User:Rtoteja27/National Symposium on Chemistry in Biology: the Future of Life science

Chemistry in Biology: The Future of Life Sciences(12-13 February, 2010 at India International Centre)

Chemical biology has become the new buzz word in the field of organic chemistry and life sciences, describing a new era in the progressive integration and the interplay between the two disciplines. To understand any biological phenomenon it is imperative to know the chemical molecules and their reactions. Further, chemistry may provide the basis for the understanding of many unexplained biological phenomena in the nature.. Keeping this in view, it becomes important that undergraduate students, who are our future researchers, understand biology and chemistry as integrated subjects, even though they are taught as distinct disciplines.

This symposium was focused on the application of chemistry for addressing present day problems of biology. It featured interesting deliberations and interactive sessions by eminent scientists in diverse fields such as Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Nano Medicines and Nano devices, Green Chemistry and Clean technology followed by panel discussion on teaching science.

The primary objective of the symposium is to provide exposure and opportunities to teachers, Undergraduate & Post graduate students and Researchers across the country to interactwith some the best scientists in the field and to give a comprehensiveviw of the multiple facets of these disciplines. Special Invited talks by Professor B. Jayaram (IIT Delhi), Dr. Amit Sharma (ICGEB), Dr. Amulya Panda (NII), Dr. K. C. Gupta (IITR, Lucknow),Professor Hans-Uwe Dahms (South Korea), Dr. Rita Kumar and Dr. V. C. Kalia (both IGIB) and Professor R.K. Saxena ( University of Delhi, South Campus) were inspirational and led to very good interactive question and answer sessions. There was also a Panel Discussion on ‘Teaching of Science’ – Dr Vasudha Kamat (NCERT) and Dr. R Sreedher (CEMCA) emphasized the importance of integration of ICT tools in education. The other panelists Professor Amitabha Mukherjee, Professor K. Muralidhar and Dr. Savithri Singh discussed various aspects of classroom teaching of Science in the University and schools. The symposium was unique in that there were two sessions exclusively for student presentations – both oral and poster presentations. These sessions provided space to students for good interactions with eminent scientists. The best oral and two best poster presentations were given ‘Young Chemical Biologist ‘awards. The symposium had over 158 participants including 70 students. Initiative such as this is sure to provide a significant boost to creating interest amongst students to choose science as a viable career option and also open-up vistas for them to work with scientists in national laboratories.