> Life Sciences - Updated: 15-04-2008 4:42 pm

The global and ever increasing problems of water and food security, the toll of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, newly emerging and re-emerging diseases on fragile economies, hamper national development and threaten global peace initiatives in the developing and least developed countries especially those with an agrarian based economy.

These issues preoccupy scientists and governments today. Throughout the next decade major trends through an intermix of the life sciences and information technology will involve increasing use of biotechnological processes in understanding life, eradicating hereditary diseases, developing novel bio-industries, and furthering the uses of biomedical products in conserving the quality of life and the environment through the promotion of clean technologies. UNESCO’s programmes in the life sciences aim at promoting international scientific co-operation in these fields, and bridging the scientific and technological differences existing between developed and developing countries. They provide the least developed countries with the tools for enhancing the quality of scientific research in keeping with rapid scientific advances. Furthermore national and regional issues of importance are addressed. These objectives are achieved in co-operation with competent non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and through networking of specialized centres of excellence that organize training activities, workshops and research projects on a collaborative basis. The major focus is the development of endogenous national and regional research capacities in the biological sciences and biotechnologies, for especially the developing countries.For more information please contact: j.hasler@unesco.org or l.hoareau@unesco.org

News

UNESCO Meeting on Epidemic Emergence of Respiratory Infections - (UNESCO) 11-01-2007 The meeting “Conditions Favouring The Epidemic Emergence Of Respiratory Infections” will take place 26 January 2007, Room IX, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75007 PARIS under the auspices of UNESCO, European Academy for Arts, Sciences and Humanities, Trace Element - Institute for UNESCO, World Health Organisation, French Association for the Advancement of Science, European Society for Emerging Infections. More

15th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation & 12th International Conference of the African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation - (UNESCO) 10-01-2007 The 15th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, hosted by the African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation, plans to offer an exciting mix of presentations spanning from field application to genomics research. The Congress will be held 21–26 January 2007, Cape Town, South Africa and its theme is Biological Nitrogen Fixation Applications for Poverty Alleviation. More

A Forum on Cancer: Progress that saves lives - (UNESCO) 10-01-2007 The Fourth UNESCO Scientific Forum "Cancer and Progress that saves”, organized by UNESCO and Paris Match, is taking place at UNESCO, Paris, 18 January 07, 3.30-6.30 pm More

The Network of Youth Excellence nourishes budding talent - (UNESCO) 24-10-2006 Supported by UNESCO, the Network of Youth Excellence, which organizes extra-curricular research for talented students aged 14-21 years to give early exposure to research, met Lake Balaton, Hungary, 20-22 October for their third biannual meeting. More

New Regional Biotechnology Centre for New Delhi - (UNESCO) 25-07-2006 UNESCO and the Government of India signed an agreement in New Delhi, India, 14 July 2006 for the establishment of a Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training and Education. The New Delhi Centre will combine teaching and research with a strong focus on capacity building. More

India to host UNESCO’s Asian Biotechnology Training Centre - (UNESCO) 26-11-2005 The Regional Centre for Biotechnology Education and Training will provide biotechnology training and research opportunities for scientists throughout Asia. The centre’s creation was approved by UNESCO’s General Conference at its 33rd Session, Paris, October 2005. More

Projects

	Libya Funds in Trust Project
	The Libyan Funds-in-Trust is a self-funding activity implemented with funds provided by the Government of the Libyan Arab Jamahirya for the establishment of a Libyan Cell and Molecular Biology Centre, at the Biotechnology Research Centre, in Tajoura, Libya >> More

	Microbial Resources Centres (MIRCEN)s
	A Network in Environmental, Applied Microbiological and Biotechnogical Research >> More UNESCO

	Regional Network for Microbiology in Southeast Asia
	The Regional Network for Microbiology is funded by the Government of Japan for Member States in the Southeast Asian Region. >> More UNESCO Jakarta Office, Indonesia

	UNESCO confronts AIDS@
	The World Foundation for Aids Research and Prevention was created in January 1993. Led by Professor Montagnier, under the auspices of UNESCO, the Foundation’s primary objective is to set up a worldwide network of research and preventive centres. >> More

Articles

To be or not to be: History of UNESCO’s biological and microbiological programmes - by Franck Dufour, Julia Hasler, Lucy Hoareau 2006 -"Omnis cellula a cellula’, the biologist Rudolph Virchow stated in 1855.‘All cells arise from cells.’ It is an idea that expresses how biology is, in a sense, the most basic of the basic sciences. Biology is the very science of existence. And it has been at the core of UNESCO’s science activities since the Organization was created sixty years ago." More

UNESCO takes Mini-laboratories and Microscience to the Middle East - by Maria Liouliou October-December 2007 -For a decade now, UNESCO has been introducing the methodology for microscience into the education systems of both developed and developing countries. One of UNESCO’s key partners in this endeavour is the RADMASTE Centre, Witwatersrand University, South Africa. Training workshops in microscience have been organized in some 84 countries and recently, UNESCO has turned its attention to the Middle East. More