A five-day workshop on genome editing tool, CRISPR-Cas9, has begun at the Dhaka University under the aegis of Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists (BSM).
Some 17 candidates drawn from reputed academic and research institutions are getting hands-on training on the most modern gene editing tool, says a press release on Monday.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene-editing technology that allows scientists to modify an organism's DNA by cutting and replacing DNA sequences at specific locations, thereby opening up enormous prospects of developing new crop verities, among other things, with extra growth vigor and stress resistance capabilities.
Developing of this gene editing method earned two scientists - Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna – the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020.
Professor Dr Rakha Hari Sarker of Department of Botany, DU; Chairman of DU’s Microbiology Department Professor Dr Shakila Nargis Khan; DU Botany Department Professor Dr Mihir Lal Shaha; BSM President and a senior scientist of icddr,b, Dr Munirul Alam; BSM General Secretary and a Microbiology professor at Dhaka University Dr Muhammad Manjurul Karim; and BSM joint secretary and DU Microbiology Professor Dr Munawar Sultana spoke, among others, at the opening ceremony of the workshop on Sunday.
Dr Tahmina Islam, an associate professor at the Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Laboratory, DU, who had her post doctoral research in Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, having expertise in CRISPR-Cas genome editing, is imparting the training.
The workshop participants came from various prestigious scientific institutes and educational institutes like DU’s Centre for Advanced Research in Sciences (CARS), Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Chittagong University, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Jagannath University, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Jahangirnagar University, North South University, and Dhaka University.
The modules developed for a 5-day intensive workshop will facilitate the participants to perform a series of experiments, attend quizzes, deliver presentations on their learning and attend detailed lectures on each module.
