International Webinar on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology
Website: https://pucollege.edu.in/ & https://mzu.edu.in/
The above-mentioned online event jointly organized by the Department of Biotechnology, pachhunga University College campus and Mizoram University for 3-Days (24-26 June 2020). The total number of participants on an average on day-1, day-2, and day-3 was 852, 668 and 755. Moreover, we have received more than 100 abstracts from across the globe. We have selected four best posters for the award from national and international labs. We have acquired excellent feedbacks from students, faculties, and researchers.
Background
The International Webinar was dedicated to bringing together many diverse scholarly speakers starting from basic science to advance. All the speakers were selected with diverse biotechnological backgrounds to offer high-quality researches and, it has provided an exceptional value for students, academics and industry researchers. International Webinar on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology: Current and Future Challenges in Biotechnology Research aimed to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects starting from stress biology, structural biology, microbiology and biotechnology. It also provided a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, as well as practical challenges, encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of biotechnology
Objectives
Ø To motivate the students for pursuing higher studies.
Ø To share the knowledge of various fields of biotechnology researches going across the globe among the scientific communities.
Ø To develop national as well as international collaborations for collaborative research.
Ø To join hands to solve critical scientific questions.
Ø To help students to get positions in national and internationally reputed labs.
The rationale behind the programme
During the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the scientific communities were looking for such platforms to share their innovative ideas and research. It was much demanding for those days as well as to engage ourselves in academic. There is an urgent need to explore biotechnology's potentiality at the grass-roots level to enable people to break away from the poverty trap and acquire a sense of livelihood. Training is generally being considered the outlet for an exchange of concepts within a community. Therefore, the program can help develop skills that can be useful for their livelihood.
Day-1
Inaugural Function of the Program
The program's inaugural function was chaired by Dr Mukesh Kumar Yadav, an Assistant Professor from Biotechnology, Pachhunga University College (PUC). The organizing secretary, Prof. S.K Mehta, welcomed the vice-chancellor sir and all the guests. After this, Prof. K.R.S.Samba Siva Rao, Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Mizoram University, India, delivered the inaugural speech. He spoke about the importance of biotechnology and its future perspectives. He also appreciates PUC for taking the initiatives to conduct such kind of programme. After this, the keynote speaker Dr Robert Thangjam, Head, Department of Biotechnology, MZU, India has delivered a lecture on the topic "Resistant starch-rich agricultural commodities as a Source of food nutritional security during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond". Dr Liansangmawii Chhakchhuak, Head, Department of Biotechnology, PUC, India, has introduced all the invited speakers.
Technical Session-I
Dr Zothanpuia, Biotechnology, PUC department, India, chaired the first technical session. Two distinguished speakers from Dr Sunil Kumar Sahu from State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genomics, China National Gene Bank (CNGB). BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China, on the topic: How is genomics revolutionizing agricultural and evolutionary researches? and Dr Gaurav Zinta, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India, on the topic “Systems biology perspective on climate change impact on plants”, delivered their talk.
Technical Session-II
Dr Punuri Jayasekhar Babu chaired the session, primarily focused on plant stress biology and IT systems for biotic stressors. The session had two speakers;
1. Dr Vivakanand Tiwari, Department of Plant Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
On topic: Redox regulation of photosynthesis.
2. Dr Qing Xue, Department of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agriculture University, China, on the topic “Next-generation taxonomy in Nematodes: IT technologies bring a better resolution”.
Technical Session-III
Dr Garima Singh, Botany, PUC, India, chaired the session, which was having with two speakers Dr Avanish Rai, from VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent University, Belgium, on the topic “Modularity in plant terpenoid metabolism: dynamic regulation through protein prenylation and Dr Naveen Chandra Joshi, from Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University, Noida on the topic “Glutathione Recycling - a prerequisite for maintaining root system architecture in plants”.
Technical Session-IV
The session was shared by Dr Prashant Kumar Singh, Department of Biotechnology, PUC, India. In this session, two USA speakers and Israel have delivered talks on plant and cyanobacterial biology, respectively. Prof.Viji Sitther from Morgan State University, Baltimore, the USA, on the topic “Biotechnological approaches and challenges in large-scale cyanobacterial biofuel production” and Dr Michal Lieberman Lazarovich, Department of Vegetable Research, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agriculture Research Organization (ARO), Israel on the topic “Pollen flavonols as a new approach to achieving heat stress resilience in tomato”.
DAY-2
Technical Session-I
The session was chaired by Dr Mukesh Kumar Yadav, Department of Biotechnology, PUC, India. The session was focused on microbiology, medicinal plant biology, and structural biology. The first speaker of the session was Prof. Christopher Davies, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA. He delivered a talk on “How mutations in penicillin-binding protein 2 confer cephalosporin resistance to N. gonorrhoeae. The second speaker of the session was Dr Jorge E. Vidal, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Location Jackson, United States, on the topic “Streptococcus pneumoniae biofilms and transference of resistance within biofilms. The session was exciting and highly appreciated by the Vice chancellor, sir.
The third speaker of the session was Dr Ashutosh Sharma, Regional Department of Bioengineering, Centre of Bioengineering, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus-Queretaro, Mexico, on the topic” Current Status and Challenges in Medicinal Plant Research. The fourth and last speaker of the session was Prof. Surya Pratap Singh, Head, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, India, on the topic “Role of Ayurvedic herbs in Neuroprotection & Treatment of Parkinson's disease”.
Technical Session-II
This technical session primarily focused on plant biotechnology and future challenges and chaired by Dr Bendangchuchang Longchar, Department of Life Sciences, PUC, India. The session had four speakers;
1. Dr Vivek Dogra, from the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India, on the topic “How do plants perceive and respond to developmental and environmental stimuli: the emerging role of Chloroplasts?
2. Dr. Dinesh Kumar from the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, India, on the topic “Why computational genomics approach is needed to manage and improve agricultural germplasm?”
3. Dr Jing-hua Wang from the Daejeon University, Daejeon, South Korea, on the topic “Fermented herbs exert anti-obesity effect via gut microbiota regulation”.
4. Dr Manas Ranjan Prusty from the Institute of Plant Sciences, Agriculture Research Organization (ARO), The-Volcani Centre, Israel, on the topic “RECAS9: Recombining wild species introgression via mitotic gene editing in barley”.
Technical session-III
The session was chaired by Dr Prashant Kumar Singh, Department of Biotechnology, PUC, India. The session had two speakers, 1. Dr Prem Swaroop Yadav, from the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts USA, on the topic “Limb specific Stat3 loss of function leads to downregulation of Wnt/b-catenin signaling and causes skeleton defects observed in HIES/Job Syndrome patients” and Dr Monika Saxena from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on the topic” Understanding a connection between Metabolism and Mental Health Disorder”.
Day-3
Technical Session-I
The session was chaired by Dr Punuri Jayasekhar Babu, Department of Biotechnology, PUC, India. The session had two speakers;
1. Dr Ajay Jajodia, Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, and the Department of Genome Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, USA, on the topic “Functional dissection of non-coding variants associated with rheumatoid arthritis”.
2. Dr Dharmendra Kumar Yadav, College of Pharmacy, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon City, South Korea, on the topic “Computational study of skin lipid bilayer member and permeability of Ros.”
Technical Session-I
The session was chaired by Dr Prashant Kumar Singh, Department of Biotechnology, PUC, India. The session had two speakers;
1. Dr Grace Lhaineikim Chongloi, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, on the topic “How conserved developmental programs influence plants' architecture and productivity?
2. Dr Sayantan Panda, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, on the topic “Orchestration of Steroidal Glyco Alkaloid metabolism'- a tradeoff between jasmonate mediated defence vs gibberellic acid-mediated growth”.
Concluding remarks and end of the event
Dr Liansangmawii Chhakchhuak, Head of Department Biotechnology, PUC, India, has nicely concluded the event.
Best e-Poster Awards
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1. "Endophytic bacterial diversity of viral...............RNase as potential antiviral agents." Dr Gajanan Mehetre Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram Univeristy, India. |
2. "Antimicrobial Potential of Selected Wild Edible Vegetables............India."
Rosie Lalmuanpuii Department of Botany, Mizoram Univeristy, India. |
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3. "Anti-gout Activity and GC-MS……........Extracts."
Ferid Abdulhafiz Universiti Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia. |
4. "Splice variant of...........regulated in Arabidopsis thaliana." Dr Abhishek Kumar Dept. of Biotechnology, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, India. |
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