LAHORE: A three-day `International Conference on Emerging Trends in Life Sciences for Sustainable Development` has called for the development of a centre of excellence on bio-safety at Forman Christian College (FCC). This proposed centre will be supported by the ECO Science Foundation and the European Union.

Delegate Dr Firuza Nasroyva also offered training courses in bio-safety at the Bio-safety Training Centre in Tajikistan.

The conference by the Biological Sciences Department at the FCC was participated in by 20 delegates from 14 countries besides FCC teachers and students.

At the conference, coorganised by the E CO Science Foundation and sponsored by the European Union, more than 70 presentations were made on food security, sustainable development, biosafety and bio-security, healthcare and nutrition.

It was announced that FCC scientists had developed bio-fortified wheat for bio-availability of iron and zinc, and this had been handed over to the Punjab Agriculture Department for further multiplication.

The conference emphasised the need for streamlining genetically modified organisms regulatory procedures that were derailed due to the 18th Amendment.

The conference also proposed a network on structural biology, sponsored by the Palcistan Academy of Sciences, to prepare the scientific community for synchrotron facilities, already established at CERN and to be established in Jordan.

The conference also focused on human genetic disorders and recommended a collaborative project on autism with Japan.

The conference delibera-tions resulted in the formation of networks to facilitate collaboration among the ECO countries and beyond.

All delegates in their closing remarks mentioned the importance of young scientists sharing knowledge and collaborating in research.

The FCC announced that it would welcome exchange students from the participating countries, who could study and conduct research for a semester or a year.

Earlier, conference organising committee chairman and FCC`s Postgraduate Programme Dean Dr Kauser Abdulla Malil< spoke about the great developments in life sciences in the last century, focusing on health, environment and agriculture. He said the FCC had initiated three MPhil and a PhD programmes, as well as projects in these fields and was fortunate to attract several competitive research grants. He described FCC`s ongoing research projects in food security, bio-fertilizers, energy, health and environment. `These are all related to sustainable development, a core objective of FCC`s Biological Sciences Department,` he said.

Dr Manzoor Soomro, ECO Science Foundation president, described the work of the foundation which is a specialised agency of the Economic Cooperation Organisation with the mandate to promote scientific research and collaboration in member countries to lead to economic development.

Hayri Maraslioglu, ECO deputy secretary general, said the one way of strengthening scientiñc cooperation was through organising such conferences that build institutionallinkages.

Representing the European Union, French expert for Life Sciences and Bio-safetyDrMarie-Francoise Saron said he hoped the conference would bring new projects that the European Union could support.