“International Conference on Interdisciplinary areas with Chemical Sciences (ICIACS
2013)” 30th Oct-1st Nov

International Conference on Interdisciplinary areas with Chemical Sciences (ICIACS 2013)
started today at Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, Prof. D.D. Sarma inaugurated the
three-day international conference, which is being organised by the Department of
Chemistry, PU, in association with Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST),
Mohali, from October 30 to November 1.
 

PU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Arun Kumar Grover in his inaugural address emphasized the role
of chemistry in the development of interdisciplinary sciences. He recounted the
significant contributions of scientists like Prof. Shanti Sawrup Bhatnagar and Prof.
Ruchi Ram Sahni.
 

In recent years, Nano Science and Technology has emerged as a reliable tool for
providing breakthroughs in the field of medicine for developing efficient drug-delivery
systems through nanoparticles and in the development of new-age functional materials
which can have enhanced properties like energy storage and solar harvesting. But there
are several challenges in this field which are still to be tackled particularly related
to agricultural, environmental, and biological effects of nanoparticles. This is the
main focus of ICIACS-2013.
 

Prof. N. Satayamurthy from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)
Mohali and Prof. A.K. Ganguli from INST presided over the inaugural function.
Renowned scientists from France, China, USA and India would present their research
findings in the conference on the interdisciplinary areas of chemical sciences including
pharmaceutical chemistry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, material science.
 

In the morning session, which was devoted to Nanoscience and Technology, Prof. M.P.
Pileni  from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France) delivered a lecture on “Nano and
Supra Crystals: A real challenge for the future”. Prof. Pileni highlighted that how
nanocrystallinity can be controlled in relevance to optical and mechanical properties of
nano materials. This was followed by a keynote address by Prof. A.K. Ganguli of INST,
Mohali on “Reverse micelles as nanoreactors”. Prof. Ganguli suggested that nano
materials can be applied for water splitting, photocatalysis and field emission of
electrons. In another lecture by S. Bhattacharya (IISc, Bangalore), recent research
developments were discussed on supra-molecular gel organizations that can have inherent
property to respond to external stimuli. Prof. Ravi B. Srivastava (DIHAR, Chandigarh)
delivered a lecture on “Environmental aspects of agro-nanotechnology”. Prof. Srivastava
emphasized that the nanotechnological applications can lead to multi dimensional
research approach comprising a team of chemists, physicists and biologists.
In the afternoon session, the conference witnessed several interesting lectures run in
two parallel technical sessions held at the auditorium of Department of Chemistry, and
Dr. SS Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET),
PU. These lectures were focused on studies like Neurotoxic effects of nanoparticles in
relevance to Parkinson’s disease, next generation of electrochemical biosensors, gene
delivery, smart nanomaterials for biomedical diagnosis applications, structural and
optical properties in nanocrystals etc. In the evening sessions, research scholars
presented their research during the poster sessions at the Chemistry Department.
Press Release No.757