KARACHI: Vice Chancellor of Karachi University Prof Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan has said that the human sciences required to continue developing new tools for effective disease controlling strategies.
“Pakistan can emulate China and join the community of developed nations,” he said while speaking at the concluding ceremony of the four-day long Dr AQ Khan Winter School on modern tools and techniques in health and disease.
The event was organised by Dr AQ Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi. Vice Chancellor Dr Ajmal said that within a short span of time, through its efforts, China has turned around its fate and now 80% of its population lives above the poverty line.
“It is the aim of science to improve the quality of life of the people and help the society grow in modern times to meet the challenges of the day,” he said. He said that he has confidence in the immense wealth of intellectual talent and capability of the youth of Pakistan. “What is lacking is the commitment and the sense of direction by the policymakers,” he said.
He said that the new technologies were steamrolling their way towards people and businesses worldwide. “The development of new technologies in the area of human health offers new avenues for success in the way the diseases are detected, managed, controlled and eradicated,” he said.
Dr Ajmal said that the potential impact of these innovations extends beyond their effects upon human health and welfare, and could significantly contribute to improved human health and food security and ultimately, the economic uplift of the society.
As pathological organisms relentlessly continue to develop new strategies for spread or survival, the human sciences are also required to continue to develop new tools for effective disease controlling strategies, the vice chancellor said.
He said that KIBGE was one of the better institutes and he was very happy to see it providing quality training not only to its research students but also opening its doors to other researchers and faculty of the university and other institutes of the country.
The KIBGE is regularly organising training workshops, he said, adding that he was delighted to see participation from universities from other parts of Sindh. KIBGE Director General Prof Abid Azhar said that the institute has been organising this training annually and it was the third activity of this kind.
“It is an endeavor of KIBGE to train not only its students and researchers but to others who are involved in this area of research,” he said. The resource persons included Dr Abdul Hameed and Dr Muhammad Ismail from IBGE (KRL) Islamabad, Prof Shamshad Zarina, director of the National Centre for Proteomics and Bioinformatics, and former chairperson of the Department of Biochemistry and a senior molecular biologist Prof Muhammad Ishaq.
Apart from lectures by eminent resource persons, hands-on laboratory sessions provided the participants opportunity to acquaintance them with the first-hand experience of different molecular techniques needed for the identification of genes and their association with the diseases prevailing in the society.
The participants performed DNA extraction and quantification, primer designing, PCR, gel documentation analysis, cytogenetics and the use of modern bio-informatics tools.
