Students' Outreach Programme

Proyash Roy

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Club (GEBC) of the University of Dhaka organised a student outreach programme titled "Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology: My Life, My Decision" on December 26, 2011 at the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (GEB) Department, DU premises. Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor (VC) of Dhaka University was present at the inaugural session as chief guest. In his speech the VC said, “Science is nothing but unveiling truth and scientists should unveil truth for the betterment of mass people”. Special guest, Professor Dr Shahid Akhtar Hussain, Dean, Faculty of Biological Science, said that the future prospect in the field of Science is not less attractive than the corporate world. Professor M Anwar Hossain, Founder and Project Director of GEB Department appreciated the cooperation he received during the establishment of the department.Professor Dr Aftab Uddin, Chairman of GEB Department said that although we are a small family, we can take big challenges and can successfully accomplish them. Public Service Commission (PSC) member Professor Dr Imran Kabir Chowdhury said that they are working on providing better scopes for the brilliants. Professor Dr Sharif Akhtaruzzaman, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was also present at the programme.

	GEB is working to build interest by disseminating knowledge through seminars, campaigns and publication.

Students from more than twenty schools and colleges participated along with student representatives from different universities in the programme. They attended scientific sessions, demonstrations and a quiz competition. Different sophisticated laboratory equipment associated with molecular biology were displayed and demonstrated by the GEBC members. Well-known scientists, namely, Dr SM Faruque, Head, Molecular Genetics Lab. ICDDR, B, Dhaka, Dr M Akhter Hossin, Senior Scientist, Florey Neuroscience Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia, Dr Mahfuzur Sarker, Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, USA and Dr Kamal Chowdhury, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Claflin University, USA gave presentation on different topics regarding the basics of Life Science. Scientific sessions were designed. There was also an open discussion session where speakers answered various questions, raised by participating students. The enthusiasm and interest of the students particularly in Genetic Engineering, cloning and evolution was explicitly notable. In the end, the winners of quiz competition were awarded with certificates and prizes.

A scientific magazine titled “Biogen” is also published by the club, regularly. GEBC firmly believes many of the major problems of Bangladesh can be solved if biotechnology is applied to various sectors, such as, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, medical, environment and many more.At present, GEBC is working on building interest of general people by disseminating knowledge through seminars, campaigning, students outreach programmes and publications.

(The writer is the President of GEBC.)