with the use of Linux for big genomic datasets and promote awareness and importance of link between biological problems and bioinformatics tools etc.