LAHORE: (Monday, April 14, 2025): A 4-day 15th biennial International Conference of the Pakistan Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in collaboration with Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Punjab University and COMSTECH on “Recent Trends in Molecular Sciences” kicked off at here on Monday. The inaugural session was attended by PU VC Prof Dr Muhammad Ali, President Pakistan Academy of Sciences Prof Kauser Abdullah Malik, President Pakistan Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Prof Khalid Mahmood, Convener Organizing Committee Prof Muhammad Waheed Akhtar, renowned scientists from Oxford and other universities of UK, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, researchers, faculty members and a large number of students were present. The conference program includes 7 plenary, 31 invited and 81 oral talks, as well as 124 poster presentations. The program also includes a symposium on diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases like Covid19, TB and others. In this address, PU VC Dr Muhammad Ali appreciated the efforts of the founders of the School of Biological Sciences and their role in upbringing the scientific culture in Pakistan. He also appreciated the PSBMB organizers and participants for the successful event. He said that such events can play a vital role in the career-making step of the researchers. He emphasized that apart from hard work, the key to a successful life is the respect and acknowledgement we give to our teachers and mentors. Prof Kauser Abdullah Malik pledged support of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences for the promotion of science and technology in the country. Prof Dr Muhammad Waheed Akhtar introduced the theme of the conference. Prof Khalid Mahmood welcomed the delegates and the participants of the conference. Deliberations of the conference “Recent Trends in Molecular Sciences” would continue till April 17, 2025. Many of the breakthrough advances of great significance for human benefit shall be presented and discussed in the various sessions of the conference. These include areas like detection of cancers and their treatment at the genetic level, development of more powerful vaccines and other drugs as well as production of powerful enzymes for applications in industry and environment improvement. Many of these developments are already having profound benefits in the sectors of health, agriculture, environment and industry. Over 500 hundred participants registered for the conference. In addition to the opening session, the scientific program on the opening day included three plenary talks from Durham University, UK’s Prof Keith Lindsay, PU Prof Sadaf Naz and Oxford University UK’s Prof Ray Owens. The conference also included four concurrent scientific sessions, each of which dealt with gene editing for crop improvement, medical genetics, industrial biotechnology or environmental biology.