Current Trends in Bioinformatics:

A Seminar held in Islamabad

Nazim Rahman

Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

The EMBnet Pakistan National Node and the faculty of the Department of Biosciences at the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) together organized a seminar on, “Current Trends in Bioinformatics” on April 4, 2009. Dr. Fauzia Yusuf outlined the accomplishments of the Department of Biosciences as a pioneer in the field of Bioinformatics education and research in Pakistan. Dr. Shahid Nadeem Chohan made a presentation on the Bioinformatics activities in the CIIT emphasizing on the services provided by the EMBnet Pakistan National Node. Guest speakers were invited from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), National Center for Virology and Immunology (NCVI), and National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE).

Speakers presented their work with the following themes:

• Structural Bioinformatics and Drug Design
• Computational Biology
• Epidemics and Diseases

The objectives of the seminar were to:

• Raise awareness about EMBnet and its services
• Invite life scientists to take advantage of the EMBnet Pakistan National Node
• Provide a platform for life science researchers to present bioinformatics tools and techniques applied in their research
• Introduce current trends and developments in bioinformatics

This was a free open access event attended by a large audience comprising of students, researchers and academicians from various universities and research centers both locally and nationally. The audience specially liked the poster session held after the seminar which provided a forum for detailed interaction among the audience and the authors. The event was followed by an award ceremony for the best presentation and the best poster of the event.