The Islamic Organization for Food Security, in cooperation with the Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, organized an Online International Webinar on “CRISPR for Food Security” on 3 April 2023. The objective of the webinar was to bring together scientists, research scholars, students, and academicians on a single platform to share and enhance the knowledge about the CRISPR technology. The webinar was held to promote interdisciplinary dialogues regarding the contemporary issues in agriculture and food security.
This comes against the backdrop that Genome editing, especially with CRISPR/Cas9, has been revolutionizing the whole landscape of Agriculture. The importance of the technology has been recognized throughout the world by the award of a Nobel Prize in CRISPR. Two scientists, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize, for their discovery that a microbial immune mechanism can be transformed into a tool that can simply and cheaply edit genomes with high precision. Hence, as a result of changing climate conditions, there is a demand for new breeding tools (NBT) like CRISPR to boost smart, precision and climate resilient breeding.
The participants of the Webinar included over 70 international scientists, researchers, breeders, students, industry personnel and experts. The session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Director of Programs and Projects Department of the IOFS. The keynote addresses were delivered by representatives from the University of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany; The Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Nazarbayev University; Penn State University; MNS University of Agriculture, Multan; National Center for Genome Editing, CAS; University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
As a result of the webinar, participants were able to receive a clear understanding of genome editing and CRISPR technology. Moreover, a unique platform was created for interaction with various stakeholders to understand the applications of CRISPR technology and planning for future research. Lastly, the guests were able to analyze the possibilities and opportunities of CRISPR-based genome editing in Organization of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC ) Member States
