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Source: Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center (PABIC)
By Ijaz Ahmad Rao

Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing areas of science however one of the most controversial – some believe that it will make a major contribution to solving central problems in developing economies; on the other hand there is also concern that its use could further widen the technological and economic gap between rich and poor countries. Developments in biotechnology are applied in medicine, food production, agriculture, industries, renewable energy, control of the environment, and forensic science.

It is a daunting task divine in today’s world - how biotechnology will progress and affect future economic activity, as it might have been for economists in the last three centuries to forecast how the steam engine, electricity and the microchip would influence and eventually transform the world economy.  Even though the modern bioscience industry has been around for 30 years and the gargantuan task of mapping the human genome is complete, it’s still not clear to what extent life science technology will affect our lifestyle, industry and economy. Some observers have already labeled this the “Century of Biology,” betting that advances in the life sciences will yield changes more momentous than those of electricity and computers. Biotechnology in Pakistan stands at a crossroads; as a country with huge natural resources and equally huge political, social and economic problems - Pakistan is amongst those developing countries having history of less political will and investment in the development of life-sciences and technologies; moreover our overall system including scientific and educational organizations are highly influenced by feudalism; which does not properly accommodate scientific creativity and innovators; that is one reason behind the high acceleration of scientific & innovative “brain drain” in the last few decades.

Although the recent government has initiated a number of progressive programs in areas of natural sciences, health, education and economic development but progress continues to be constrained by limited financial resources and an inefficient and cumbersome administrative structure - the distribution of financial resources and even foreign aids to the institutes are out of proportionate that’s why few originations have excessive infrastructure but less utilizations and productivity while others are craving for even stationary. So in such an environment biotechnology and genetic engineering have to travel though very bumpy road; today Pakistan has achieved a unique position in the area of crops, health, industrial and environmental biotechnology; which has not been even achieved by many wealthy countries. It is perhaps both farseeing and appropriate that the present government has adopted as one of the areas in which to focus its research; support the field of Biotechnology. There are various funding mechanisms now in place to support research and development in different biotech disciplines in the country and incentive programs have been developed to speedup its performance.

Currently there are hundreds of scientists working in more than 29 centers; conducting biotech research in different areas with manpower more than 500 in the field of Botany, Genetics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Zoology etc. A large number of scientists are being trained through indigenous PhD programs and through training at foreign universities; see some detail in figure below and location of Institutes at the map.

Although most of biotech research institutes claimed that they have capacity to conduct biotech research and development in most of its fields but few of them have made remarkable achievements - Major centers with an adequate infrastructure in the country are:

• Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC); http://www.paec.gov.pk/

• National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE); Faisalabad; http://www.nibge.org

• National Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology (NCEMB) - University of the Punjab; Lahore; www.cemb.edu.pk

• Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology (NIAB); Faisalabad; http://www.niab.org.pk

• The Center for Molecular Genetics (CMG), University of Karachi; http://www.genetics.co.nr/

• Institute of Biochemistry, University of Balochistan, Quetta

• Biomedical & Genetic Engineering Division, Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories, Islamabad; http://www.qau.edu.pk/acadbio.htm#

• Dr. Punjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research University of Karachi, Karachi

• Center of Agricultural, Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; http://www.uaf.edu.pk/ad/a_dept/pbg.htm

• Agriculture Biotechnology Institute, National Agriculture Research Center (NARC), Islamabad; http://www.parc.gov.pk/narc.html

• Plant Tissue Culture Lab, H.E.J Institute Research Institute of Chemistry, Karachi

• University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi, http://www.uaar.edu.pk

• Central Cotton Research Institute Multan, www.ccri.org.pk

• Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Peshawar

• Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Sindh, Jamshoro

• Vaccinology and Biotechnology (CASVAB) University of Balochistan

• Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Peshawar;

      http://www.aup.edu.pk/genetics_engineering.asp

Infrastructure and major Achievements of Biotech Institutes in Pakistan

Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology (NIAB)

In the earlier 1980’s the Government of Pakistan started a program for the expatriates for visits to different research laboratories and participate in short-term courses and training workshops. In 1981 Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology (NIAB); Faisalabad organized a course on Recombinant DNA methodology and genetic engineering; which marks the beginning of efforts to start work in the area of biotechnology in the country. In 1972 Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) established NIAB to develop new agricultural technologies to help farmers; from the outset the mandate was to create and maintain new genetic material for sustained agriculture development and to conduct research on applied problems in the field of agriculture and biology using nuclear and other related techniques. Some of the significant achievements of NIAB include the introduction of new crop varieties and studies related to control of salinity and insect pests. The best known cotton variety NIAB-78, evolved by the Institute, now covers well over 50% of the area under cotton cultivation in the country; similarly important variety NIAB Karishma; which has a higher yield and has shown tolerance to cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) disease. The research activities of NIAB are carried out in different divisions including Mutation Breeding, Entomology, Biological chemistry, Biochemistry and Natural products, Soil Science and Soil Biology.

The institute has well equipped laboratories having facilities such as cobalt-60 irradiation sources, radiation measuring instruments, growth chamber, UDV and amino acid analyzers, HPLC, gas chromatographs, PCR etc.  It has scientific coordination with number of international research institutions working on agriculture and biology like International Atomic Energy Agency, International Foundation for Science, Third World Academy of Science, International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics, OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation etc. 

National Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology (NCEMB)

National Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology - University of the Punjab; Lahore - was founded in 1985 and now comprises state of the art labs and modern equipment for carrying out cutting-edge research in molecular biology and biotechnology. Apart from its research and library facilities, NCEMB has land and facilities for field testing of genetically modified crops varieties.  A staff of 160 persons including 31 Senior Scientists, 10 Post-doctoral Fellows, 53 M.Phil and Ph.D Research Scholars, nine technicians and 66 administrative and para-scientific staff are employed here.  It has a total annual budget of US$500,000.

The major fields of interest at NCEMB are plant transformation- use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal proteins against common crop pests, plant pathogenic fungi and their control, restriction endonucleases, molecular mechanism of infectious and genetic diseases. Its has made number of major achievements in modern Biotechnology; has developed plant expression vectors for the introduction of foreign genes and synthesize 4 Bt pesticidal genes used in cotton and rice against American boll-worm & Rice Leaf-folder; genetically modified pest resistant varieties include – Bt rice “Indica Basmati 370” contain Bt gene against rice leaf folder and rice yellow stem borer, while in Bt cotton varieties Bt toxic protein (cry1Ab, cry1Ac, cry2A) have been successfully expressed in varieties like MNH-93, CIM-443, CIM-446, CIM-482 and CIM-497. Three novel Bt genes are being patented through a US company. At the University of the Punjab, confined field trials of Bt basmati rice were successfully carried out last season (2005); the enhanced basmati rice was showed full resistance to yellow stem borer and rice leaf folder. In addition, studies are also being carried out to evaluate virus and insect resistance in genetically modified crops - mangoes, potatoes, chilies, tomato, chickpea, sugarcane, tobacco, Brassica and cucurbits. It has discovered 45 new restriction enzymes-DNA enzymes are being marketed in Pakistan on semi-commercial scale, to save foreign exchange (two such enzymes discovered at the center, are being marketed by a US company). The center has developed procedures for the diagnosis of genetic and infectious diseases and is pioneered in DNA-based methods for pre-natal diagnosis of beta thalasemia. It has developed methods for early detection of tuberculosis, hepatitis and breast cancer, discovered 3 new deafness loci and one novel modifier gene; only it has the lab in Pakistan to conduct forensic DNA typing procedures for criminal investigation and parenthood identification. It is building its capacity in Stem cell research and in the development of Alpha interferon - used as therapeutic against few types of Leukemia, chronic Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C - a major cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis in Pakistan.

NCEMB offers state-of-the-art biotechnology and molecular biology research facilities including a biolistic gun for plant transformation, plant tissue culture facilities, transgenic plant testing growth chambers, four DNA sequencers, several programmable thermal cyclers, several bench fermenters, biohazard safety cabinets etc. On the international scene, NCEMB has ongoing intensive collaboration with the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, and New England Biolabs, Boston, USA; Department of Pathology, University of Cincinnati, USA., National Institute of Health, USA.

National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE)

National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering; Faisalabad - is a federal research institute, which was established in 1992. Within short span of five years, this center has earned a place among the scientific institutions of excellence in the country and is well recognized internationally. NIBGE has been awarded the status of an Affiliate Center of International center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).

There are seven research divisions of NIBGE namely, Plant Biotechnology Division, Biofertilizers Technology Division, Health Biotechnology Division, Industrial Biotechnology Division, Bioprocess Technology Division, Environmental Biotechnology Division and Biotech Interdisciplinary Division. In plant research sector, the relationship of gemini viruses with cotton leaf curl disease has been understood at molecular level and Burewala strains linked disease has been tackled by developing ways to differentiate between different viral genomes. As cotton crop is backbone of Pakistan’s economy; therefore in the plant biotechnology division, the major emphasis has been on cotton.  A tripartite project with the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK and the University of Arizona, USA through the International Cotton Advisory Committee, Washington, USA, is being worked A group in the Plant Biotechnology Division is engaged in the development of virus resistant cotton through genetic engineering. Transgenic cotton is being evaluated in containment facility. This facility is first of its kind in the country and will pave the way for commercial release of any genetically engineering plant.

A biofertilizer with a trade name BioPower has been launched for various crops by NIBGE, it is the first institute that has developed diagnostic tools for various diseases based on Polymerase Chain Reaction. Biomining of low grade Pakistani ores is another area ready for commercial application. Similarly up gradation of fossil fuels for energy like Coal biodesulfurization is highly attractive alternative for economic gains besides being an environmental friendly technology - NIBGE has developed coal desulfurization process at pilot scale which has recently been handed over to cement industry for commercial exploitation. It has been estimated that this process is much cheaper and less labour intensive than chemical and physical process being used at present. Desulfurization of coal by this process saves about 500 rupees per ton and also enhances its calorific value to a greater extent.

Similarly, efforts have been put to design processes to combat environmental pollution/threats for various industries as well as for urban environment in general. In environmental biotechnology, processes based on microbial detoxification of industrial effluents have been developed and an active collaboration with the private sector has been established. Genetically Modified Bacteria have even been developed to help with problems such as to treat sewerage; oil spills like from the Greek ship MV Tasman Spirit at Karachi port. They convert crude oil and gasoline into non-toxic substances such as carbon dioxide, water and oxygen and help create a cleaner, healthier environment. Work in the Biofuels division (Bio Diesel and Bio Enthanol) has also reached a stage where up scaling of the process for microbial conversion of biomass (straw, bagasse etc.) into methane and alcohol has become feasible. However few of major achievement of NIBGE include development of Bt or insect resistance IR varieties of cotton seeds and virus-free potato seed.

The NIBGE laboratories have state-of-the-art equipment including a capillary electrophoresis based automated DNA sequencer (Perkin Elmer), fermenters, a DNA synthesiser, FPLC, HPLC, high speed centrifuges, gel system etc.  The library subscribes to about 30 scientific journals as well as Current Contents on diskette. NIBGE is formally associated with the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, for the conferring of M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in Biotechnology

National & International Funding for Research & Development in Biotechnology

Biotechnology industries based on the chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical markets have progressed rapidly in many parts of Asia, particularly with the advent of the government prioritization of Biotechnology and the establishment of a number of national and international collaborative research programs. Biotechnology in Pakistan has until recently focused mainly on first generation applications such as those in the agriculture, industries like food, textile leather & chemicals, health, bioinformatics and environment. Pakistani government has invested about US$ 17 million or app Pak Rs. 952 millions in research and development in various biotech projects like vaccine production for animals and human, insists resistance crops, industrial and environmental products; Ministry of Science and Technology has allocated Rs. 720.030 millions for 29 projects, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council has funded Rs. 25.848 millions for 12 projects, Higher Education Commission and Pakistan Science Foundation has sponsored 16 and 13 projects costing Rs.197.466 and Rs. 9.55 millions respectively between 2000 and 2004; similarly Rs. 600 millions PTCL grants are also available and PCST is also funding small research projects in Biotechnology  These resources need to be effectively marshaled, championed and synergies to create a productive enterprise. It is worth mentioning that many international institutes also provide financial assistance in various biotech projects like Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, Foggerty International Grant, National Institute of Health, USAID, National Academy of Sciences, Rockefeller Foundation, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR); etc. At global level 124 banks and agencies provide funds for health related R&D; so far developing countries only been able to receive 10% of the US$ 70 billion.

So far in Pakistan more than 70 projects have been approved in various disciplines of biotechnology and genetic engineering at different institutes however at this moment status of these projects are unknown.

There are many Biotech and advance Molecular technology cooperative programs between Pakistan and other countries:

Pakistan - US Science & Technology Cooperative Program –

Projects selected for joint funding in the area of Biotechnology include; “Gene Pyramiding through Genetic Engineering for Increased Salt Tolerance in Wheat” Pakistani Funding: $ 47,880 &
US Funding: $350,000; “Understanding and Control of Plant Viral Disease Complexes in Pakistan”; Pakistani Funding: $142,000 & US Funding: $175,000; “Intensification of Forensic Services and Research at Centre for Applied Molecular Biology”, Pakistani Funding: $118,650 & US Funding: $160,000

Similarly project “Control of gemini virus diseases of cotton and tomato in Pakistan and Australia” Funded by ACIAR; its budget is $ 9,077,50.00 project duration is 01/01/2001 - 06/30/2006.

Tripartite Planning Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnology between Pakistan India and the US - In May 2005 this meeting held at Lahore; it is first “umbrella agreement” on biotech science with any country in the region. This will serve as an oversight panel for the tripartite collaborative project on pro-poor and pro-nature agricultural biotechnology. its main object included; breeding crops for tolerance / resistance to abiotic stresses - with particular reference to drought and salinity, Risk and safety assessment, Human resource development in advanced technologies with particular reference to techniques relevant to the collaborative research program and Technology sharing in areas of mutual benefit. For this program projects have been identified and would be started by the end of June 2006. Dr Anwar Nasim is elected as the first Chair of the Tripartite Panel for a period of two years. The initial members of the panel includes Dr Kauser Abdullah Malik member Biosciences – PAEC, Dr S Riazuddin – NCEMB, Prof Khalid Mahmood Khan, Dr Ahmed M Khalid, Dr Riaz Hussain Quareshi and Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad Khan - Director (CABB), Dr. Yusuf Zafar from Pakistan while Prof M S Swaminathan, Prof V L Chopra, Dr Manju Sharma, Dr C R Bhatia, Dr R K Singh, Dr M K Bhan from India and Dr Roger Beachy, Danforth Centre for Plant Sciences, Dr Harry Barnes, US National Academy of Sciences, Dr Patricia S Wrightson, US National Academy of Sciences from America. Global success for Pakistani biotechnology will largely depend on creating the lowest cost base for innovation senior scientists from tripartite group must formulate a collaborative strategy to fight against salinity, drought and other related problems. It is worth mentioning that such a projects on one hand would helps agriculture sector of drought effected area of Balochistan and Sindh on the other it could apply in many parts of Afghanistan and Africa to manage its farming.

Present government has laid strong foundations for biotechnology in a coordinated way. Recently the National Commission for Science and Technology chaired by the President General Pervez Musharraf has declared biotechnology as one of the high priority areas among the selected research fields. Last year pre- commercial plantings of indigenously developed Bt cotton seed supplied by PAEC have been carried out in Punjab and Sindh – Because of the encouraging outcomes of these Bt cotton Prime Minister has said that government would allow farmers to grow Bt cotton soon; however these varieties are currently undergoing biosafety assessment under the Biosafety Rules 2005.

Biosafety Framework

The Biosafety regulatory legislation for biotechnology R&D is in its infancy in Pakistan. Government of Pakistan has ratified or signatory to many international agreements like Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Cartagena Protocol of Bio-safety, to show its growing worldwide interest in the genetically modified organism trade under WTO rules and regulations that’s why recently legal protection for intellectual property is being strengthened, Biosafety Rules and Guidelines have been approved.  Pakistani Research Institutes do follow international biosafety regulations such as those approved by the US National Institutes of Health. The regulations to govern and supervise DNA research and products (Biosafety Guidelines 2005) thereof involving genetically modified organisms have been approval by Ministry of Environment; Pakistan's National Biosafety Committee (NBC) is in charge of ensuring that risk assessment is carried out in accordance with the biosafety guidelines. 

Numbers of initiatives are being taken to provide support for Asian countries in developing their capacities to safely manage biotechnology and to build their capacity in GMO testing and Biosafety regulations for example the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Program UNEP-GEF. During 1989-1993, the United Nations Development Program financed the establishment of biotechnology centers in eight countries; in 1994 the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) established an International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi, India, to assist Asian countries in the applications of biotechnology to important crops of the region. In June 2004; a four-day national training workshop on “Capacity Building in Bio-safety of GM Crops: GMO Detection” administered by Dr Nobuyuki Kabaki, the chief technical adviser in biosafety framework from UN-FAO at NIBGE Faisalabad. Similarly UNEP-GEF Project on Development of National Biosafety Frameworks (NBF), has organized workshops in the region which has been supervised by regional coordinator Dr. Nizar Mohamed for Asia and Pacific - the NBFs program is an excellent initiative in order to have transparent and workable biosafety frame in the region; while Pakistan is still not gaining any benefit from this program as we have not yet ratified Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

Biotech Promotional Line up in Pakistan

National Commission on Biotechnology -
The National Commission on Biotechnology was setup in 1996; www.ncb.gov.pk), an advisory body to the Ministry of Science and Technology to monitor new developments in the field of Biotechnology at national and international levels and to recommend appropriate measures for socioeconomic development of the country.

The Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center (www.pabic.com.pk) has been established at Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Information Center, University of Karachi under the patronage of International Service for Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) and National Commission on Biotechnology. The initiative of the establishment of Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center is an attempt to initiate multidisciplinary research and enhance the awareness and appreciation of biotechnology at the local and international levels.

Federation of Asian Biotech Associations

In 2005; Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA); www.biofaba.org) a non governmental organization was established to promote biotechnology as a science, profession and industry by bringing together scientists, academic institutions and the private sector; secondly promote collaboration between industry and academia, and boost investment in biotechnology, international trade in biotechnology products, and outsourcing of services. Its members are India, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, and China.

Biotech Parks

Establishing biotechnology parks for the growth of the biotechnology industry is essential so efforts are being taken to establish “Biotechnology Parks” at Lahore; which can provide a viable mechanism for licensing new technologies to upcoming biotech companies to start new ventures and to achieve early stage value enhancement of the technology with minimum financial inputs. These biotech parks facilitate the lab to land transfer of the technologies by serving as an impetus for entrepreneurship through partnership among innovators from universities, R&D institutions and industry.

PAEC Biosciences (Pvt) limited

Being an agriculture economy Government of Pakistan has given top priority to agriculture biotechnologies as compare to other disciplines of biosciences. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has approved establishment of separate company PAEC Biosciences (Pvt) limited at Islamabad to market Biotech agricultural-related services.

Conclusion

Since Biotechnology is very sensitive subject therefore role of Government has become imperative in order to use tools of biotechnology safely and effectively for the benefit of general public’s health, agriculture and environment; it must provide adequate budget and establishing clear polices & priorities in biotechnology R&D to ensure that it can contribute effectively and safely toward poverty reduction and food security; it should enhance cooperation with the private & public sector in the development of biotech products &services that will benefit the whole economy; must set up effective and transparent and workable biosafety regulatory and enforcement systems to ensure that the risks of biotechnology can be minimized; it must enact IPR laws; Plant breeder Rights that will protect and stimulate private and FDI investments in different disciplines of modern biotechnology; must develop our own rules and regulations on Bio information and bio data or on sharing of our genetic data with others; similarly we must develop our own bioethics and standards on all biotech disciplines.  Furthermore it is central to regard all biotech institutes and scientists equally without any discrimination; At many occasion Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Prof Dr Attaur Rehman claims that Pakistan is the only country where a digital library consisting of over 17,000 science journals has been established and even the people living in the remote areas in different provinces can have access to it; but some critics even say that most of these journals are already available for free at different web sites, It is important for government bodies to facilitate researchers by providing them world class and up to date resources of information on time in the field of biotech; lastly government must emphasis and encourage truly “research based” work after all this is what Pakistan needed at a moment and a common man will benefit; otherwise all money and efforts in this direction would be wasted; doing right things will break the clouds of frustrations and help life-science based technologies to progress in the country.

Ijaz Ahmad Rao

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