KARACHI: Prof. Dr. Muhammad Raza Shah, Director of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, was invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the China-Pakistan Bilateral Workshop on Natural Product Research held at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing.
Khan Muhammad Wazir, Counsellor for Technical Affairs, Science and Technology, at the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing, also attended the workshop. Chinese experts, including Prof. Guihui Pan, Prof. Weishan Wang and Prof. Luoyi Wang, delivered lectures on various aspects of natural product research.
In his plenary lecture, Prof. Raza Shah highlighted the importance of natural product research in serving humanity through the discovery and development of novel drugs, healthcare products and other beneficial applications.
Discussing the role of ICCBS in this field, he highlighted the significant contributions of its H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry to the discovery and development of bioactive natural products and their potential applications in medicine and healthcare.
He also outlined the Centre’s research involving medicinal plants, marine natural products, fungi and microorganisms.
Prof. Raza Shah emphasized that international collaborations and joint research programmes are essential to strengthening natural product research. He described ICCBS, University of Karachi, as one of the region’s leading scientific research institutions.
He observed that Pakistan and China had significantly expanded their scientific cooperation through joint laboratories, high-level workshops and bilateral agreements focusing on natural products, herbal medicines and traditional healing systems.
