Past Events

  • COMSTECH BASIC SCIENCES PROGRAMME: Webinar on “A Perspective of Turbulent Flows in Classical and Quantum Fluids”

    Prof. Dr. Joseph Niemela
    Research Scientist Emeritus and Consultant
    The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
    Trieste, Italy

    Date & Time: 21 December, 2021 at 1500 – 1630 Hrs. (Pakistan Standard Time)

    Overview

    This lecture will outline some of the challenges associated with the study of turbulent flows, an enduring unsolved problem in classical physics.  Turbulence exists from microscopic to astrophysical scales, and also in quantum fluids albeit subject to severe restrictions imposed by the quantization of circulation, as first postulated by Onsager and Feynman. The talk is intended to be accessible to a non-specialized audience.

    Target Audience

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

    For Registration please visit  https://forms.gle/vwV7g8QuDnsgJXsJ9

    Procedure to Join:  Zoom link will be shared with selected participants

    Profile of Speaker

    Prof. Niemela is a Research Scientist Emeritus and Consultant at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), a UNESCO Category 1 Institute, where he headed its Office of External Activities (OEA), Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) program, and Applied Physics group. 

    He is presently Chair-elect of the Forum on International Physics of the American Physical Society (APS), Secretary of Commission 13 (Physics for Development), of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), and Chair of the Physics for Development Group of the European Physical Society (EPS). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and is a Foreign Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS).  He also serves as Treasurer of the International Commission for Optics (ICO).

    He was a past recipient of  the Dwight Nicholson Medal from the APS, the Galileo Galilei medal of the Italian Physical Society, and the SPIE Educator of the Year award.

    Webinar Coordinators

    Muhammad Haris Akram
    Program Manager
    COMSTECH, Islamabad.
    Email: haris@comstech.org
    Phone: +92 51 9220681

    Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
    Program Officer
    COMSTECH, Islamabad.
    Email: Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org
    Phone: +92 51 9220681

  • COMSTECH-NTD NETWORK JOINT LECTURE SERIES Understanding the Immunology of Kala-Azar for Innovations in its Elimination and Control

    Prof. Dr. Nahid Ali
    Fellow the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), J.C. Bose National Fellow, Pioneers of liposomal delivery system
    used for vaccines and therapies

    Date: 27 October 2021 
    Time: 02:30 pm Pakistan Standard Time

    Our Programme:

    NTDs (neglected tropical diseases) are a major health and economic burden in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.  The control and elimination of NTDs requires both a scale-up and integration of global mass treatment programmes, along with new tools and technologies to tackle these diseases.  COMSTECH, in collaboration with A Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (known as the NTD Network, https://ntd-network.org/), is launching a virtual lecture series.  for researchers across the Moslem world and beyond.  Our programme draws upon expertise from both networks, and offers opportunities to gain or enhance researcher knowledge, skills and connections, all of which help to grow our shared global capacity to tackle these rapidly growing NTDs. 

    • The NTD Network, funded by UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), is a consortium of academic researchers from South America, Asia, and the UK, seeking new therapeutic solutions to leishmaniasis and Chagas disease
    • Both COMSTECH and the NTD Network aim to promote global scientific cooperation and build researcher capacity to find new and better therapeutic solutions for NTDs

    This online programme is the first of many COMSTECH-NTD Network joint activities via the COMSTECH platform. 

    Target Audience:

    This webinar is open to academics, scientists and the general public from all OIC member states.  The content is most relevant to scientists interested in NTDs research, and specialised in Microbiology, Genetics, Genomics, Molecular Biology, Molecular Medicine, and Pathology. 

    Register with us to attend this meeting:
    Register at : https://forms.gle/GkzNFwqveBDyLMWp6

    Contact us for further details:
    Khazima@comstech.org;  comstech@comstech.org

  • World Food Day Our Actions Are Our Future

    14th October 2021- (4:00 to 6:00 PM PST)

    COMSTECH is hosting webinar on World Food Day to achieve “Zero Hunger” with theme“Our actions are our future- Better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and better life”.

    COMSTECH-OIC cooperation on Science and Technology (comstech.org) in cooperation with UK-based organizations SAWIE (www.sawie.net)  & UPSIGN (www.upsign.org.uk) hosting this year’s World Day in Pakistan on 14th October that aims to promote knowledge and support good practices for enhancing agriculture and food production through climate-smart agriculture(CSA), conserving our water, soil resources and protecting biodiversity. It has a critical role to play for “ZERO HUNGER”  and address the climate change crisis.

    The event will be highlighting the need for taking immediate actions to protect our food system to produce enough food in quantity and quality. The food system is facing tremendous pressure from climate change causing the depleting natural resources, soil degradation, water shortage and increasing threat from invasive species of pests and diseases. The COVID pandemic has already posed a serious threat to our food system , we need to develop resilient and holistic food system to fight hunger. 

    SAWIE smart farm advisory services for smallholder farmers of Pakistan will be launched. SAWIE is a digital and knowledge platform advising  smallholder farmers in climate-smart agriculture and increase income (www.sawie.net)

    For Registration: Use following link https://forms.gle/RJ8pkdcFZv8dad9z5. Registered Participants will receive certificate of their participation.

    Technical Session
    Programme (4:30 to 6:30 PM)

    Chair: Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, (H.I., S.I.,T.I.),Coordinator General, COMSTECH

    Co-Chair: Dr Shahid Mahmood Baig, Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation.

    4:30Developing Resilient Food Systems Prof. Dr. Ashfaq Ahmad Chatta, ADPC, CARE South Asia, World  Bank, Pakistan.
    4:40Role of Saline Agriculture to Address Food Security Dr. Tarifa Al Zaabi, Acting Director General, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, UAE.
    4:50Environmentally Sustainable Crop Production for Food Security Dr Abdul Wakeel, Associate Professor , University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.
    5:00Accelerating Farm Decision Support with Data Marketplace Dr Matthew Smith , Head Product Success, Agrimetrics, UK.
    5:10Microfinance model to uplift marginal communities Dr Rashid Bajwa, Chief Executive Officer, NRSP, Pakistan.
    5:20Hidden Hunger, A biofortified success story – A case study of KP province Prof. Dr. Nicola M. Lowe, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, UK.
    5:30New approaches to address Food Security Prof. Dr. Gerrit Hoogenboom, University of Florida, USA.
    5:40BioSuccess – an app that can help with climate change and use of Biopesticides’ Dr Belinda Luke, CABI, UK.
    5:50Plenary Session -Drivers Achieving Food Self Sufficiency in Pakistan (Policy Framework, Access to Finance, Digitization, Innovation , Academia & Research, Advisory & Extension services) Chair: Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri , Executive Director- SDPI Co-Chair: Eng. Mushtaq Gill, CEO SAWIE & SACAN Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman, VC, PMAS Arid Agriculture UniversityDr. Muhammad Azeem Khan, Ex Chairman, PARCMr Hammad Naqvi, Country Head, WWFMs. Sobiah Becker, Climate Change Adviser FCDO Ms. Shandana Gulzar Khan  ,Chairperson Commonwealth Women ParliamentarianDr. Khalid Mahmood, SAWIEDr Michael Gifford, NIAB, Cambridge
    6:20A vote of Thanks Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, (H.I.,S.I.,T.I.),Coordinator General, COMSTECH

    Contact Info
    For any query, Please contact on the below given Email address or Landline number

    Email: Khazima@comstech.org or comstech@comstech.org
    Phone No. : 92 51 9220681-3
    Fax : 92 51 9211115, 9220265, 9205264
    Khazima Muazim
    Programme Manager,
    COMSTECH Secretariat, 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • INSTP-COMSTECH Training Course on “The Patenting Process: Stages for Filing a Patent Application”

    Flyer Click Here

    1- Introduction

    Intellectual Property rights (IP) are designed to benefit society by providing incentives to introduce new inventions and creations in fields relating to technology (patents), business (brands) and the arts (copyright). They facilitate access to knowledge and inventions and stimulate innovation by resolving information asymmetries, facilitating international competitiveness and trade, and enhancing opportunities for access to finance. Therefore, their purpose is not the exclusive benefit of individuals/corporations but of the public community at large.

    But alongside the benefits of IP comes the rules, laws and specific documentation required to ascertain the legality of registered IP or patent, which can be a difficult hurdle for technologists, innovators and entrepreneurs to overcome if not equipped with the necessary knowledge of the case specific system.

    2- The Purpose of the Course

    The purpose of the training course will be to empower managers and experts to raise the awareness of technologists, innovators, and entrepreneurs in OIC member countries regarding the detailed process of IP documentation and patent registration, as well as the different types of patents and related legal processes.

    3- The Overall Scope

    The training course will be organized by the INSTP in two stages. The first stage will be a 3-day online training course at the end of which the participants will be tested in order to be evaluated and selected for the second stage. The second stage will be a workshop held in Iran for the participants that pass the first stage.

    4- The Training Course

    • The Target Audience:
      • managers and experts from technoparks, universities and research centers

    Each title would be covered in the duration of two hours,

    No.Session TitleDateDuration
    1What is Intellectual Property rights? An engaging introduction to Copyright, Patents, Designs and TrademarksNov. 1st, 20212 hours
    2IP as a business development tool; Importance of IP management for SMEsNov. 1st, 20212 hours
    3What is patent? Macro and Micro Economic Impact of the Patent SystemNov. 2nd, 20212 hours
    4Types of patent and technology related agreements; the areas of intellectual property that covered by different agreements.Nov. 2nd, 20212 hours
    5Patent application process; the International Patent System and Regional Patent Protection MechanismsNov. 3rd, 20212 hours
    6Using patent information; the foundations of patent documentation, patent search strategies, and patent analysis for businessesNov. 3rd, 20212 hours
     Total3 days12 hours
    • Preparing the Training Materials:
      • The training material will be prepared by the instructors, approved by INSTP
    • The Duration of Course and Number of Trainees:
      • The online course will be for 3 days on November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2021 with open registration.
      • A number of trainees will be selected from the participants according to their qualifications and performance to participate in the workshop in Iran with covered travel and stay.

    5- Course Instructors:

    • Fateme Jahanpeyma
    • Mitra Aminlou
    • Bryan Khan
    • Fredy Sánchez
    • Mehrdad Khanlarkhani
    • Leila Zarei

    6- Evaluation

    A comprehensive evaluation of the program will be made at the end, taking into consideration the output of the participants regarding quality, efficiency and organization, as well as timely follow up with the participants to document their progress.

  • COMSTECH Webinar on “Bioactivities of Secondary Metabolites From Turkish Medicinal Plants”

    By
    Prof. Dr. Bilge SENER 
    Department of Pharmacognosy,
    Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, Ankara-Turkey. 
    Adjunct Professor, H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry,
    ICCBS, University of Karachi, Pakistan.

    Date and Time: November 23, 2021, at 14:00 (Pakistan Standard Time)

    Overview:

    Medicinal plants have a combination of naturally occurring secondary metabolites that possess a number of significant therapeutic benefits for human health. These phytoconstituents have been reported to play an important role in the drug discovery process.  In addition, medicinal plants have been considered for many years as an essential source of drugs for the treatment of several diseases. With recent advancements in science and technology, the natural products are still  popular among researchers focussing on discovery of novel bioactive compounds. This webinar will analyze the research focused on the determination of bioactive secondary metabolites from Turkish medicinal plants along with geophytes as therapeutic agents for dementia – as a drug candidate for brain diseases.

    Target Audience:

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

    For Registration please visit:  https://forms.gle/FYgMCJJ8Yz2LgAwNA

    Procedure to Join:  Zoom link will be shared with selected participants via email.

    Profile of Speaker:

    Prof. Dr. Bilge Sener graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Pharmacy in 1974 and completed her Ph.D. (awarded by TUBITAK) at the Dept. of Pharmacognosy, Ankara University, in 1977.  In 1981, she became an Assoc. Prof. at the same department and became a full Professor in 1988. Furthermore, she was a researcher at the Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University (USA) between 1986 and 1988 as Visiting scientist awarded by NSF (National Science Foundation).

    Prof. Sener is also involved in several administrative tasks (Dean, Co-Director, delegate etc.) at Gazi University and as a Turkish delegate at the European Pharmacopoeia Commission by the Ministry of Health. She has also served as a member of the Bioorganic Committee of the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry).

    Her main research field is development of bioactive compounds from Turkish medicinal plants and evaluation of herbal medicines alongwith nutraceuticals for their quality control. She has won 21 awards from national and international institutions. In addition, she has completed 48 projects supported by NATO, NSF, IUPAC, Soctrates-Grundtvig, TUBITAK and University Research Funds. She has authored/co-authored 16 books, 106 chapters and 719 research articles published in leading peer reviewed international journals. She has also given 71 conferences and 358 plenary and invited lectures. Lastly, she has supervised 22 Ph.D. thesis at Gazi University, and as co-advisor of 16 Ph.D. scholars at the University of Karachi.

    Webinar Coordinator:
    Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
    Program Officer
    COMSTECH, Islamabad.
    Email: Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org
    Phone: +92 51 9220681

  • COMSTECH BASIC SCIENCES PROGRAMME Webinar on “Introduction and Update on Inertial Confinement Fusion”

    Prof. Dr. Dimitri Batani
    Professor
    CELIA –  Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications
    University of Bordeaux, France

    Date & Time: October 12, 2021 at 1500 – 1630 Hrs. (Pakistan Standard Time)

    Overview

    Inertial Confinement Fusion is an approach to Controlled thermonuclear fusion, which is based on the idea of compressing a deuterium-tritium target to very high-density using laser beams. Compression also produces a temperature increase in the core of the target which should be enough to trigger nuclear fusion reaction of deuterium and tritium ions (releasing an α – particle, a neutron, and a large amount of energy).

    Recently, experiments conducted at the National Ignition Facility at LLNL in the US, have released 1.3 MJ of fusion energy with less than  2 MJ of laser energy. This result brings us very close to the demonstration of ignition in the laboratory, i.e. the point at which the energy for nuclear fusion reactions equals the drive energy. This will be a scientific result of tremendous importance, however still much work will be needed to obtain higher gains and a net production of energy. In this webinar, the principles of inertial confinement fusion, the main obstacles to progress in the field, the novel approach of “Shock Ignition” of fusion targets and, finally the perspective for future research work towards higher gains will be taught.

    Target Audience

    The webinar is open to students, researchers, young scientists, and academicians from the OIC member states.

    For Registration please visit  https://forms.gle/Hmiui9jNZHwZKT6E9

    Procedure to Join:  Zoom link will be shared with selected participants

    Profile of Speaker

    Prof. Dr. Dimitri Batani has been working as full Professor at University of Bordeaux, France (CELIA – Centre Lasers Intenses Applications) since 2011. He has performed pioneering works in several fields related to the physics of laser-produced plasmas, High Energy Density (HED) physics, laser-driven sources of radiation and particles, development of plasma diagnostics and, physics of inertial confinement fusion.

    He has published 612 research papers with h-index 47 and more than 8000 citations. He is Member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC) and has been awarded the Friedel-Volterra Prize 2017, jointly by the Italian Physical Society (SIF) and, the French Physical Society for his outstanding contributions in the study of laser plasma interactions related to inertial confinement fusion. He has several honors and awards and has served at many teaching and research positions.

    Webinar Coordinators

    Muhammad Haris Akram
    Program Manager
    COMSTECH, Islamabad.
    Email: haris@comstech.org
    Phone: +92 51 9220681

    Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
    Program Officer
    COMSTECH, Islamabad.
    Email: Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org
    Phone: +92 51 9220681

  • Training Workshop “Acquisition, Conservation, Exchange and Safety Duplication of Plant Genetic Resources in OIC Member Countries” – MENA Chapter

    Date: 21-22 September 2021
    Time: 15.00 hrs (by Pakistan time), 16.00 hrs (by Kazakhstan time)

    Considering the importance of biodiversity of genetic resources and the possible loss of genetic materials from gene banks due to environmental changes or political conflicts, it is crucial to building the capacity of OIC Member countries in conserving and sustainable use of genetic resources in their respective countries.

    It is worth mentioning that developing strong human resources in this field in OIC Member Countries has become an urgent demand. While a few of our Member States do possess advanced know-how and well developed Genebank facilities many of our Member States do not possess sufficient human and technical resources in this vital domain. To address this issue, IOFS and COMSTECH have agreed to conduct a series of related training for OIC Member countries. These training sessions may be considered as a follow up to the online Workshop on National Gene banks organized by IOFS and COMSTECH, July 5-6, 2020.

    OBJECTIVES

    • To raise awareness of OIC Member countries in establishing gene bank requirements;
    • To build the capacity of OIC Member countries in maintenance and operations of gene banks (collection of genetic materials, conservation, germplasm exchange policies);
    • To familiarize with international and national laws and policies;
    • To discuss and exchange the international practices in the conservation of genetic resources and effective collaboration in this field of various stakeholders on the national and international level.

    IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES

    In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the organizing parties aim to implement activities during the period of June-November 2021 in the areas of common interests that would include:
    1. Online training on PGR (Region-I) Asia, 13-14 July 2021
    2. Online training on PGR (Region-II) Africa, 10-11 August 2021
    3. Online training on PGR (Region-III) MENA, 21-22 September 2021

    Due to the constraints on travel and gatherings imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic the workshop will be held online (Zoom platform). The working language of the event is English (interpretation into the Arabic language).

    PARTICIPATION

    The workshop participants will include representatives of gene banks; research and science organizations specialized in the management of animal genetic resources; government agencies, responsible for the improvement of biological diversity; and other stakeholders interested in the workshop theme from all OIC member countries.

    REGISTRATION

    To attend the Workshop and receive informational materials regarding the event please register:

    https://shortest.link/-e4

    ZOOM LINK

    To join the Workshop, please follow the link:  https://shortest.link/-e0

    Other organizational matters can be clarified by the IOFS focal point: Makpal Bulatova, Program Manager, IOFS Secretariat, +77017773649, m.bulatova@iofs.org.kz.

  • COMSTECH Webinar On “How To Build A Successful Academic Career?”

    Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ali Farag

    Alexander von Humboldt Fellow/TWAS Fellow
    Professor and Program Director
    American University in Cairo, Egypt

    Date and Time: October 28, 2021 at 15:00 PKT (Pakistan Standard Time)
    Deadline for Registration: October 25, 2021

    Overview:

    One of the unspoken rules in research is that a successful career in science is only possible with one or more papers with an impact factor above 10 or higher. This belief creates a lot of peer pressure among young scientists and may be even one of the causes of increasing numbers of scientific fraud cases. But is it true?

    To answer this question, it is crucial to get a very clear idea what “a successful career in science” means for you. It is very simple: If you want to work and succeed in an academic environment you must be prepared. Here, Prof. Farag will provide unvarnished advice for young scientists on the difficulties that lie ahead and on how to escape the bottle necks most researchers go through in their career to succeed. Opinion presented in this talk is based on Prof. Farag’s 27 years of experience in academia and to cover issues related to how to think scientifically, present & publish in an upmost level.

    Target Audience:
    The webinar is open to students, researchers, young scientists, and academicians  from the OIC member states.

    For Registration please visit:  https://forms.gle/nKKUBZBDEWLWnd5r5

    Procedure to Join:  Zoom link will be shared with selected participants via email.

    Profile of Speaker:
    Prof. Farag completed his PhD at Texas Tech University, USA, in 2003. In 2005, after spending time as a postdoctoral fellow at The Samuel Noble Foundation, USA, and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, USA, he became assistant professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt.

    Currently, Prof. Farag works as a Professor at the Chemistry Department, American University in Cairo (AUC) where his research work focuses primarily around applying innovative biochemical technologies (metabolomics) to help answer complex biological questions in medicine, herbal drugs analysis and agriculture.   

    Furthermore, Prof. Farag works as a Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, to participate in teaching plant metabolomics and chemomterics modelling for master students, and in 2009–2010 he held the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in Germany.

    Prof. Farag has been recognized with several awards, including Abd el Hameed Shoman award (2016), Egypt Higher State Incentive Award (2012), Cairo University Incentive Award (2009), TWAS award in Science Diplomacy (2014), and the Mass Spectroscopy Performance Award, TTU, USA (2004).  For his highly cited publications with close to 8000 citations and an H index of 40, Prof. Farag was selected as a top researcher in the field of plant biology in Africa by the American society of plant biology, USA.  Prof. Farag is also a TWAS Fellow in Agriculture from Egypt.

    Webinar Coordinator:
    Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
    Program Officer
    COMSTECH, Islamabad.
    Email: Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org
    Phone: +92 51 9220681

  • COMSTECH & Maroof International Hospital

    International Training in Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)

    September 23 – 24, 2021

    Venue: COMSTECH Auditorium Islamabad, 33 Constitution Ave, G-5/2 G-5, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Duration & Timings:

    Thursday September 23rd, 2021 to Friday September 24th, 2021

    Modality:

    Hybrid i.e. Face to face session at COMSTECH Secretariat/Zoom based interactive discussions.
    Limited physical Participation is only for residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad or any other who can arrange their accommodation and transport.

    Learning objectives

    Through a case-based learning approach:

    • Highlighting the importance of ethical practices
    • Illustrating the concepts of internal & external validity
    • Enabling participants to employ descriptive & inferential statistics
    • Equipping the participants with analytical skills for critical appraisal
    • Tooling participants with steps of proposal writing and budgeting

    Topics

    1. Equipoise and ethics
    2. Formulating a research question
    3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria, primary and secondary outcome measures
    4. Randomization techniques & pitfalls
    5. Blinding and allocation concealment
    6. Sample size calculation
    7. Inferential statistics
    8. CONSORT statement for conducting & reporting of RCTs
    9. Proposal writing & budgeting
    10. Critical appraisal and applicability to practice

    Target Audience:

    Physicians, Medical students, nurses, pharmacists, biologist & allied health care research professionals

    Registration:

    Pl. register at https://forms.gle/6qzbryvVJEVvFntCA. Candidates will be updated about their registration request through their email.

    MUST: Use the following link to download reference material including the required case-based study articles: http://tiny.cc/InternationalTrainingRCTs

    Flyer : click here
    Technical Program : click here

    Course Director:

    Prof. K. H. Mujtaba Quadri
    Diplomate American Board of Internal Medicine & Nephrology
    Certified: Principles and Practice of Clinical Research (Harvard),
    Chair Research and Head of Nephrology

    Lead Facilitators:

    1. Prof. Mobeen Iqbal
      (MBBS, Diplomate American Board of IM, Pulmonary and Critical Care, MHPE (Keele), Certified: Quantitative Research Methodology (Harvard), MIH Islamabad
    2. Dr. Waqar Hafeez
      (MBBS, Diplomate American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, CCRP), MIH Islamabad
    3. Dr. Shamail Anwar
      (MBBS, FCPS (OBGYN), CCRP), MIH Islamabad
    4. Dr. Ammad Fahim
      (MBBS, PhD, CCRP), MIH Islamabad
    5. Dr. Imad ud din Saqib
      (MBBS, CCRP), MIH Islamabad
    6. Ms. Kholood Janjua
      (Pharm-D, MS. Bio-Medical Sciences, Diplomate American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review, CCRP), NUST Islamabad
    7. Dr. Rehma Gilani
      (MBBS, MPH, Certified: Principles and Practice of Clinical Research (Harvard), NUMS Rawalpindi
    8. Ms. Maham Zahid
      (Pharm-D, MPH, Certified: Principles and Practice of Clinical Research (Harvard), NUMS Rawalpindi

    Course Coordinators:

    • Ms. Khazima Muazim, COMSTECH Islamabad
    • Syed Mufasser Shah, MIH Islamabad

    Contact:

    Ms. Khazima Muazim (Program Manager, COMSTECH):
    Address: COMSTECH Secretariat, 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad 
    Phone No. : 92 51 9220681-3
    Email: Khazima@comstech.org ; comstech@comstech.org

  • COMSTECH Distinguished Scholars Webinar

    Advanced Methods for Structure Determination of Proteins and their complexes: Drug Discovery for Motor Neuron Disease to COVID-19

    Prof. Dr. Samar Hasnain

    Date and Time: 09th September, 2021; 02:30 PM PKT

    Target Audience:

    This webinar is open to academicians, scientists, and general public from all the OIC member  states.

    Profile of Speaker:

    Samar Hasnain is a structural biologist with over 45 years of Synchrotron Radiation experience.  He obtained a PhD in experimental Physics in 1976 from the University of Manchester on molecular crystals using synchrotron radiation at NINA. After spending a year as PDRA with Manchester he joined DESY in Hamburg as a DESY Fellow working on the Storage ring Synchrotron Radiation Facility, where during his stay at DESY, the synchrotron team created HASYLAB in 1978.

    In 1979, Professor Hasnain joined the UK’s effort of establishing the world’s first dedicated synchrotron radiation source (SRS) as a full-time scientific staff member of the Daresbury national laboratory. In 1989, he established the Molecular Biophysics group at Daresbury where he remained as head of the group until March 2008 when he moved to the University of Liverpool as Max Perutz Professor of Molecular Biophysics where he established the Barkla X-ray laboratory of Biophysics, naming the X-ray laboratory after the Liverpool’s Nobel prize winner Charles Glover Barkla (1917) who had established the nature of Rontgen rays (X-rays) that helped to start the field of X-ray Crystallography. During 2011-2105 he was the International Lead for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences of the University of Liverpool.

    He persuaded the International Union of Crystallography to launch the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation in 1993 and became its founding editor with Hiromichi Kamitsubo and John Helliwell. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the IUCr Journals from 2012 to 2018. In 2014, he launched the IUCr’s flagship journal IUCrJ. He is a member of the International Advisory Board for IUCrJ. He is also an Editor of the Current opinion in Structural Biology and IUBMB Life.

    He has been engaged with the SESAME synchrotron project in Jordan launched under the umbrella of UNESCO since its inception in 2004 and is the UK Government’s representative on its Council since its foundation. He is Chair of its Programme Review committee since 2018. Previously, he was the founding Chair of its Beamline Advisory Committee.

    He is Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK, since 1991), Fellow of TWAS (since 1997), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK, since 2002) and Foreign Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (since 2017).

    His main interest is in structure-function studies of proteins and their complexes that are involved in biological electron transfer, nitrogen cycles and neurodegenerative diseases. He has been involved in structure-based drug discovery targeted towards neurodegenerative diseases and malaria.

    Hasnain has pioneered an approach to defining the structures of metalloproteins that combines not only X-ray crystallography and solution X-ray scattering, now used widely in the structural biology community, but also X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and optical spectroscopies. More recently, he has included cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in his toolkit and has applied to a number of membrane proteins effectively. The integration of spectroscopic methods with crystallography has proved powerful in providing validation of ‘functional’ states of enzymes as well as providing a route to identifying ‘radiation-damage free structures’. The value of this integrated approach has been recognized widely and has been adopted by the metalloprotein research community worldwide. His drive to obtain ‘damage-free’ structure has led to (i) the ‘multiple structures serially obtained from one crystal’ (MSOX) technique that allows an opportunity to capture radiolytically-driven chemical reactions in the crystal and (ii) the use of XFEL for providing damage-free structures for redox proteins.

    Flyer of webinar:  click here

    Link for registration and E- certificate:

    https://forms.gle/S9yWc3kFN1ccKGWV6

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

Back to top button