HYDERABAD, March 22: Bioengineers should focus on improving the agriculture production by developing new high-yield crop varieties capable of withstanding wide climatic variations, vice chancellor of the Irsa University Dr Asadullah Qazi on Saturday.

He was speaking on the occasion of the inaugural session of a two-day-long international symposium on biotechnology organised by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Biotechnology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Furthermore, he said, efforts should also be aimed at improving the livestock, adding that this could be achieved through elimination of disease, effectiveness of reproduction and improving yields of livestock products like milk, meat, wool and leather, Dr Qazi said.

Dr Qazi said that biotechnology was an ancient discipline as humans were using biological systems in service of human needs as far back as 3,000BC when Sumerians and Babylonians of Mesopotamia were using yeast to make beer.

Over 70 years ago, he said, Alexander Fleming had discovered penicillin in 1929 heralding the birth of antibiotics.

The double helix structure of DNA, he said, was discovered in 1953, which had by mid 1980s given birth to genetically- engineered drugs and proteins used for treating ailments, including heart attacks and strokes.

He said scientists have achieved successes in embryo transfer, split-embryo technology and cloning, adding that in the future, scientists would be able to produce genetically engineered human beings with desired sex, features and intellectual capability.

However, he cautioned against creating genetically engineered organisms that may prove to be fatal to the survival of the human race, adding that biotechnological developments should be confined for the benefit of mankind.

Expressing concern over the fast pace of growth in global population, Dr Qazi stressed on the need for conserving earth’s limited and fast depleting resources besides calling for improving the yields of present agricultural and livestock strain.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Jian Jiang J. Zhong of the State Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, stressed on the need for cooperation and collective research to identify solutions for the problems facing the human race.

He also stressed on the need for cooperation by the industrial sector in promotion of research in universities. He said that in their university, they had initiated a high-tech programme, engaging 150 professors, while the local industry was supporting the programme.

Earlier, presiding over the session, the vice chancellor of the University of Sindh, Mazharul Haq Siddiqui called upon the bioengineers to work for the benefit of mankind.