Biotech boosts economy

  1. Posted on Monday 18 August 2008 - 09:02
    Ayo
    Image of Ayo
    Ayo Ajayi, AfricaNews reporter in Lagos, Nigeria
    At the just concluded International Hands-on Training Workshop on Molecular Biology and Applied Biotech at Covenant University, Ota, it was agreed that a nation that does not take Biotechnology seriously will not make it in this 21st Century
    microscope
    The international workshop was held with the collaboration of Covenant University and Applied Biotech Institute, Florida, USA.

    According to the facilitator of the workshop, Professor Diobu N Esiobu, global biotechnology industry consists of 1, 500 companies with annual industry revenue in USA exceeding 40 Billion Dollars and market capitalization exceeding 300 Billion Dollars.

    Prof. Esiobu, a professor Micro-Biology and Biotechnology at the Florida Atlantic University, Florida, USA added that India which recently began the game of biotechnology, ranked 2.5 Billion Dollars in 2002.

    She pointed out that biotechnology is the melting point for all the sciences which include medicine, genetics, chemistry, micro-biology, pharmacy, engineering and environmental sciences, and this according to her will boost food production and processing, agriculture, health and environmental development.

    The participants who came from various universities and research institutions across the nation were exposed to skills and the art of the science of biotechnology, DNA extractions for man, bacteria and plants.

    They were also trained on how to clone genes and do reconvene DNA technology, how to investigate environmental diversity using a universal chronometer (a chronometer is a gene that keeps record of all that has happened since an organism evolved), how to get DNA and finger printing and DNA Sequence analysis.

    Together, we shall make the difference in Africa because the closure of the workshop is not the end of the programme but the beginning of unending work

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