Biology workshops

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Acharya Narendra Dev College

Biology Laboratory Course Workshop

(21- 24 October, 2008)

Centre for Promotion of Undergraduate Research and Training, Acharya Narendra Dev College in association with Institute of Lifelong Learning under the covenorship of Dr. Savithri Singh, Principal, Acharya Narendra Dev College and Professor A. K. Bakhshi, Director, Institute of Lifelong learning organized four days Biology Laboratory Course workshop (B.Sc. Programme LSIII) for College teachers from 21-24 October, 2008.

To conduct this workshop for all teachers of this course across the University was a challenge, considering that we were looked upon as a 'new college' with young teachers and maybe that was what worked to our advantage as we had well equipped labs (what we lacked, we put together for the workshop) and we had young dynamic teachers with a dedication and fevour to prove ourselves. Also that we had three biology viz Botany, Zoology and Biomedical Sciences departments in the college with 24 teachers all willing to collaborate and form a cohesive group, worked in our favour and was well appreciated.

The aim of the workshop was to give hands on training of various techniques which have been introduced in a curriculum of B.Sc. Programme LS III from this academic session to the participating teachers. The workshop was conducted such that the teachers learnt how to do the following experiments with their own students:


 * Agarose gel electrophoresis.
 * Restriction digestion of lambda DNA.
 * Restriction mapping of plasmid DNA.
 * Ligation of lambda DNA.
 * Transformation in E. coli.
 * Agrobacterium mediated transformation in Tobacco.
 * Southern Blotting.
 * Polymerase chain reaction.
 * Western Blotting.
 * Bioinformatics.
 * Finger printing.
 * Application of recombinant DNA technology through photographs.

Total of 36 teachers from 17 colleges of University of Delhi participated in the Workshop. Professor A.K. Bakhshi, Director, ILLL, inaugurated the workshop and the welcome note was delivered by the Principal, Dr. Savithri Singh. This was followed by a talk on 'Bioinformatics' by Dr. Sudeshna Mazumdar, Reader, Department of Botany, and University of Delhi. The talk dealt with the very basics concepts in science of bioinformatics and gave an overview of the possibilities it provides. Dr. Krishna Ray, R.A., Department of Genetics, University of Delhi demonstrated the technique of 'Transformation of Tobacco by Agrobacterium'.

The faculties of Departments of Botany, Biomedical Sciences and Zoology contributed to the preparation of manual, and made all arrangements for procuring chemicals and other consumable items and conduct of various experiments. The material in the manuals was wetted by Professor M.M. Chaturvedi, Professor, Department of Zoology, and Dr. Pradeep Burma, Reader, Department of Genetics, of the University of Delhi

What was important in this workshop was that it was completely done 'in house' where teachers from our college were the resource persons for all experiments. The presentations made by the teachers and the way the hands-on were conducted was highly appreciated. We also ensured that the participants worked in small groups. What was great was that our 'student volunteers' also were able to contribute much to the success of the course â€“ their confidence reflecting how well they had been taught by our teachers â€“ they were in a position to tackle all questions raised by the participants. We ensured that each participating teacher got enough 'hands'on' opportunities so that they got the confidence to carry out these experiments with their own students when they went back to their own colleges.

The workshop came to a close with Professor Bakhshi distributing the certificates not only to the participants, but also to the resource persons, the laboratory staff and the student volunteers without whom the success of the workshop could not have been ensured. The feedback from the participants was very laudatory and makes us feel confident to hold more such workshops.

Acharya Narendra Dev College

Understanding Complexities of Life from Molecules to System: Concept and Tools

(12-23 May, 2008)

Centre for Promotion of Undergraduate Research and Training, Acharya Narendra Dev College under the covenorship of Dr. Savithri Singh, Principal, for undergraduate students of Biology courses. The coordinators of the workshop were Dr. Ravi Toteja and Dr. Charu Khosla Gupta.

The workshop was conducted with the aim to teach students about the basic and advanced techniques in biology. Since many of theses techniques does not find any space in the curriculum of undergraduate course. Therefore summer workshop for the students was conducted.

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Savithri Singh, Principal. This was followed by a lecture by Professor M.M. Chaturvedi on Role of RNA in evolution. He exposed the students to totally new concept of evolution.

Through out the workshop students were not only apprised of the theory behind each technique by the faculty of Zoology and Botany department of the College but also given hands on experience to perform these techniques. Following techniques were dealt


 * Microscopy Light and Fluorescence
 * Centrifugation and Cell Fractionation
 * Chromatography
 * Gel electrophoresis of DNA and protein
 * Polymerase Chain Reaction
 * Cell and Tissue culture
 * Genetics of Drosophila
 * Sericulture Techniques

In addition to this there were invited lectures by Professor K. Murlidhar on Role of Biology and Professor Shanti Chandrashekhran on Genetics of Drosophila.