LAHORE: (Friday, December 9, 2022): The School of Biochemistry and Biotechnology (SBB), one of the premier institutions of the University of the Punjab, has organized three-days Boot Camp on “Multi-Omics Big Data Analyses (MBDABC-2022)”. The event was graced by internationally renowned Pakistani scientists, Coordinator General, COMSTECH Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation Prof Dr Shahid Mahmood Baig, Founding Director, SBB Prof Dr Muhammad Waheed Akhtar, Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences Prof Dr Javed Iqbal Qazi, Director SBB Dr Saima Sadaf, Prof Dr Shamshad Zarina, Prof Dr Syed Ghulam Musharraf, faculty members and a large number of PhD students/researchers from different universities of the country.
In her address, Director SBB and Convener MBDABC-2022 Dr Saima Sadaf explained that biochemistry and biotechnology had been the cornerstone of molecular life sciences for decades, however, at the turn of 21st century, the emergence and popularity of omic sciences (including genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics), availability of Big-Data (obtained from next-generation sequencing platforms) and an overarching use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning approaches in the healthcare system, have made a step-change in our understanding of the molecular life processes in health and disease. She said that this transition from ‘conventional’ to ‘modern’ biosciences has opened several new avenues for the biochemists, biotechnologists, pharmacists, & medical/health-care professionals for interdisciplinary translational research. She said that the SBB, therefore, has taken the lead in organizing this Boot Camp, as a part of its 25th anniversary celebrations with an aim to prepare a team of young scientists having hands-on training skills on the use of advanced big data analyses tools. Prof Iqbal Chaudhry, Prof Shahid Baig and Prof Waheed Akhtar, in their address emphasized the need of such intensive training Boot Camps and appreciated the efforts of MBDABC organizing team in bringing together world-renowned national scientists, experts in omics field and the young researchers under one umbrella for exchange of knowledge, expertise, interdisciplinary translational research and future collaborations. The plenary speakers highlighted how the omics sciences and technologies like NMR, mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence may improve the quality of life (reducing the disease burden), may enable better diagnosis of cancers (leukemia), genetic disorders, etc., and facilitate in developing personalized medicine/therapeutics, for the high disease-risk population of Pakistan.