Breakthrough in enzyme research at Karachi University

KARACHI: Five enzymes of high industrial value on the import of which the country spends over $10 million every year have been produced at the Dr A.Q. Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (Kibge) of Karachi University.

The institute has got international patents for the enzyme-producing strains and is now ready to sell the processes to industry and provide them with technical support. The institute is the first to plan commercialisation of the enzymes in the country. Commenting on the achievement, Prof Dr Abid Azhar, co-director Kibge, said: ‘Though a new subject in Pakistan, industrial biotechnology has assumed a lot of significance in recent years, with the production of different enzymes that have a wide range of applications. The efforts at Kibge aim at developing the much needed link between the scientists’ community and industry, a link that will benefit society and cut the import bill.’

It is important to mention here that the current global market of industrial enzymes is over $2 billion, and is expected to top $2.7bn by 2012.

Though enzymes, biomolecules that increase the rate of chemical reactions, have been used throughout history, it was only quite recently that their significance was realised. The history of modern enzyme technology really began in 1874, according to reference information on the subject.

About the uses of enzymes produced at Kibge, associate professor Dr Shah Ali-ul-Qader said that they all had a wide range of applications in industry. ‘The product produced by an enzyme, dextransucrase, commonly called dextran, is widely used in the food, cosmetic, mining and oil drilling industries. Its most promising application is its use as a protective colloid in blood plasma volume expanders.

‘Alpha amylase is important in processes such as production of ethanol and high fructose corn syrup, baking, laundry washing powders, dish washing detergents, textile de-sizing and paper recycling. Protease is extensively used in the food, pharmaceutical and detergent industries,’ he said, adding that protease comprised about the 60 per cent of the total commercial enzymes involved in industries.

Dr Afsheen Aman, assistant professor at Kibge, lamented the lack of awareness and communication between the scientific community and industry and said that it was one of the major factors hindering growth. ‘It was a French organisation which first approached us on the basis of our research, which was internationally publicised. But we couldn’t accept their offer because the institute, with its limited resources, could only produce enzymes on a small scale.’ Explaining this point, Dr Shah said that the government, industry and the scientific community were all part of any research venture in developed countries.

In fact, manufacturers not only funded the project, but also made the product on a mass scale and marketed the product.

‘Here, the situation is altogether different. The projects are solely funded by the government and there are no buyers or marketers once the product is ready. The industry people do not trust scientists and literally nobody benefits from the research, not even the researcher. The stipend given to PhD students is too low. These are the reasons why Pakistan lags behind and faces a serious shortage of manpower in research.’

Apart from all these handicaps, Dr Shah was hopeful and said that efforts were being made to start commercialisation of the processes. ‘Industry people want enzymes in plentiful quantities, which we can’t supply since the institute does not have the resources. But this is not the end of the world. We can start by selling these enzymes on a smaller scale. These enzymes are extensively used for research purposes throughout the world. We would sell them cheaper, but with improved quality.

‘In order to enhance our production capacity and boost our research, we plan to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and the School of Biological Sciences of the University of the Punjab. Besides, we would publicise our work through a website carrying details of our research to get international buyers.’

Massa leaves hospital after nine days

ROME: Injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa left a Budapest hospital after nine days of treatment on Monday and said he hoped to make a swift return to Formula One.

The 28-year-old fracturing his skull in an accident during qualifying at last month’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Massa boarded a private jet home to Brazil on his own feet on Monday and doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

‘I’m feeling much better now and I want to recover as soon as possible to get back behind the wheel of a Ferrari,’ Massa told the Italian Formula One team’s website

Three F1 teams deny Schumacher test drive

BUDAPEST: Three Formula One Teams, led by the Williams team, have denied Ferrari it's request to allow retired former World Champion Michael Schumacher time to test drive a 2009 race car in preparation for his return to F1 racing.

The Ferrari team had written a letter to the other Formula One teams, asking for an exception to the 2009 rule, which prohibits all in-season testing. Schumacher, who has been retired since 2006, is seeking one day of test driving in the 2009 Ferrari F-60. Michael will be the replacement driver for the injured Felipe Massa in the European Grand Prix in Valencia August 23.

Five of the FOTA teams, McLaren Mercedes, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP, had agreed to allow the Ferrari team the exception to the testing ban, considering the special circumstances surrounding the accident and injuries to Felipe Massa, which after all is the reason for Schumacher's return.

But the Williams team, along with Red Bull and Toro Rosso, have blocked the Schumacher testing.

Gold price hits new peak of Rs25,114 per 10 grams

KARACHI: Gold price hit a new peak of Rs25,114 per 10 grams on Monday as compared to Rs25,028 on Saturday, while per tola gold rate was recorded at Rs29,300 as compared to Rs29,200.

Rising world gold prices, coupled with the devaluation of rupee against the dollar, were the main reasons of the price-hike attributed by gold traders.

One US dollar is now equal to Rs83.40 as compared to Rs82 a month back, making imports costlier.

All-Sindh Saraf and Jewellers Association President Haji Haroon Rasheed Chand said that gold had already made a record of Rs25,550 per tola in the first week of February this year.

The way international prices and depreciation of the rupee is moving, the market may see a new record peak for this year in the coming days.

On July 28, the 10 gram yellow metal was recorded at Rs25,028.

For the last over one month, local bullion rates have been going up.

World gold prices closed at $955 per ounce on Monday as compared to $954 on Saturday. On July 30, it was $935.

He said oil prices are also going up and strangely dollar is gaining strength in Pakistan, while losing its value worldwide to other currencies, he said.

Chand said that in Karachi gold is selling under cost as compared to Dubai.

The government charges Rs332 per tola in terms of various levies on import.

If somebody brings gold from Dubai, it will cost Rs30,232 per tola, he claimed.

The government has levied one per cent withholding tax and 50 cent per tola duty.

According to Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), gold imports rose by 50 per cent to $37.1 million (1,254 kg) in July-June 2008-2009 as compared to $24.7 million (1,058 kg) in the last fiscal year.

However, export of jewellery in July-June 2008-09 went up to $288 million as compared to $213.3 million in 2007-2008.

He said many people are investing in gold after smelling rising trend in its prices.

There is no import duty on gold if the yellow metal imports are made for export of jewellery after value-addition.

Bill Clinton in NKorea to free US journalists

SEOUL: Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to try to win the release of two jailed US journalists, a move some analysts said could mark the isolated state’s return to dialogue over nuclear weapons, Reuters reported.

Clinton’s surprise visit follows months of militaristic flourishes by the impoverished North which has turned its back on negotiations with regional powers, including the United States and China, to convince it to give up ambitions to build an atomic arsenal.

North Korea’s KCNA news agency said the country’s chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, was among those greeting Clinton — whose administration was reported to have considered bombing the North’s Yongbyon atomic plant in the early 1990s.

‘As soon as he arrives, he will be entering negotiations with the North for the release of the female journalists,’ South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a source as saying.

The two US journalists — Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of US media outlet Current TV co-founded by Clinton’s vice president Al Gore — were arrested on the North Korea-China border in March.

Last month, a North Korean court sentenced them each to 12 years hard labour for what it called grave crimes.

Many analysts predicted that Pyongyang would use the journalists as leverage to drag concessions out of the US administration which led pressure for UN sanctions on the North for its nuclear test in May.

‘There is the possibility of a dramatic turnaround by North Korea that could lead to a new phase of negotiations,’ said Yun Duk-min of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul.

But latest trade data suggests that the North may be resorting increasingly to barter trade to make it more difficult for the international community to pressure Pyongyang through sanctions.

It is the second time a former US president has headed to the communist state to try to defuse a crisis. Former president Jimmy Carter flew there in 1994 when tensions were running high, again over the North’s nuclear weapons programme.

US officials declined to comment on the visit by the husband of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

She incurred the fury of Pyongyang’s leaders last month by likening them to unruly children demanding attention, adding that they did not deserve it.

Sending the wrong signals

However, one analyst said that was exactly what the former president’s visit was doing — rewarding ‘bad behaviour.’

It comes at a time of mounting speculation over succession in Asia’s only communist dynasty with a number of of reports suggesting that an increasingly frail-looking Kim Jong-il, 67, has settled on his third son to take over.

‘It’s just what they (North Korea’s leaders) need,’ said B.R. Myers, an expert on the North’s state ideology at the South’s Dongseo University.

It allows the government to show to a domestic audience, facing deepening poverty, that the nuclear weapons programme is making the outside world take it more seriously and the visit will be certain to be portrayed as tribute by the United States. And it will confirm to North Korea that its bad behaviour will continue to be rewarded, Myers said. ‘It sends all the wrong signals.’

Bill Clinton, while in office, had sought to improve ties with the North, exchanging high-level envoys near the end of his term that fuelled expectations that Washington and Pyongyang would end decades of hostility and normalise ties.

His Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, visited Pyongyang in 2000 and held talks with the North’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-il.

The rapid improvement in ties was short lived as George W. Bush became US president and declared the North part of an ‘axis of evil’ along with Iran and Iraq.

Non PCO judges decide to challenge dismissal

ISLAMABAD: The judges dismissed after Supreme Court’s decision have decided to file a review petition and contacted with senior lawyers for the preparation of petition.

The sources said petition raise the points that PCO judges issue was under trial whereas newly appointed judges were fired on the basis that they were appointed by the recommendations of Justice Dogar.

Supreme Court’s verdict provided guard to administrative and financial decisions of Justice Dogar. Under the same decision, Supreme Court 5, Lahore High court 4, Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, Sindh High Court 2 and judge of Sharia court are also PCO judges and they have been given protection in the decision and made discrimination by dismissing 76 judges. They were also appointed according to Justice Dogar’s administrative decision. Neither any notice has been served to dismiss judges nor hearing in a court was done.

The petition also raises the point that present Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also took the oath under PCO.