PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Institute of Integrative Biosciences, Cecos University, organised a ‘Biotech Young Leaders Conference’ at a local hotel here on Sunday.

The conference brought together the student community of life sciences under one roof to discuss the future of biotechnology in the country, says a press release.

Faisal Khan, director of the institute, said that it was important to organise such events for young students to divert their minds from pessimism to optimism.

The event was also attended by the science and technology director, Zahoorul Haq. “We may be lagging behind when it comes to information technology, but we are not going to stay behind in emerging technologies such as synthetic biology as the provincial government is working on a policy to promote science and technology in the province,” he said.

The statement said that a team of young biotechnologists who represented the country at the international iGEM competition in Boston and bagged a gold medal was also funded by the S&T directorate.

A three-year extension of the iGEM fellowship was also announced at the end of the conference.

In the end, Dr Shafeequr Rehman, CEO of Rehman Medical Institute, said that research in the field of biotechnology was essential to solve some of the biggest challenges in medical field.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2017