Chandigarh
( Justice News)
CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh today celebrated its 42nd Foundation Day by organizing several events including the much-anticipated Foundation Day Lecture delivered by Dr. Vinod K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog.
Dr. Paul who is leading the health, nutrition and education verticals at NITI Aayog, delivered this year’s foundation day lecture on “Future Pandemic Preparedness: What we must do now”. Dr. Paul mentioned that entire efforts of the Government of India for mitigating challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic was driven by science and evidence with Government, Nation and Society being stakeholders of the action plan. He appreciated IMTECH’s efforts during the pandemic for undertaking RT-PCR testing for detection and surveillance, developing COVID-19 subunit protein based vaccine and initiating antiviral screening against SARS-COV-2. For future pandemic preparedness, he stressed that scientists need to be prepared well in advance with strategies and countermeasures which can be made available within the first 100 days of the outbreak.
Speaking at the occasion Dr Paul said that “We prepare for war, when we are not at war and a lot of work for tackling future pandemic should be done now in microbial labs like IMTECH. Governance, Surveillance, Research and Partnership are the cornerstones of future pandemic strategy”. He laid down a road map for IMTECH scientists exhorting them to pursue research on priority pathogens that have the potential to cause future pandemics. Developing counter measures upto Phase II clinical trial, working in partnership with the industry, creating efficient supply chains and demonstrate capabilities and speed should be the key for India for any pandemic mitigation strategy.
Dr. Sanjeev Khosla, Director, CSIR-IMTECH while welcoming the guests and faculty to IMTECH’s 42nd foundation day apprised the audience with the institute’s achievements in the last one year. Speaking at the occasion he said “Innovating with Microbes and Impacting lives has been the guiding force for the scientists and researchers of IMTECH family over the last 4 decades. The 42nd Foundation Day stands as a testimony to IMTECH’s continued pursuit of excellence in microbial sciences for over four decades, with a vision of propelling India into the future with innovation at the forefront”. Dr. Khosla also apprised the audience for the ongoing projects in CSIR-IMTECH on bioremediation, natural farming, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), neurodegenerative disease & other collaboration with several industries.
Keeping in line with the institute’s strong industry connect program, CSIR-IMTECH through its Business Development Group also signed two Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA) with the Praj Industries Ltd, Pune and Henkel AG & Co. Germany. On the occasion, a book was also released in the memory of late Dr. Girish Sahni, former Director General, CSIR and Director, CSIR-IMTECH. The book titled “Biography of Dr Girish Sahni: A Life in Science and Service” has been written by Dr Rajinder Singh, Professor Emeritus, Chandigarh University and Dr Abhay H. Pandey, Professor and Head of Department of Biotechnology, NIPER Mohali. The book chronicles Dr Sahni’s achievements and also reflects on the impact of his work on the future generation highlighting his significant contributions in the field of science.
The institute also observed an ‘Open Day’ for the general public, during which students, researchers, graduates and science enthusiasts from in and around tricity visited the campus and interacted with scientists to get a firsthand account of the various facets of microbiology and biotechnology.
CSIR-IMTECH is a national centre for excellence in microbial sciences and was established in 1984. IMTECH’s vision and mission are to create translational ecosystem strengthened by fundamental discoveries and to address unmet healthcare and industrial needs with state-of-the-art processes and platforms respectively.
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