Daily Times

LAHORE: Government College University Lahore and the University of Guelph Ontario, Canada on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a reference library of DNA barcodes of animals, plants and fungi to research and document biodiversity in Pakistan.

GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah and University of Guelph Center for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) Director Dr Paul Hebert, through his representative, Dr Muhammad Ashfaq, signed a 26-point MoU at a a ceremony organised by the GCU Directorate of Academic Planning and External Links (APEL).

Speaking on the occasion, CBG Canada research scientist Dr Muhammad Ashfaq said that the project would play a crucial role in conservation of the country’s indigenous species. “We can’t conserve until we have an accurate data about the biodiversity in Pakistan. The Earth has already faced five major mass extinctions, and ninety percent of species, once existed, had been extinct,” he said.

However, he said, the sixth extinction was likely to be different as human intervention in nature had posed a threat to existence of animals, birds and plants. “If we don’t know about any of these species of animals or plants, we could not do much protect them,” he added.

Dr Ashfaq said that Europe had reference libraries which had documented and research on more than eight million species, but, unfortunately, none of Muslim countries had taken any major initiative in this regard.

Dr Ashfaq said that Center for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG), Canada was a global leader in the field of DNA barcoding and occupied 50,000 square feet facility at the University of Guelph and its research capacity reflected the coupling of one of the Canada’s largest genomics platforms with a workforce that included world class expertise in biodiversity science, DNA sequencing and informatics.

The research scientist said that they would provide training to GCU faculty members and students in DNA barcoding which was a convenient, efficient, cheap and accurate emerging technology which had greatly accelerated the pace of species discovery. “At present, researchers all over the world are utilizing this powerful tool for investigating biodiversity, differentiating cryptic species, testing food authenticity, identifying parasites, vectors, insects and predators, monitoring of illegal trade of animals and their products and identifying forensically important insects,” he added.

GCU Zoology Department Chairperson Dr Muhammad Tahir said Pakistani waters had a rich biodiversity and DNA barcoding effectively worked in water bodies.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor Prof Hassan Shah stressed the need for expanding research collaboration among foreign and national universities, saying that that higher education had become complex and multidisciplinary, and no university in the world could progress in isolation any more. According the accord, both the universities also agreed to exchange faculty, researchers and students besides initiating joint research projects to develop global partnerships in the area of biodiversity genomics, biodiversity science, DNA sequencing and bioinformatics.

Earlier, GCU APEL Director Fouzia Shaheen briefed the delegation about the scope of the accord and other active research collaborations of GCU. GCU Registrar Ms Saboor Khan and deans Prof Dr Islamullah Khan, Prof Dr Raiz Ahmed and Prof Dr Tahir Kamran also attended the MoU signing ceremony.

Published in Daily Times, December 6^th 2017.