STATUS, POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL

Dr. Kayo Devi Yami

RONAST

TRADITIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGIES

For many centuries societies and communities have been using these technologies to alter plants & animal products to produce BETTER FOOD & IMPROVED PRODUCTION without knowing the actual scientific background.

DAIRY PRODUCTS (Cheese, Churpi, Curd etc.)

FERMENTED VEGETABLE PRODUCTS (Gundruk, Sinke, Pickles etc.)

BREWERY TECHNOLOGY(Raksi, Jand, Tomba etc.)

PLANT BREEDING

MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY

MUSHROOM PRODUCTION

TISSUE CULTURE

BIOFERTILIZERS

BIOPROSPECTING

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

VACCINE PRODUCTION

PLANT TISSUE CULTURE

GOVERNMENT SECTOR

Department of Plant ResourcesThapathali

produced 100,000 plantlets of disease free Banana & Citrus. Tissue culturing of Rauwolfia, Eucalyptus & Jerbera, Swertia,

Dalbergia etc

Godawari Pioneer Tissue Culture Lab research & development; > 100 protocols for plant tissue

culture so far In situ and ex situ conservation of germplasm of improtant

medicinal plants

National Agricultural Research Council

Potato tissue culture lab producing 200,000 virus free pre-basic potato seeds/year

Agricultural Botany Division has initiated anther culture of rice and wheat & also germplasm conservation and diagnostic facilities using PCR technology

Dhankuta & Lumle Agriculture Stations also have tissue culture lab facilities

Horticulture Development Project of Department of Agriculture, Kirtipur

very good facilities for plant tissue culture work (Japanese Grant), once produced in vitro plantlets of apple rootstocks

Institute of Agriculture & Animal Sciences, Rampur

plant tissue culture lab facilities (Rockfeller Foundation) but is limited to MSc thesis work only

PRIVATE SECTORS

Botanical Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., Godawari

Nepal Biotech Nursery, Bhainsepati

Research Laboratory for Agriculture Biotechnology & Biochemistry (RLABB), Balkhu

Microplants, Kamal Pokhari

Green Research & Technology (GREAT), New Baneshwor

Himalayan Botanical Research Centre (HIMBORCE), Baneshwor

BIOFERTILIZERS

Division of Soil Science & Agriculture Chemistry, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Khumaltar: Commercial production of microbial inoculants like rhizobia, Azotobacter.

Royal Nepal Academy of Science & Technology (RONAST), Khumaltar: Research on microbial inoculants like rhizobia, Azotobacter, Endo & Ectomycorrhiza, composting, vermicomposting

MUSHROOM PRODUCTION Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Plant

Pathology Division, Khumaltar: spawn for button mushroom, research to develop better substrate for better mushroom production and providing training on mushroom cultivation

Agriculture Technology Centre, Gwarko producing spawn for Agaricus bisporus, Sitake (Lentinus edodes), Gyanoderma

Many unregistered private companies producing mushrooms and spawn

RONAST: study of mushroom diversity in Sagarmatha National Park (CNR)

DPR: Collection and identification of Nepalese mushrooms around Godawari

BIOLOGICAL CONTROLRONAST has been doing research on BIOPESTICIDES

specially of plant origin (Eupatorium adenoforum, Lantana camara, Acorus calamus & Ageratum conyzoides) in collaboration with Department of Agriculture against Aphids

BIOINSECTICIDES indigenious strains of Bacillus thuriengensis

BIOFUNGICIDEScompost & vermicompost tea solution on Foot rot disease of rice and use of above pesticidal plants against club root disease of cauliflower

RONAST has been doing bioprospecting of Himalayan conifers, Cordyceps sinensis (Yarchagumba) and Taxus bacatta for their antitumor compounds.

DPR: phytochemical screening of 12 plant spp. & their antifertility and antihelminthic potential and toxicity test on mice

TU Chemistry Division: MSc research work Simhadurbar Baidhya Khana: Crude form of

bioprospecting for ayurvedic medicine

BIOPROSPECTING

ADVANCED MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY

RONAST

MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS (HLB CITRUS DISEASES)

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATIONS OF:• Bacillus thuriengensis• Medicinal plants like Swertia• Tea clones• GMOs

NARC Genetic diversity analysis of isoenzymes in rice,

barley, buckwheat, pigeon pea, taro, cucumber, Sweria, Citrus.

Application of molecular markers towards development of varities and hybrid in maize

RECAST Selection of genotypes of Mulberry &

exploitation of genetic yield potential of common Buckwheat ecotypes.

ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

Central Veterinary Laboratory, Tripureshwor producing vaccine against P.P.R (Pestes des petites Ruminant) disease using tissue culture, rabies vaccine with Japanese grant also exporting to other countries, poultry vaccine, PCR used in disease diagnostic.

NARC has been doing animal breeding, embryo transfer and artificial insemination in cattles.

MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

The Leprosy Mission, Nepal: determination of cytokines by ELISA for blood immune response studies in leprosy patients & DNA diagnosis of Mycobacterium leprae by PCR

Everest Biotech Pvt. Ltd.: production of specific antibody required for Human Genome Project, England.

TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj: had used PCR for TB bacteria research work

TU Teaching Hospital: 3 PCRs mainly used for detecting respiratory viruses for the research purpose only

Kathmandu University Medical School: Korean visiting scientist once tried to identify AIDS

virus by using RT PCR but because of the problem in water the project could not be initiated.

EXISTING MANPOWERInstitutions Manpower PhD

RONAST 12 2

NARC 13 4

DPR 15

DoA 4

Teaching Institutions

(Kathmandu University

Tribhuvan University etc.) 23 5

Private Co. (GREAT, LIIBIRD) 6 1

Forensic Lab. 3

RECAST 4 2

Vetirenary Institute 10 4

Total 100 18

MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT

Bachelors level (BSc) : Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University and many private campuses have been delivering BSc courses in Biotechnology.

Masters level (MSc) : Tribhuvan University is going to open MSc courses in Biotechnology from middle of 2006

NOTE : National Planning Commision has provided $ 2,00,000 to KU for BSc & $ 70,000 to TU for MSc programmes.

BUDGET (RONAST)

Fiscal year Total S & T budget

Biotechnology budget

2002/2003 $120,000

(INRA-$21,000; SETS - $70,000)

$26,000

2003/2004 $31,000 $6,000

2004/2005 $44,000 $ 23,000

(CNR & allowances)

2005/2006 $28,000 $ 12,000

BUDGET OF OTHER INSTITUTIONS

Institutions Budget per year

Division of Agriculture Botany, NARC, Khumaltar $15,000

Biotechnology Laboratory of Department of Plant Resources, Thapathali and Godawari $10,000

Phytochemical and microbial screening at DPR

$10,000

POTENTIALS OF MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGIES

Genetic material of one sp. can be inserted into another, crossing natural barriers that were previously impossible.

BETTER CROPS

RESISTANT TO INSECTS

RESISTANT TO DISEASES

EVEN TO NATURAL CALAMITIES LIKE DROUGHT

SOLUTIONS TO THE THREAT OF HUNGER BY HELPING TO INCREASE FOOD PRODUCTION & MALNUTRITION BY

CREATING RICE THAT PROVIDES VITAMIN A & IRON

MAKING AGRICULTURE MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE THROUGH PEST RESISTANT CROPS

BIOPROSPECTING Research for new chemicals in living things that will have

some medical or commercial use a high risk area for investors but can have massive returns Of the world's 25 top-selling pharmaceuticals, 10

originally sourced from animals, plants or micro-organisms (in 1995, these accounted for nearly $US14 billion in global sales )

Pharmaceutical companies and agribusiness use indigenous knowledge as a precursor to screening, and this is happening with little regard for the protection of indigenous intellectual property and with no equitable sharing of profits

CHALLENGES OF MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY

HEALTH RISKS POISED BY GMO CROPS

POTENTIAL ENVIRONMETAL IMPACTS OF THE RELEASE OF GMOS LEADING TO SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE BIODIVERSITY THAT MANY COMMUNITIES RELY ON FOR THEIR FOOD, LIVELIHOODS AND CULTURAL SURVIVAL

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOSAFETY POLICIES

Ministry of Environment, Science & Technology had submitted a Biotechnology Policy to the cabinet four years ago for the Govt approval but has not yet been approved.

The Ministry of Forest & Soil Conservation aims to develop & formulate the Biosafety Policy, legal & administrative framework to safeguard the biological diversity, human health and environment from the adverse effects of GMOs & their products in accord with the CBD CPB.

PROBLEMS LACK OF QUALIFIED MANPOWER & BRAIN

DRAIN

LACK OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES, RULES & REGULATIONS

LACK OF ADEQUATE FUNDINGS

LACK OF PROPER INFRASTRUCTURES

FAILURE TO IMPLIMENT RECOMMENDATIONS PROPOSED BY VARIOUS TASK FORCES

LACK OF INVOLVEMENT OF PRIVATE SECTOR AND TEACHING INSTITUTIONS

THE APPLICATION OF GENETIC ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DRUGS AND VACCINES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE OURS IS AN EXPENSIVE AND LONG TERM INVESTMENT

IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

STRENGTHENING OF EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURES AT DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS

MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN COLLABORATION WITH OTHER COUNTRIES

VOTE OF THANKS

RECAST & AUDIENCE