22nd May 2021, Kathmandu
Most often the scientific researches and trials are limited within the laboratory with model animals grown in sterile environments.
Also, the cost factor plays an important role in generating more data. Among several biobased industries, the probiotics industry is one that is growing and trending these days due to its positive impact on the health of its consumers.
However, it is being intervened using new biotech tools, which may raise even more ethical issues for its consumption. The efficacy of wild-type probiotics is still found not satisfactory compared to synthetic probiotics.
So to gather more data and to discover more efficient wild type poultry probiotics in the natural environment, students -Prakriti Karki, Misek Limbu, Nishtha Barnwal, Miri Rai, Sonu, and Bhuwan Phuyal of the Microbiology department at Tri Chandra College and Media Lab Nepal are trying to use an open science approach with national and international contributors. Poultry probiotics are important microorganisms that play a role in the growth and health of poultry and also in the fight against antibiotic resistance problems.
OpenFlow’s approach is inspired by the open science movement going around the world. The team is integrating the skills which they learned at the Open science training program. It is a new innovative approach in animal science to collect strong data needed for efficient probiotics discovery.
It works with the local poultry farmers and scientific community and seeks their help to get diversified features needed to discover low-cost probiotics faster and to predict their efficient composition.