State: Maharashtra
Location: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Event: Biology and Bioengineering Summer Camp 2021
Even in the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, START had an opportunity to collaborate with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay as a media partner in the Biology and Bioengineering Summer Camp organised by the The Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, IIT-Bombay. Conceptualised by Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava, Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering and Group Leader of the Proteomics Facility at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, the Summer Camp attracted 2700 registrations.
The activities began with pre-workshop engagements followed by specifically themed quizzes. The large number of participating students have had an opportunity to listen and interact with luminaries in the subject areas.
The Biology and Bioengineering Summer Camp started on May 17, 2021 and concluded on May 19, 2021 through online mode. The objective of this summer camp was to introduce the contemporary themes in Biology and Bioengineering to the students through hands-on experiments and Online science projects as well as through quiz competitions. The combination
of pedagogic treatment made learning science a fun activity during the camp.
This three day summer camp witnessed the participation of more than 2000 students from 25 states across India. Designed for higher school and undergraduate students, this camp provided insight into the niche themes of Biology and Bioengineering such as Omics Technologies, Machine Learning, Big Data, and Precision Medicine. Special orientation session
was also given to the participants.
On May 17, 2021, the online summer camp began with the inaugural session by Prof Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director, IIT Bombay. Following this, Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava of the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, conducted a session on Biology & Bioengineering for the 21st Century. Prof. Anil Kumar, Indian Institute of
Technology, Bombay conducted the guest lecture on Recent Concepts in Chemistry Research. Prof. Graham Ball of Nottingham Trent University conducted a Plenary talk on the topic “AI And ML for 21st Century Biology & Bioengineering”.
Along with these notable talks, series sessions like Talk by Young Scientists, and Meet a Clinicians were conducted by young scientists and clinicians on all the three days.
Tutorial session on Molecular Biology & Bioinformatics was conducted by Dr. Arup Acharjee, Ms. Akanksha Salkar, Mr. Nirjhar Banerjee, and Ms.Renuka Bankar. Student’s science projects done by the participants in the past were also showcased as a part of competition.
The second day of this three-day summer camp witnessed the Plenary talk by Dr. George Church from Harvard university. He spoke about “Accomplishments of Genomics Technologies”. He spoke eloquently on gene sequencing and nano pore. Later, he focused on gene and cell therapy and their alternatives which are not FDA approved.
Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava through his talk on “Personalised Medicine: A Path to Wellness” took the participants on a journey of molecular biology and spoke about the fundamentals of genetics as well as techniques like cloning, conventional gene sequencing methods etc. Participants found his explanation of how gene sequencing and expression analysis helps in therapeutic interventions like classification of tumour subgroups, especially interesting.
Dr. Amit Vaish, Amgen, USA and Dr. Amit Dutt, ACTREC, Tata Memorial Center delivered the guest lecture on the topics, “The Scopes of Engineering in Biotechnology” and “An Overview of Cancer Genomics and Precision Medicine”, respectively. Dr. Amit Vaish, shed light on how the field of engineering has the potential to contribute to biological research and how interdisciplinary science workflow can help solve problems in biological sciences. Dr Amit Dutt, started his lecture with the crucial and fundamental facts of cancer biology like activation of oncogene and mutation. He emphasized the concept of Chromosomal translocation, its limitation in clinical diagnosis and specified the need for precision medicine.
Day 3 (May 19, 2021): Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava, one of the foremost leaders in proteomic research in India, started the last day of summer camp with a brief introduction on OMICS technologies and their importance in biomedical research. He explained the advantages of proteomic technologies over genomics in understanding health and disease. He displayed how the advancement of proteomic technologies progressed over the decades.
Prof. Rahul Purwar , an associate professor at IIT Bombay and founder of Immuno ACT enlightened the participants’ knowledge in cancer immunotherapy through his guest lecture on the topic “Immunotherapy: an evolution in cancer therapy”.
On the final day there was a session arranged for the participants to speak and interact. In this session titled “Scientific facts behind COVID-19 second wave: what participants think?” participants were asked to share their opinion about the scientific facts behind the COVID-19 second wave.
The camp witnessed scientists, scholars, and researchers from India and across the globe who interacted with students and discussed the complex subject of bioengineering in a lucid manner.
As the media partner, START (Search for Truth And Return To Science) screened the documentary, ‘Ghar le Chal’ (Take Me Home) on the endangered Golden Langur. Directed and produced by Mr Matiur Rahman, Founder of START, the film highlighted the story of the discovery of a unique species of a non-human primate – the Golden Langur.
Along with START, the web new portal ‘League of India’ was also the media partner of this event. Yashraj Biotechnology Ltd. sponsored the event. Royal Society of Chemistry, NPTEL and Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO) were the outreach partners.
START also sponsored with a fund of Rs.10,000 to run this camp online through the premium zoom platform. START appreciates the efforts of Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in organising this event and his support in this collaboration.
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