The Institute of Plantation Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia has organized a public lecture, the 9 th series from the Putra Plantation Forum Series with the title “Advances on Computational Biology and Genomics for Agriculture: Case Study of Plantation Crops” on 16 th April 2019 at the Agriculture Hall, Faculty of Agriculture, UPM.

The public lecture was delivered by a prominent scientist, Professor Dr. Denis J. Murphy, Head of Biology Research, and Head of Genomics & Computational Biology Research Group, University of South Wales, UK. He is currently the Chair of the Biology sub-committee of the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Biotechnology Advisor to United Nations FAO.

He highlighted the benefits of the discovery of important oil palm genes that regulate fruit yield, clonal abnormalities and oil production through genomics and computational biology studies. The application of big data for palm oil traceability and authentication of geographical origin of palm oil produced has tremendous impact on accountability for sustainable oil palm cultivation and branding of palm oil produced by producer countries.

In conclusion, Professor Denis emphasized that for plantation crops such as oil palm to thrive in the current controversial situation, there is a need to continue to do good science, and develop effective communications with NGOs and general public.

Date of Input: 08/05/2019 | Updated: 08/05/2019 | ainzubaidah