Symposium on 'working with proteins in post-genomic era' begins

A two day symposium on 'Working with Proteins in Post-Genomic Era' began at Punjab University School of Biological Sciences (SBS) on Wednesday. Biologists from various institutes of the country will deliver 10 lectures on the different aspects of the topic, while four lectures and a video conference from Glasgow University was held on the first day.
PU SBS is organising the event in collaboration with the Pakistan Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, while the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the British Council have sponsored this symposium. Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran was the chief guest at the opening ceremony, while Pro vice-chancellor Professor Dr Jamil Anwar Chaudhry, Professor Dr Waheed Akhtar, Professor Dr Shahida Hasnain, biologists, research scholars from across the country were present.
Speaking on the occasion, the vice-chancellor said that production of quality research work and performance of a faculty was co-related with the number of PhDs it has. He said we cannot compete with the world until and unless we work in the field of research on war footings and that was why production of quality PhDs was his only priority. Dr Mujahid Kamran said PU had extra-ordinary raw talent in the form of students and research scholars and there was only need to train them.
Professor Dr Jamil Anwar Chaudhry said that unfortunately during the last 20-30 years, we talked about everything but not the biochemistry. He said that chronic diseases like cancer could only be cured by the people of biochemistry. He said PU could proud of the work being done at the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) and Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB).
Dr Waheed Akhtar said that the symposium intends to highlight the recent developments and dissemination of rapidly increasing knowledge in the areas of proteome research. He said renowned scientists with specialisation in these areas from within the country and abroad shall deliver talks on the methodologies used to underpin the conformational and function aspects of the proteins. He said the interaction of the participants with the experts in these fields should be helpful in stimulating their research efforts.