A three-day international conference on ‘Applications of Molecular Biology in Medicine and Agriculture started here at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) on Tuesday. The conference was organised with an objective to foster fellowship and collaboration among the biochemists, molecular biochemists and the scientists of related fields. State Minister for Education, Training & Standards in Higher Education, Muhammad Balighur Rehman in his inaugural speech said that development of the education sector is top priority of the government. He said that Prime Minister’s Youth Training Programme is being launched to provide an opportunity for youth to equip themselves with practical knowledge and to get hands-on experience. “Our government is committed to providing more training opportunities to the youth and under the national internship programme 50,000 fresh graduates would be provided training opportunities. They would also be given a stipend Rs 10,000 a month. Similarly, MPI has been given fresh guidelines to provide extra training opportunities,” the minister said. While addressing the inaugural ceremony Prof Dr Masoom Yasinzai, Vice Chancellor QAU, said that in recent past the colossal development of the biological information is an outcome of vast advances in the field of molecular biology. These discoveries have resulted in transformation of new products or processes which have flooded world markets, therefore showering vast economic rewards on those nations which have had the courage and the vision to make Science & Technology the corner stone of their development programs. The Vice Chancellor said that latest techniques and state-of-the-art methods in molecular biology provide researchers with a phenomenal opportunity for scientific research with new horizons. He urged the participants to deliberate all these new discoveries and should find ways to translate academic research into the socio-economic uplift of the country. Dr Bushra Mirza, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of the Biochemistry, highlighted the objectives of the conference. She said the objective of the conference is to stimulate interest and promote research and education in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and other related fields. Source: Education News