Durban will, this week, play host to several international leading microbiologists during the annual conference of the South African Society for Microbiology (SASM) which is currently taking place at the Coastlands Hotel in Umhlanga until Wednesday this week.
The high-profile conference, hosted by SASM and the Durban University of Technology’s Faculty of Applied Sciences, will see some 400 delegates gathering under the theme, “Green Living through Science and Technology”.
The conference, now in its 16th year, takes place at a time when technological innovation is advancing at a rapid rate and the world’s energy crisis has given rise to ground-breaking new trends.
A subject which has attracted much media attention in recent years is the production of biofuels as an alternative energy source. Although biofuels have been in use for decades, with Henry Ford reportedly using ethanol in his early vehicles, mass production of biofuels has sparked debate about biofuel farmlands putting at risk crops which have traditionally been used as food sources. Professor Ashok Pandey, Deputy Director of the CSIR’s National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum, will provide food for thought on this issue with his address on “Biofuels from Renewable Alternative Feedstocks” on Tuesday, January 19.
Other speakers at the conference, whose main sponsors are the National Research Foundation, Separations, Merck, Distell and DUT, include professors and experts from throughout South Africa and the USA, China, India, Japan and Sweden.
Professor Suren Singh, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Durban University of Technology and chairman of the conference organising committee, said, “DUT is proud to host this prestigious event for the third time. This year’s outstanding scientific programme is a reflection of the consistent progress in the fields of industrial microbiology and biotechnology as a discipline. The theme of the conference further emphasises the need for industry to adapt to the changing energy trends worldwide and overcome the technical challenges of present. Now, more than ever, industry and academia need to work together, nationally and internationally, to jointly address the challenges of technological innovation.”
These and other topics will make for vibrant discussions at the conference which will run from January 17 to 20.
Sessions are open to journalists and photographers.
For more information please contact Professor Suren Singh on 083 468 4292.
Copy: Supplied
