Microorganisms, whether directly or indirectly through their products or their biocatalytic activities, have long served many of man’s needs from the trivial kind to the all-too-important ones. Moreover, they occupy a valuable niche as sources of food, food products and dietary supplements that are now very much a part of man’s diet : fermented food, dairy products and food additives like amino acids and nucleotides.
Biomedically, a wide range of microbes are utilized as very good sources of important pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics, steroid transformations, cholesterol-lowering and anti-tumor agents to name a few. Genetic engineering further paved the way for the production of a new package of biotechnological products using microorganisms: hormones, vaccines and genetically engineered enzymes. This has also spawned a new form of therapeutic approach known as gene therapy, which can make use of microbes as vectors of genes to replace damaged ones. Ecologically, they have also been tapped for environment-friendly products to answer and cope with our environmental issues.
With all these mentioned, the incredible, wide-ranging abilities and applications of these minute agents have also been exploited for their economic importance and have, thus, been harnessed to provide multi-channel opportunities for income generation through employment and scientific entrepreneurship. Microbes and their products are now recognized as viable sources for the creation of wealth and possibly contribute in the alleviation of poverty. PSM aims to highlight in this Cluster 1 Symposium, the potential of microbes, how they can be tapped to work for us to come up with day-to-day products that aid us in many aspects of life. PSM hopes that, through this event, participants will be able to better appreciate the application of scientific knowledge in microbiology leading to Entrepreneurship.
Please download the flyer and registration form on the link below.
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