CHANDIGARH: January 28, 2013:The Winter Training School on the theme “Computer Aided
Drug Design: Hands-on Workshop” commenced today at UIPS, Panjab University under UGC
Networking programme for pharmacy teachers. 20 entry level teachers/Ph.D. students from
various Colleges/Universities, representing 11 different states of India holding a
teaching experience upto 5 years, have been selected on merit out of a total of 42
applicants. ‘Professor Manoj Kumar, Course Coordinator explained that Computer Aided
Drug Design became an invaluable tool for medicinal chemistry and drug discovery
applications since it often dramatically reduces the overall cost of drug discovery and
accelerates the design of newer leads for the life threatening diseases like cancer,
AIDs, tuberculosis, diabetes etc.

The Programme was inaugurated by Professor K. K. Bhutani, Director, NIPER, Mohali, the
Chief Guest for the occasion. He delivered the Key Note address on ‘Predictivity for
Druggable properties in Drug Discovery and Development ventures’. He highlighted the
importance of CADD in replacing serendipitous discovery approaches with systematic
designing of molecules based on their physicochemical properties.

Professor A. K. Madan, PBDUHS, Rohtak, Haryana gave an exhaustive talk on ‘New
generation molecular descriptors for accelerating drug discovery process’ during the
post tea session. In the afternoon session, Professor M. R. Yadav, MSU, Vadodara,
Gujarat delivered lectures on theoretical aspects of classical QSAR approaches as a tool
for rational drug designing.

Prof. R. K. Kohli, Dean University Instructions, Panjab University was the Guest of
Honour during the Inaugural session. He highlighted the importance of computer in
bridging the gaps amongst varied disciplines generating new possibilities of
interdisciplinary collaborations. Prof. Harkishan Singh, Professor Emeritus, UIPS, a
well recognized academician and researcher in the field of pharmaceutical sciences,
graced the occasion. Prof. V. R. Sinha, Chairperson, UIPS & Programme Coordinator gave
the presidential remarks.
Press Release No-38