Symposium on “Genetic and molecular approaches to the control of disease”

Symposium on “Genetic and molecular approaches to the control of disease and pathogenecity in animals and humans”

The Department of Animal Sciences organized a two-day symposium on “Genetic and molecular approaches to the control of disease and pathogenecity in animals and humans” here at the Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU).

The key objective of the symposium was to introduce the students and the faculty with the genetic and molecular advancements in the disease detection and control. The seminars delivered during the symposium covered innovative and cutting edge researches in microbial, insect and hereditary borne pathogenecity impacting animals, plants and humans, and also the latest developments in the cure of these diseases.

The chief guest Prof. Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, Vice-Chancellor QAU, inaugurated the symposium. During his address, he thanked the resource persons for spearing their precious time for this event and their commitment to present latest scientific findings from their respective fields. Prof. Dr. Asgari Bano, Dean Faculty of Biological Sciences, welcomed the audience and the resource persons. She appreciated the efforts of the organizing committee for taking initiative of organizing such events. Prof. Dr. Irfan Zia Qureshi, Chairman Department of Animal Sciences briefed the house about the sequence of events in the symposium and emphasized the students to interact actively with the resource persons.

The resource persons for this symposium were: Dr. Sohail S. Qazi, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto & Natural Resources Canada, Canada; Dr. Naveeda H. Qureshi, Dept. of Animal Sciences, QAU; Dr. Rabaab Zahra, Dept. of Microbiology, QAU; Dr. Nafees Ahmad and Dr. Rashida Abbasi, from Institute of Biomedical and genetic Engineering, KRL Hospital Islamabad. The resource persons presented thoughtful and illuminating lectures on various topics of common interest like, “regulation of expression of pathogenicity determinant gene product in fungi,” “nanoparticles as potential therapeutics agents,” “genetic advancements hepatitis C treatment,” “GTP1 protein in the cellular defense,” “mitophagy as a possible approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases,” and “discovery and engineering of enzymes.”

There were ten seminars during the symposium. The participants/students interacted with the resource persons throughout the sessions and also continued the discussions during the breaks. A number of students of MSc, MPhil and PhD attended this event. In the concluding ceremony on Jan. 29, 2013, the organizer Dr. Sajid Malik thanked the resource persons and the participants. Dean Faculty of Biological Sciences, Prof. Dr. Asgari Bano, Chairman Department of Animal Sciences, Prof. Dr. Irfan Zia Qureshi and a number of faculty members also participated the symposium.