TOBA TEK SINGH: Experts at a workshop at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) on Wednesday called for intensifying scientific efforts to combat the challenges of increasing ailments in the country.

They were addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 4th National Hands-on Training Workshop on “Basic Tools of Bioinformatics for Molecular Biology and Biomedical Research” organised by the UAF Department of Biochemistry. The event underscores the transformative power of computational biology in addressing urgent global health challenges, specifically through the lenses of modern drug discovery and protein engineering.

Highlighting the strategic necessity of these digital tools, Faculty of Sciences Dean Prof Dr Amer Jamil said that the landscape of medical research had shifted.

He said, “We are focusing on the importance of bioinformatics for molecular biology and biomedical research in new drug development. By mastering these tools, our researchers can simulate drug interactions with high precision for bringing life-saving treatments to the public”.

He emphasised the critical importance of mastering tools such as primer designing, CRISPR designing, cloning, and phylogenetic analysis in modern research.

Department of Biochemistry Chairperson Prof Dr Anjum Zia, while expanding on the technical focus of the training, said: “It is meant to empower our scholars in the field of enzyme, protein and drug design”. He said that bioinformatics was the need of the hour for creating the next generation of enzymes, vaccines and therapeutic proteins. “We are training our scientists to engineer biological solutions for the most pressing health issues facing our country today,” he said.

Workshop Convener Dr Muhammad Ali said the workshop was providing hands-on experience and by the end of this training, participants would have the skills to move from digital data to tangible cures, bridging the gap between computational theory and pharmaceutical reality.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2026