Past Events

The Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA) in partnership with COMSTECH and ICCBS is pleased to announce THREE competitive travel fellowships to PhD students in Natural Products research to ICCBS in Karachi Pakistan and TWO technician fellowships.

The fellowship is earmarked to help students to access equipment and technologies that can help them complete their PhD project activities. This contributes to fulfilling one of NAPRECA’s objective or vision to foster networking and collaboration, and to allow scientific creativity to flourish. The technician fellowships will enhance skills of technicians to maintain and repair equipment. These will act as trainers in their respective countries on return.

1. Before the submission of applications, applicants must ensure that the eligibility criteria are met and that all arrangements with the home institution have been confirmed.

• Eligibility and selection criteria

 PhD fellowships:

Candidates wishing to be considered for a Fellowship must ensure that they meet all

of the following criteria, namely that they:

(a) are a junior or middle-level researcher in the area of Chemistry or Biology of natural products;

(b) the applicant must provide a concept paper (max 5 pages) of the project to be addressed in the six months mentioning clearly the study area and the type of equipment needed during his/her visit.

(c) are a member of NAPRECA chapter of their country and involved in the activities of local chapter as evidenced by support letter from the chairperson of the node;

(d) possess a master’s degree;

(e) are currently pursuing their PhD degree in the area of Chemistry/Biology of Natural Products and in the advanced stage; evidenced by letter of admission, proof of registration (year of commencement), research progress highlights indicated in the project/concept paper 

(f) work in a recognized university, research institution, publicly funded laboratory, or recognised  university laboratory in their home country or in another State Party

(g) have been employed in their home institution for a minimum period of one

year at the time of the application.

Technician fellowships:

1. work in a recognized university, research institution, publicly funded laboratory, or recognised  University laboratory in their home country
2. Must possess a minimum of a diploma in the relevant technician field
3. Indicate the list of equipment needed to be trained on in the application

       3. Other factors that will be considered in the evaluation of applications include:

The need for an equitable gender and geographical distribution of supported Candidates in the twelve NAPRECA member countries. NAPRECA supports the closing of the gap of gender parity and therefore 50 % of the awardees will be females where possible.

• It is the responsibility of applicants to make all the necessary arrangements with their home institutions in respect of their employment contracts, to ensure that the home institutions agree with their participation in the Fellowship and to ensure that their positions are reserved during their absence.

• Application procedures

Signed Applications shall be received by the Secretariat from 1^st July 2023 to 1^st August 2023 and will be reviewed within two weeks; decisions on such applications will be made within four weeks. Submit your application by email to: jnamukobe@gmail.com and copy to thannington@yahoo.com.

• Selection procedure

A Review Committee will be constituted to select the successful applicants. Membership to this Committee will include NAPRECA Secretariat staff, members from COMSTECH and ICCBS.

When making its recommendations, the Review Committee will evaluate the candidates against the eligibility and selection criteria described above.

The decision of the Review Committee shall be final. The results will be announced in on the NAPRECA website and COMSTECH website and all applicants will receive a decision on their application successful or not.

• Funding

7.1 Subject to any specific decision taken by the Secretariat on a case-by-case basis, COMSTECH shall provide:

(a)  the Fellow with a round-trip airfare (economy) which will be paid directly by COMSTECH

(b) visa fees

7.2 ICCBS shall cover accommodation and stipend.

No additional funding will be provided to the Fellow. If some additional funding by any other organization(s) has been sought for the purpose of the same research visit, the support provided by the COMSTECGH and ICCBS will be reduced accordingly as deemed appropriate.

• Fellows shall be responsible for obtaining all necessary travel insurance, visas, including any transit visas that may be necessary for their travel to the location of the host institution.

• The fellowship granted under the terms of this Note is essentially for training/educational purposes, and is intended to cover the cost of lodging/accommodation, board, transport, and other basic expenditures. It is not a salary or honorarium. It is also not intended to cover any expenses incurred for the family members or dependents of the Fellows. The Secretariat will not provide any support for the visa applications of the Fellows’ family members. No costs, other than those specified in this Note, shall be charged against the funds provided by the Secretariat.

1. Payment for Fellowships

COMSTECH shall buy cost effective return airfare (economy) from the country as provided by the applicant. ICCBS will accommodate the successful applicants and provide the stipend to cover the meals.

1. Reporting

The Fellow shall submit to the Secretariat (jnamukobe@gmail.com and copy to thannington@yahoo.com) for evaluation, two progress reports, one in the middle of the fellowship (after three months) and another at the end of the fellowship. The report shall summarise the results achieved with reference to the research and training objectives. The reports shall be endorsed by the Fellowship/host supervisor, who may include his/her comments immediately after the expiry of the six months’ period of the fellowship. For avoidance of doubt, the final report should be submitted not more than thirty days after the last date of the fellowship. The reports and all publications must acknowledge NAPRECA, COMSTECH and ICCBS for the support rendered using the following phrase; “This work was supported NAPRECA, COMSTECH and ICCBS. The statements made and views expressed in this work are solely the responsibility of the authors”

Prof. Dr. Liaquat Ali

Pothikrit Institute of Health Studies (PIHS), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Date: 31 May 2023
Time: 1600 – 1700 Hrs Pakistan Standard Time

Summary of talk:

Realizing the central role of health in overall human development, socioeconomic progress and poverty alleviation, the Organization of Islamic Islamic Countries (OIC) has identified health domain as one of the important areas for joint Islamic action. The OIC Health Vision is in line with the health related goals of SDG planned to be implemented through Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. Although considerable progress has been made, most of the OIC countries are facing difficult challenges to realize the Vision. Particularly the developing member states in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and war or conflict affected regions are suffering from inadequate health care in terms of availability and accessibility as well as affordability and quality. In many of them, health care systems are seriously suffering from various challenges related to adequate financial resources and infrastructure, workforce and appropriate national health policies and regulations. The unsatisfactory performance in the health sector is evident in all the six thematic areas of cooperation identified in the OIC Strategic Health Programme of Action (OIC-SHPA) 2014-2023, namely: Health System Strengthening; Disease Prevention and Control; Maternal, New-born and Child Health and Nutrition; Medicines, Vaccines and Medical Technologies; Emergency Health Response and Interventions; and Information, Research, Education and Advocacy. Apart from the rapidly rising burden of specific diseases or groups of diseases (like noncommunicable diseases or NCDs), an alarming message emerges from the analysis on the underlying common risk factors related to lifestyle like unhealthy transition in dietary practices, inadequate physical activity and harmful habits.  On average, the prevalence of insufficient physical activity in OIC countries is the highest (27.8 per cent) among all country groups. In consequence to inadequate physical activity and unhealthy diet, prevalence of obesity (a major contributor to a large number of NCDs) increased from 15.2 per cent in 2010 to 17 per cent in 2014 in OIC countries. In particular, high-income OIC countries suffer more from obesity.  Average per capita alcohol consumption in OIC countries increased from 1.9 litres in 2003 to 2.1 in 2013. An upward trend in the use of tobacco has also been observed with average tobacco smoking rate in OIC countries increasing from 18.3 per cent in 2006 to 19.8 per cent in 2015. This ‘off-track’ development is not only related to insufficient resources, but due to wrongly adopted health systems (often driven by external forces and market dynamics) are also responsible for such regressive movement in many cases. A 2019 study, using a Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis and Truncated regression approach, has shown that cost efficiency (CE), technical efficiency (TE) and allocative efficiency (AE) of health care system of OIC member countries on average are 0.52, 0.72, and 0.70, respectively. It indicates that OIC countries are not good at selecting cost efficient input mix. 

Under the above context the OIC needs to recognize ‘Health’ as a high priority sector with its transformation from a ‘medical’ issue (as perceived by many member states) to a ‘development’ issue. Some of the ground works have already been done, those are now required to be implemented (some on emergency basis). The OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action (TYPOA) adopted by the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in 2005 places special emphasis on mother and child health care and fighting diseases and pandemics. The TYPOA Recommendations include the following: i) Mandate the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to coordinate with the OIC General Secretariat in order to make the necessary contacts with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other relevant institutions to draw up a programme for combating diseases and epidemics, to be financed through the special fund that will be created within the IDB; and ii) Strengthen laws aimed at preserving the rights of children, enjoying the highest possible health levels, taking effective measures in order to eradicate poliomyelitis and protect them from all forms of violence and exploitation. Subsequent Islamic Conferences of Health Ministers (ICHMs), Islamic Summit Conferences and sessions of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) have adopted several decisions in the domain of health that cover issues such as preventing and combating diseases, improving mother and child health, achieving self-reliance in vaccine production and supply, establishing a Health Implementation Unit, strengthening health cooperation among OIC member countries and promoting health equity in the Islamic Ummah. In alignment with the first recommendation (triggered by the COVID-19 ppandemic), an agreement has been signed between WHO and IsDB on 21 November 2022 for promoting strategic collaboration to help their common Member States build better health systems, respond to emergencies and more. The OIC can be a major Partner of WHO in realizing the Organization’s evolving relationship with health-related personal beliefs, ‘faith-based organizations’ (FBOs), religious leaders and religious communities (‘religious actors’). This will be immensely useful in achieving the increasing emphasis of WHO on the ‘spiritual dimension’ of health which is fully in line with the teaching of Islam for the overall wellbeing of human being and nature.

Target Audience: This webinar is open to science policy makers, academicians, scientists and general public from all the member OIC states.

Profile of Speaker:

Prof Liaquat Ali is a biomedical scientist, educationist, and sociocultural activist with national and international reputation. With graduation in Medicine and MPhil in Medical Biochemistry from Dhaka University and PhD in Medical Cell Biology from Uppsala University (Sweden) he served various public and private institutions including IPGMR, BIRDEM and the Bangladesh University of Health Sciences or BUHS where he was the Founding Vice-Chancellor. In collaboration with a fairly large number of institutions in home and abroad he has supervised and co-supervised more than 300 MS, MPhil, MD and PhD students in various health and biomedical disciplines who are now working all over the world. About one-fifth of these students are from regional and international origin. With >280 papers/articles in peer-reviewed journals/books and nearly150 invited lectures in 39 countries of the world Prof Ali is one of the most cited biomedical scientists in the region. He has made significant contributions in the etiopathogenesis of diabetes mellitus among Bangalee population, methodology of antidiabetic plant medicine research, nutritional evaluation of local food materials, epidemiology of cardiometabolic diseases, and health system research in general. Along with his academic and scientific works, he has always participated actively in health related initiatives from the public as well as private sectors. He has been serving the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and its Directorates & Agencies as an Expert Member in a number of Committees. He is one of the 8 Public Health Advisors as well as the Convener/Member of several Committees of the Government to fight the COVID-19 Pandemic.

For his contribution in education, science and healthcare Prof Ali has been awarded with Fellowships/ Memberships/Honors from various professional organizations including Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Indian Public Health Association, Islamic World Academy of Sciences and Indian Association for the Study of Asian Traditional Medicine.

In addition to his contribution in his professional fields Prof Ali is also known as a sociocultural and literary activist in Bangladesh. He is the Founding Chair of Pothikrit Foundation which operates a popular intellectually oriented cultural Center (Sangskriti Bikash Kendra or SBK) in Dhaka. He is also a Visiting Faculty in the Department of Theater & Performance Studies of Dhaka University teaching the ‘Philosophy and Psychology of Theater’ Course. He has particular interest in history & philosophy of sciences, and among his writings in this field the book ‘Geometry and Philosophy’, published by Bangla Academy is widely acclaimed by the readers.

Poster of webinar:  Attached

Link for registration and E- certificate:https://forms.gle/JoXHmignj75RMvgo6

Zoom link will be shared with registered and selected participant.

Participants who attend full lecture will be given E- certificates.

Address: COMSTECH Secretariat, 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad 
Phone No. : 92 51 9220681-3
Email: Khazima@comstech.org ; maham.yamin@comstech.org

Date and Time: 5^th June 2023, 09:30 am to 04:00 pm Pakistan Time
Venue: COMSTECH Secretariat, G-5/2, Islamabad

Flyer: Link

Introduction:

Microorganisms that can cause disease are collectively called pathogens. These disease causing microorganisms include viruses, bacteria, fungi etc. These pathogens can cause disease either by disrupting the bodies normal processes and/or stimulating the immune system to produce a defensive response, resulting in high fever, inflammation and other symptoms. Infectious diseases can be spread from one person to another, for example through contact with bodily fluids, by aerosols (i.e. through coughing and sneezing), or via a vector, for example a mosquito. This seminar will focus on infection related features of microorganisms and the molecular mechanisms of their pathogenesis. A team of internationally renowned speakers will talk about bacterial protein structure analysis, antimicrobial resistance, immune correlates of viral infections and therapeutic strategies such as identification of antiviral agents and bacterial protein inhibitors.

Speakers: Brief profile of the speakers: Link 

Program of the event; Link

Participation:

Physical participation is only open for residents of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Virtual participation is open to all interested individuals of OIC member states and others.

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/tKUgMkiusFpSwjX89

Registration outcome will be shared through email, therefore, please give your valid email address.

Participants will receive E-certificates.

Contact persons,
Ms Khazima Muazim; Program Manager
khazima@comstech.org

Ms Maham Yamin, Program Officer
mahamyamin@gmail.com

Tel: (+92 51) 9220681-3

Fax: (+92 51) 9211115

Date: 4-5 July 2023

Flyer attached.

2nd International Youth Forum for Agri-Biotechnology to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan

The 2nd International Youth Forum for Agri-Biotechnology will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 4-5 July 2023. The theme of this year’s events is “Biotechnology for Food Security and Climate Resilience.” 

About the Forum for Agri-Biotechnology:

The Mission of the event is to promote excellence and competence in the field of agricultural and food biotechnology. The theme “Agriculture Biotechnology” aims to provide the best knowledge and resources to young participants to advance their research goals. The youth forum will stimulate the desire to collaborate and change the world of green biotechnology and innovation by promoting state-of-the-art practices in biotechnology research and evidence-based approach. The Forum will include informative talks from young as well as experienced scientists, keynote lectures, plenary sessions, poster presentations, discussions and other educational and social events that stimulate several networking opportunities among the young participants. The forum aims to facilitate interactions within the young research community to discuss the latest developments in this rapidly advancing field and find ways to respond to the increasing demands of professionals and communities across the world.

You may register through the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp

Dates: May 22 – 30, 2023
Venue: Ndjamena, Chad

COMSTECH, in collaboration of IsDB and OIC Secretariat is organizing eye camps/training workshop in African OIC LDC’s. The objective is to contribute towards developing indigenous capacity of the OIC member states to fight against preventable blindness. The Eye Camp/Training Workshops in Chad are scheduled during 22-30 May 2023.

A team of experienced ophthalmologists from Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT), Pakistan, will conduct 400 cataract surgeries, examination of post-operation patients, and conduct training workshops for local doctors with Phacoemulsification using the operation theater and other facilities available locally. Screening of patients and pre-operational preparation will be conducted by the local team. Apart from clinics, the Pakistani team will also launch public awareness campaign about eye health. In addition to that, the doctors, and paramedics of Chad will also be offered training and research opportunities at the LRBT Eye Hospital’s facilities in Pakistan as a follow-up. All the consumables and medicines for these eye camps will be transported from Pakistan.

Date: 16-18 May, 2023
Time: 09:00 AM-04:30PM Malaysia Time
Venue: AuRIns, UiTM, Puncak Alam, Malaysia. 

Registration Process

Step 1: For Virtual Registration: https://forms.gle/3Xw1LAMA9Q2rMPpp8

Step 2: Read instructions in the application form carefully and submit a properly filled form.

Step 3: Selected candidates will be notified through email; hence, applicants are required to check their emails regularly. Only candidates with field relevance will be selected.

Profile of Speaker: Click Here

For any queries:

Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
Program Officer
COMSTECH
Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org

Delivered by:

Prof. Dr. Rabia Hussain PhD, FRC Path
Professor and former Head of Microbiology Aga Khan University

Date: 16^th May 2023
Time: 03:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time

Introduction to the talk

This talk will focus on BCG stimulated recall responses in the innate cellular network as well as detection of cross reactive antibodies to SARS COV 2 pre-pandemic in young Pakistani adults, the possibility of a link to the decreased mortality and disease severity observed in the Pakistani population, particularly in the young adult population. Such recognition of conserved epitopes may be used to develop a pan-vaccine strategy to combat future emergence of variant strains of COVID 19.

Target Audience

The webinar is open to students, researchers, young scientists, and academicians from the OIC member states and other countries with relevant background.

Profile of the Speaker:

Rabia Hussain is Ghulamali Hirji professor and former head of department of microbiology, Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, Pakistan. She obtained her BSc (hons.) in 1966, MSc (microbiology) in 1967 at Karachi University, and PhD (immunology) at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 1973. She worked on characterization of Ascaris and Shistosoma allergens and then moved to human pollen allergies when she joined Johns Hopkins University. She subsequently moved to NIH as a senior staff fellow in Dr Eric Ottesen laboratory and did seminal work in identifying blocking antibodies to IgE responses in filariasis. Her paper on IgE responses in filariasis was declared the best paper by American Society of Nuclear Medicine. She was recruited to AKU to set up a State-of-the-Art-Immunology Laboratory and develop a program in Immunology of Infectious disease, a first in Pakistan in 1986, where she did outstanding work on Immunology of Mycobacterial disease. Her work has led to the early diagnosis and pathogenesis of leprosy and tuberculosis for which she received TWAS prize in Basic Medical Sciences, Research Excellence award by AKU, and has received National Civil Honours, Tamghe-i-Imtiaz and Sitara-e-Imtiaz. She was appointed National Distinguished Professor by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. She was elected life Patron of Pakistan Society of Immunology.  She is an elected fellow of The Royal College of Pathologist, The World Academy of Sciences, The Pakistan Academy of Sciences and The Islamic World Academy of Sciences. She is an elected council member of The International Leprosy Association, member the British Society of Immunology and the International Society of Infectious Diseases. She was also elected TWAS Council member and later Vice President, South and Central Asia, and ranked among the top ten Women Scientist in the Muslim world by the OIC, and top fifty in Asia by AAASA. She was recently appointed Professor Emeritus at The Aga Khan University. Currently her citation Index=7378, h-Index=50 and iL10=129.

Flyer of webinar:  Link

Abstract of the talk: Link 

Register at: https://forms.gle/wQxhoZpsBCmgBLup7

Zoom link for participation will be shared selected participants.

For more information please contact;
Email: Khazima@comstech.org ; maham.yamin@comstech.org

Phone No: 92 51 9220681-3

By Prof Dr Corina Joseph, Professor, Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Date: 25-05-2023
Time: 3:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time; 6:00PM Malaysia Time

Abstract:

The webinar aims to share the speaker’s experiences publishing in high-impact factor journals. At the end of this webinar, participants are expected to:

• Understand the submission process
• Identify the publication outlets
• Comprehend the paper structure
• Prepare the paper
• Deal with the review process
• Familiar with the online submission system

For Registration: https://forms.gle/2AjoiVEChgZV2Ev69

E-certificates will be issued upon complete participation.

Profile of Speaker:

For any queries:

Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
Program Officer
COMSTECH
Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org

Flyer: Click Here

Date: Thursday, 27^th April 2023 (Hybrid event)
Time: 1100 hours (Pakistan Standard Time)

A high level delegation of Chinese scientists and Industrialists will be visiting COMSTECH secretariat to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to promote cooperation for research and development in the fields of natural products, biotechnology, molecular and cell biology and traditional medicine through institutional and industrial linkages. The MoU will help strengthen academic and research initiatives between the People’s Republic of China and the OIC member states.

This signing ceremony shall be accompanied by series of key talks on the subject by scientists, and representatives of pharmaceutical industries in China. 

Who Should Attend?

Early stage researchers, relevant personnel from the research Laboratories and industries.

Travel & Local Hospitality:

No TA/DA applicable for this event

Event Program: link

Registration link: https://forms.gle/QETKDZME1EssXKMN8