The Centre organizes national, regional and international symposia to bring together scientists from home and abroad and provide them with a forum for discussion and cross-fertilization of ideas. It is anticipated that such meetings provide a platform for discussing the applications of recent discoveries in DNA technology to solve unique and specific problems of economic relevance to this part of the world. Following is an account of the symposia organized by the Centre.
1 . Regional Training Course on Recombinant DNA Techniques used in Plant Genetic Engineering September 26-October 15, 1987.
The training course was designed to cater to the needs of young and promising research workers in the field. Participants spent six hours a day working on the bench. Experiments were designed in respect of the following techniques.
1. In vitro culturing of Tissue explants.
2. Isolation of mesopyll protoplasts, staining and chromosomal studies.
3. Extraction of chromosomal DNA from bacteria and plant materials.
4. Isolation of Ti-plasmid from Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
5. Restriction endonuclease analysis and gel electrophoresis:
a) Chromosomal DNA and Ti-plasmid DNA digestion.
b) Running on agarose gels.
c) Southern blotting.
6. Molecular cloning:
a) Vector preparation.
b) Phosphatase treatment of vector.
c) Ligation and transformation.
7. Transformation:
a) Preparation of competent cells and transformation of E. coli.
b) Screening of transformants by colony hybridization.
c) Screening by plasmid DNA minipreps.
8. Site directed transposon Tn5 mutagenesis of cloned DNA regions:
a) Use of the Lambda: Tn5 mutagenesis system.
b) Use of chromosomal Tn5 copy as donor: gradient plates.
c) Preparation of a lambda :: Tn5 lysate.
9. Maxi cell system for protein analysis The training course was co-sponsored by the Islamic Foundation for Science Technology and Development (IFSTAD) and was attended by twelve young and promising scientists from Pakistan and four scientists nominated from brother Islamic countries by IFSTAD.
2 . Training Course on Microbial Technologies September 26-October 16, 1987 .
The course was attended by sixteen young and promising bio-scientists selected on the basis of their future needs as well as of their parent departments. The training programme was designed to enable the participants organize similar training programmes at their place of employment. The course was jointly organized by the Centre and John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Partial funding for the course was provided by the United Nations Environment Programme and Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization, Rabat, Morooco.
3 . Third International Training Course on Recombinant DNA Techniques December 12, 1988-Junuary 01, 1989.
The international training course was organized for updating the knowledge and skills of young bio-scientists who possessed a good background in molecular biology, microbiology and biochemistry. The course comprised lectures and involved performing related experiments. The course was organized under the auspices of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, New Delhi. The training faculty comprised three distinguished scientists from USA and Director of the Centre. Fourteen trainees from Pakistan and six from neighboring countries participated in the training programme.
4 . National Training Workshop on Cloned Gene Products November 2-16, 1989.
The workshop was designed to introduce the young and initiated researchers, at the Post M.SC. level, interested in genetic engineering and biotechnology field, to various techniques commonly employed to study expression of cloned products. Experiments were conducted on the following expression systems cloned in various E. coli and yeast vectors.
i) Yeast E. coli shuttle vector containing chemically synthesized yeast ubiquitin under copper Metallo-theionin promoter giving constitutive expression.
ii) Eukaryotic polyadenosine diphosphate ribosyl polymerase P(ADPR)P gene cloned under PL promoter expressed in E. coli giving heat inducible expression.
iii) E. coli vector containing dcm methylase gene cloned under T-7 RNA polymerase promoter system giving inducible expression.
iv) Ampicillin and tetracycline genes cloned in pBR322 vector in E. coli for Maxi-cell analysis.
The participants, drawn from universities in Pakistan, were able to perform the following techniques.
i) SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).
ii) Non-SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Non-SDS-PAGE).
iii) Silver staining of protein gels.
iv) Coomassie staining of protein gels.
v) Isolation of protein extract from E.coli and yeast.
vi) Electroblotting proteins.
The faculty of the workshop was drawn from universities in United State of America and Canada.
5 . Third Regional Training Workshop on Plant Biotechnologies December 10-13, 1989.
Plants have the remarkable property of regenerating from somatic tissues/cells when cultured under defined experimental conditions. By manipulating the genetic make-up of plant cells through recombinant DNA techniques and regenerating those cells in test tubes and petri-dishes, it is possible to create plants with characteristics that might have taken decades to develop by traditional cross breeding techniques. The training workshop was therefore designed to equip young and promising plant scientists with the methodologies used in plant biotechnology. In addition a package of lectures on the state of the art was delivered by an international faculty drawn from USA, Egypt and India. The workshop was held under the auspices of Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Itlay.
6 . SAARC Symposium-Workshop on "Biological Control of Agriculturally Important Plant Pests (December 16-18,1991)
The symposium-workshop was designed to give comprehensive coverage to a) Bacillus thuringiensis pesticidal genes, plant fungus interaction and c) expression of bacterial genes in plants. The purpose of the symposium-workshop was to discuss scientific research information in related areas, to explore possibilities of collaborative research among laboratories working on similar goals in the SAARC member states, thus complementing each other's efforts for the achievement of common goals and to discuss technical feasibility of the most relevant priority areas. The symposium was attended by scientists from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and host country Pakistan.
7 . Fourth Regional Training Course on Expression of Bacterial Genes in Plants (October 10-24, 1992)
The course was designed to introduce both young and initiated researchers to advances and methodologies in cloning and expression of bacterial genes in plants. Twelve participants from various universities and R&D organization in the country, two participants from Bangladesh and one from Sudan attended the course. The course was sponsored by the Standing Committee on Science & Technology Cooperation (COMSTECH) of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
8 . Third International Symposium-Workshop on the Applications of DNA Technology to Agriculture and Health (October 25-28, 1992)
The symposium discussed the latest biotechnological discoveries in the subject areas in a background of existing problems in agriculture and health sectors in Pakistan. The symposium was followed by a one-day workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to decide priority areas of future research in which applications of the new biotechnological research can yield quick and easy solutions to problems of economic importance. The symposium was attended by five scientists from USA, twelve scientists from Europe and seventy-five scientists drawn from different Universities and Research Organizations in Pakistan. A total of twenty-two plenary lectures and numerous short lectures were delivered by the foreign and local scientists. The symposium was sponsored by the Commission of the European Community (CEC), US National Science Foundation (USNSF), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), University Grants Commission (UGC) and Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF). The proceedings of the symposium are available at the Centre.
9 . COMSTECH Course on Plant Tissue Culture Techniques (October 10 to December 10, 1992)
CAMB organized this training course at the Training Institute of National Agriculture Research Centre, Islamabad but the participants were first given three weeks of intensive laboratory training at CAMB in order to introduce the young participants with the latest methodologies in plant tissue culture. The participants worked in different laboratories at CAMB and received exposure to the various programmes underway at the Centre. The programme placed a special emphasis on those methodologies which have direct relevance to agricultural problems common to the participating countries. The programme was drawn up in such a way that the participants benefited maximally from the course and actually performed laboratory exercises rather than just watch a demonstration. Apart from Pakistani participants the course was attended by two Bangladeshi and one Sudanese participant. The course was held under the auspices of COMSTECH.
10 . SAARC Training Workshop on Gene Cloning (April 29 to May 12, 1994)
The SAARC Training Workshop on "Gene Cloning" was to provide opportunities to the participants from SAARC countries to learn research methodologies used in health and industrial biotechnology and also to acquaint them with the latest techniques and strategies used in genetic engineering and recombinant DNA technology. Experiences gained during the training workshop enabled the participants to apply gene cloning techniques in research and development programmes in their home countries. The course was attended by two participants from Nepal, two from Inida, two from Bangladesh, one from Sri Lanka and three from Pakistan.
