4-day International Conference on Food and Nutritional Security 2023 opens at Mohali

Bringing together international experts and young researchers in the areas of agriculture, food, and nutrition biotechnology, and genome editing

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated a 4-day International Conference on Food and Nutritional Security 2023: – iFANS, on 5th January, 2023.

Jointly organised by the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Centre for Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), National Institute of Plant Biotechnology (NIPB), and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) at NABI, Mohali, the 4-day conference (from 6th to 9th January 2023) will brainstorm how genome editing could enhance the country’s food and nutritional security under changing climate in the country.

The conference will have multiple sessions with as many speakers from 15 different countries. They will share their experience through their contribution to plant sciences in the frontier areas of their research. The conference will bring on new challenges and new ideas and will also work as a stage for fostering new research collaborations between laboratories in different countries.

The theme of the conference is pertinent to inspire young students and researchers considering the fact that food and nutrition security is a global demand. Advanced biotechnology tool such as genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 has potential to achieve these goals in a sustainable manner.

Genome editing could be a promising technology that Indian research could adapt to offer the desired tailor-made traits in crops. NABI has shown the ability to utilise genome editing tools and can expand the genome editing tools to vast arrays of crops, including banana, rice, wheat, tomato and millet.