Federal Minister Syed Fakhar Imam and Provincial Minister of Punjab, Syed Husnain Jahania Gardezi along with Vice Chancellor Punjab University, Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, inaugurated Pakistan’s biggest two-day International Symposium, “Advances in Molecular Biology of Plants and Health Sciences” at National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, Lahore.
Guest of Honor, Syed Fakhar Imam, at this occasion said that CEMB is moving in right direction for improving crops using gene editing technology, as agriculture has direct impact on country’s GDP.
National and international eminent scientists were present on this occasion. Director CEMB, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Ali Shahid, welcomed the Guests of honour, faculty members and over 200 scientists from across Pakistan. In his opening remarks he highlighted the CEMB achievements during 36 years of Centre’s journey. He briefed the audience about promising field results of CKC2, CEMB 33 and CA 12 cotton varieties developed by CEMB and the efforts for commercialization of these varieties with different national and international seed companies. Further he talked about certified laboratories for GMO testing and the products developed by CEMB such as stem cells-based treatment for eyes and diagnostic kits for many human diseases.
Provincial Minister of Agriculture Punjab, Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi, appreciated the hard work of the CEMB scientists for the betterment in field of Agriculture and Health Sciences. He ensured full support of government for the uplift of Science and Technology. Vice Chancellor, Punjab University, Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar applauded the efforts of scientists and staff of CEMB for organizing a mega event. He stressed on need of hard work from researchers to contribute to betterment of socio-economic status of common man.
Inaugural session ended at distribution of shields to the honorable guests by Director CEMB, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Ali Shahid.
Later during the five technical sessions, international researchers from USA, Turkey, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Germany, China, Brazil, Nepal, and national researchers from twenty-six varsities gave their talks and shared their research experiences.
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