17/10/2014
An International Symposium on “Role of Biotechnology for Economic Growth of Pakistan” was held in Prof Syed Shabbir Shah Video Conference Hall of Hafiz Hayat Campus, University of Gujrat (UoG) on Thursday, October 16, 2014. This symposium was organized by the Dept. of Chemistry & Molecular Biology in collaboration with Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC) UoG. Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products, or “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.” The objective of this symposium was to highlight the importance of biotechnology as an emerging science and its commercial role in the economic growth of Pakistan paying more attention to this field of science in our universities emphasizing upon innovative research in biotechnology making it beneficial for society through commercial utilization. Vice Chancellor UoG, Prof Dr Muhammad Faheem Malik presided over this seminar while Director General, Centre for Applied Molecular Biology, Lahore Dr Muhammad Iqbal was the chief guest. The Registrar UoG Dr Tahir Aqil, the Syndicate Member Dr Ijaz Bashir and Director ORIC Dr Mudasser Iqbal were the guests of honour. Dr Sajid Mehmood, HoD, Dept of Biochemistry along with the officeholders of Hayatian Society for Biochemistry & Biotechnology (HSBB) were the organizers of this symposium. A large number of scholars including among them Dr Christopher Hill, Dr Richardson, Dr Shahid Baig, Dr Raza Ahmad, Mr Naeem Rashid, Ms Nadia Zeeshan and Dr Saifur Rehman presented their research papers in this symposium covering a broader range of different aspects of biotechnological techniques and products like plastic surgery, genetic orders, use of pesticides and medicinal plants, etc. The HoDs, students and representatives of higher administration attended this symposium. Dr Muhammad Faheem Malik said that the economic growth was the backbone of the GDP of a country and the concepts of growth of a country had changed with emerging of modern technologies. He said all the developed countries of the world had made possible tremendous growth through knowledge and research oriented technologies. He said that Pakistan was facing many challenges and its economic growth was very low; but the universities could help a lot by promoting research culture and innovation. He said that promotion of biotechnology in Pakistan had become need of the time. He said that idea of knowledge was to disseminate the results of research for benefit of society. He told that the students of UoG were his team and through their efforts one could visualize a positive change in the society. He thanked the scholars for sharing their knowledge about implementation of biotechnology in different fields of life with the students and faculty. Dr Muhammad Iqbal said that Pakistan had an agrarian economy and the development of biotechnological techniques could help us to achieve the targets of economic growth. He also emphasized on the development of human resource infrastructure. According to him, efforts of commercialization of research in the field of biotechnology should be promoted. He said that Centre for Applied Molecular Biology was working highly for introducing biotechnological products. Dr Tahir Aqil congratulated Dr Muhammad Faheem Malik as new Vice Chancellor of UoG and hoped that the institution would grow under his wise leadership. He appreciated the efforts of Dr Sajid Mehmood and his team for organizing such a mega scale symposium. Dr Mudasser Iqbal said that research could help a lot for growing of a successful university grooming its students. He said that energy crisis and disaster management were the main issues of Pakistan and we could come out of that crisis by promoting research in the fields of biotechnology. He said that ORIC at UoG was trying hard to promote academia-industry linkages. He said that the aims of ORIC were to develop and hone the ability and capacity of students. Dr Ijaz Bashir said that research should be linked with the users’ need because all the scientific research was for the benefit of humanity. He was of the view that universities were places for research and planning; we could increase economic growth by promoting scientific research in our institutions. Dr Sajid Mehmood said that fundamental discoveries in life sciences had proved beneficent to humanity. He said that biotechnology was an emerging science of the time and it had become sixth priority area in Pakistan and its future was very promising. He shed light upon the products of biotechnology, tissue culture and biotechnological techniques used in the fields of forestry, medicine, pesticides, cotton, etc. he said that we could solve many problems faced by Pakistan’s economy through research in the field of biotechnology. He was of the view that biotechnology as a science would help for increase in the economy of Pakistan. Ms Nadia Zeeshan gave a vote of thanks. The UoG mementos were presented to all the guest speakers and certificates were awarded to the organizing team of this symposium.
