Talent Chimutambgi Herald Reporter
Bioinformatics research is the key enabler in generating information critical to turn the economic fortunes of Zimbabwe through implementing education 5.0 aimed at boosting industrialisation in a sustainable manner, Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) vice chancellor Professor Perkins Mweredzi has said.

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combines biology, computer science, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyse and interpret biological data.

Prof Mweredzi was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing 2nd Bioinformatics Research Symposium in Harare, which kicked off yesterday, with the objective of sharing the research that is going on in Zimbabwe and the region in the field of bioinformatics.

He said there was need to embrace education 5.0 as the only way for industrial growth in the country and beyond.

“While we enter into this new era of data, there are developments which are coming with industry 5.0, and one of those areas is bioinformatics,” said Prof Mweredzi. “Bioinformatics is very critical to enable robust economic emancipation in Zimbabwe, as well as helping us to understand what goes on in our biotechnological interventions.

“As you know that biotechnology touches on industry and we have got industrial programmes that comes with biotechnology, with areas that are affected being pharmaceuticals, food and security, DNA are impacted.”

The symposium, which is running under the theme ‘Bioinformatics enhancing scientific research”, was being spearheaded by HIT in conjunction with National Biotechnology Authority (BNA), University of Zimbabwe, Chinhoyi University of Technology and National University of Science and Technology.

Addressing the same gathering, BNA acting chief executive officer and registrar Dr Dexter Savadye said the essence of the symposium was for capacity building among stakeholders.

“We actually want to build capacity in the area of bioinformatics and improve our research awareness of bioinformatics in Zimbabwe as well as networking with other stakeholders to advance bioinformatics research application,” said Dr Savadye.

He said human beings depended on organisms from food, medicine and industry through the bio-technology industry.

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