Three day National Conference on Microbial Biotechnology, MICROCON 2015, commenced today at the Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh.

The Conference is being organised by the PU Department of Microbial Biotechnology. Padma Bhushan recipient and former Director, PGIMER, Chandigarh Prof. K K Talwar inaugurated the prestigious conference. Prof. Rupinder Tewari is the president of the conference and Dr. Rohit Sharma is the organising secretary.

In his address, Prof. Talwar emphasized the importance of microbes residing inside the human body for the well being of humans. He informed the audience that the number of microbes in the human body is 10 times to the number of human cells. The absence of microbes or the imbalance in the microbial population can lead to serious health problems. The most exciting research going on in the world is the Human Microbiome project, he added.

In his scintillating and motivational key address, former Director, NABI, Mohali, Prof. Rakesh Tuli spoke on “Precision Biology Inspired by Microbes”. He underlined the importance of microbes in understanding the metabolism of plants and animals. Without microbes as a practical model, biological science would not have progresses to the stage where it is now, he said. He apprised the audience of the treatment of human and plant diseases using molecular biology tools. He mentioned several recent breakthroughs to look out for such as engineering functional organs by 3-D bio-printing. A company by the name of Organavo in St. Louis (U.S.A) has claimed to have developed a three dimensional human liver tissue, which could be used for various medical research purposes. He also emphasised on the future course of research which includes delivery methods for retroviral therapy, synthetic biology and 3-D bio-printing to name a few.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof. Arun K. Grover in his address stated that this event exemplifies what the Chandigarh region can give to the nation and hence the world considering the immense research potential that thrives here.

The Guest of Honour, Director, IMTECH, Chandigarh Dr. Girish Sahni emphasised for the need of passion for science amongst the young minds. The inaugural session was concluded by releasing the abstract book of the conference.

The scientific sessions were well attended by over 200 students and research scholars. The first session was on the microbes living in harsh conditions where man cannot even think of. Dr. Shivaji from Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, who was a part of India’s first expedition to the Arctic discussed the bacteria which thrive in low and sub zero temperatures. These bacteria hold immense potential for the industry.

Prof. Rup Lal from Delhi University discussed new techniques to study those microbes which cannot be cultured in the labs and understand their products of industrial importance. Dr. Praveen Rishi highlighted the importance of antimicrobial peptides to be used in conjunction with conventional antibiotics which besides reducing the dose of the antibiotic required and minimising the associated side effects may also confer health benefits to the host. Dr. V.C Kalia, IGIB, Delhi told the gathering that there is a never ending battle of microbes and antibiotics. The battle is like a cat and mouse game in which there is no winner. Scientists will keep on developing new antibiotics and bacteria will keep developing resistance to it. Dr. Vijendra Bhalla (IMTECH, Chandigarh) discussed nano-bio based approaches for rapid detection of microbes.

Prof. U.C Banerjee, Head, Dept. Of Pharmaceutical Technology, NIPER talked about the importance of enantiomerically pure drugs and drug intermediates through greener routes. Dr. TC Bhalla, Head, Department of Biotechnology, HPU, Shimla, discussed the role of enantioselective nitrile hydrolysing enzymes for high value commercials.