News Desk
FAISALABAD: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Mariano Grossi inaugurated Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action Laboratory at the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology Faisalabad on Thursday.
Learning from the testing time, the Covid-19 pandemic, ZODIAC initiative was launched by the IAEA in June 2020 to assist countries in preventing pandemics caused by parasites, fungi, bacteria or viruses that originate in animals and could transmit to humans.
Using an integrated and systematic approach, ZODIAC would strengthen the capabilities and preparedness of IAEA Member States to detect and timely respond to outbreaks of such disasters.
During his visit to Nuclear Institute for Agriculture & Biology (NIAB), one of the four agriculture research centers established by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), the DG IAEA announced designating NIAB as the ‘IAEA Collaborating Centre for capacity building in agricultural research.
Other activities in Faisalabad
He also received a briefing on the institutes’ working to develop new strains of cotton, wheat, rice and other crops. Together these agriculture research centers of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) have so far successfully produced 132 high-yield, pest-tolerant and climate-resilient crop varieties.
