Sunday 29 December 2024
Islamabad (UrduPoint News International/ Pakistan Point News - 29th December, 2024) Scientific research in Pakistan is very slow compared to other South Asian countries, a major reason being the lack of funds and the lack of equipment and standard laboratories required for research. However, 2024 was noteworthy in this regard. This year, several Pakistani scientists were also awarded international awards for their research.
Here, DW is presenting an overview of these awards and scientific progress.
43 NUST researchers included in the world top two percent
In a ranking released by Stanford University, 43 researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Islamabad have been included in the list of top two percent scientists globally.
More than 100,000 scientists from all over the world have been included in the list. This ranking is done by taking into account the number of readers of research, the Hirsch Index and other technical factors.
Why is Pakistan lagging behind in the field of science and technology?
These 43 NUST researchers belong to the fields of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and engineering. Last year, 31 NUST researchers were included in this list.
This increase in the number in 2024 has strengthened NUST’s position in global scientific research. This will also help promote research in technology fields in Pakistan.
Dr. Zubair Khalid’s team receives Gordon Bell Prize
Dr. Zubair Khalid is associated with Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) as an Associate Professor.
Dr. Zubair is part of the team of international scientists who received the “Gordon Bell Prize” this year. This award is also called the Nobel Prize of supercomputing.
Dr. Zubair’s team was led by Dr. Sameeh Abdullah, a scientist affiliated with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. The team has developed a model that accurately and quickly predicts floods, droughts and other natural disasters due to climate change.
This model can be used both globally and regionally.
According to Dr. Zubair Khalid, the models used for research and analysis previously required a large amount of data to be fed. This was time-consuming and often yielded incorrect results.
Pakistani scientist's two world records in solar technology and the importance of solar energy in the future
He says that his team's model is a compact one that reduces the energy footprint of other climate models and makes accurate predictions.
According to the Association of Computing Machinery, which announced the Gordon Bell Prize, Dr. Zubair Khalid's team's model increases the output of Earth System models and has the ability to store data up to petabytes.
Aga Khan University's gene therapy project
A team of scientists from Aga Khan University Karachi is working to treat thalassemia and sickle cell anemia using advanced gene editing techniques.
The "Wellcome Leap Fund" has announced a financial assistance of one and a half million dollars for this project.
The project is being led by Dr. Afsar Mian, affiliated with Aga Khan University. He says that the number of patients with thalassemia and sickle cell anemia is increasing rapidly in Pakistan. These diseases are treated in the country with blood transfusions or stem cell therapy.
He says that continuous blood transfusions are a tiring process, while stem cell therapy is quite expensive and its side effects also come to the fore later.
Pakistani students' feat, fourteen possible asteroids discovered
According to Dr. Afsar Mian, his team is treating these diseases locally with the help of modern gene editing techniques such as base and prime editing.
It should be noted that gene editing techniques are being used clinically around the world and are cheaper and more effective than stem cell therapy.
Pakistani Greta Thunberg
Fourteen-year-old Zunira belongs to District Hub of Balochistan. She is a climate activist who is also known as the "Pakistani Greta Thunberg". Zunira represented Pakistan at the World Environment Conference held in Baku last month.
She was the youngest representative of any country to attend the conference.
Pakistani scientist's research wins global research competition to curb carbon emissions
On the occasion, she said that there is an urgent need for change in Pakistan's environmental policies. According to Zunira, youth can play an important role in solving the problems arising from climate change, so it is important to give them representation in policymaking.
"Thought-to-Speech" technology for the disabled
Scientists at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) have developed a "Thought-to-Speech" system with the help of modern technology. This system can help people suffering from ALS, spinal cord injury and other neurological diseases who are unable to communicate.
Developed by scientists from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NUST, this Thought-to-Text system reads the human mind through modern deep learning and machine learning technology and can present thoughts in real-time in the form of writing.
According to the researchers, direct brain-computer interface technology will pave new paths for the disabled.
Government's lack of interest is disappointing
On the one hand, scientific research conducted by Pakistani researchers and universities is gaining global recognition, on the other hand, the lack of interest of the federal and provincial governments in scientific progress is a question mark.
A clear example of this is the hasty closure of the Nanobiotic Center established at the Punjab University a few days ago. It is worth noting that this was the only center in this field established in a university in Pakistan. Its closure has dealt a severe blow to local research in the fields of nanomedicine, biopharmaceuticals and tissue engineering.
This center was the first of its kind in Pakistan and gained international recognition in a short period of time. More than 30 students were being trained in this center, in which several leading universities in the United Kingdom were also providing technical assistance.
Comments
Post a Comment