Scholars urged to focus on biotechnology, genetic engineering

The Vice Chancellor University of Sindh Mazharul Haq Siddiqui has urged upon scholars of the Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering to focus their research for resolving problems of Agriculture, Industry and Health sectors that society can benefit from the emerging discipline.
He was presiding over final Ph.D seminar of research scholar Asghar Ali on Isolation, purification and characterisation of proteases from cottonseeds supervised by Dr M.Umer Dahot Director Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering on Wednesday.
The seminar was attended by the large number of scientists from the departments of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and research scholars engaged for research in various science disciplines in the University.
The Vice Chancellor underlined sustainable collaboration between the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering and Industry and said that scientists must analyse industrial problems and estimates costs and than enter research to solve the industry related problems.
His emphasis on the research scholars to take care of the quality out put of their research studies and must take efforts to make industrial atmosphere in the University. He appreciated efforts of the scholar and congratulated him on successful presentation on his research work. The Dean of the Natural Science Dr G.M Seehar and Director of the Institute and supervisor of the research scholar Dr Dahot also expresses their views. In his presentation the research scholar Asghar Ali said that cottonseeds contain various types of proteases, which are different from each other with some kinetic properties.
He said that from an economic point of view proteases are the most important industrial enzymes, 75 per cent are hydrolytic. The scholar said that proteases represent one of the three largest groups of industrial enzymes and added that they have a large variety of applications, mainly in the detergent, food industries and pharmaceutical industry.
The scholar said that Pakistan is a country with calculated resources and variegated economical constrains, the import of industrially important enzymes from abroad costs formidably higher amount worth millions of rupees each year and added that as a matter of fact country like ours marked by an agro based economy can be an ideal place for the isolation of industrially important proteases from indigenous sources. The scholar said that aim of his research study is to isolate, purify and characterise industrially important proteases from new and low cost indigenous sources.