Scope of bioinformatics in Pakistan highlighted

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The scope and importance of bioinformatics as an emerging science and its future were highlighted in the first of the lecture series organized by the bioinformatics department of the Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET), Karachi. 

Dr Reazuddin, Assistant Professor, Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, was the guest speaker on the occasion. 

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data. Bioinformatics is the application of computer technology to the management of biological information. 

It combines computer science, molecular biology, statistics, mathematics and engineering to study and process biological data The technology is versatile and can be applied whenever gene, protein and cell research are used for the discovery of a new drug or a new herbicide/herbicide-resistant crop combination. Without bioinformatics, new research in most fields of medicine and biology would come to a standstill. 

Focusing on “Bioinformatics and its applications in Biology Research”, Dr Reazuddin said that the explosive growth of biological information has resulted from many advances in the scientific fields and Bioinformatics is one of them in which by the advancement in computer technology, different sophisticated techniques and equipment used to carry out rapid genome sequencing. 

He highlighted the importance of the field having the generous job opportunities in Pakistan and abroad. 

“After graduation, the students of Bioinformatics have the chance to work as researcher in different departments like pharmaceutical, software houses, hospitals and academic and research institutions, and they have an open sky of opportunities,” Dr Reaz said. 

The chairman of the department, Prof Dr Hilal Qureshi and its incharge, Uzma Mahmood. also spoke on the occasion and appreciated the series of lectures for being informative to the students seeking their career in the field of bioinformatics.