International Conference on Recent Advances in Biotechnology & Nanobiotechnology

(Int-BIONANO– 2016)

Day1 (February 10, 2016):-

A three days International conference on Recent Advances in Biotechnology &

Nanobiotechnology (Int-BIONANO-2016) was conducted from February 10-12, 2016 by

Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Gwalior. The aim of the conference was

to focus on new trends in research in these upcoming fields and encourage scholars and

students to explore Biotechnology and Nanobiotechnology as a field of study.

The inaugural session of the conference started with the lighting of the lamp and was

presided over by the Hon'ble Vice Chancellor Amity University Gwalior Lt. Gen V K

Sharma AVSM (Retd.). Prof. (Dr.) Jurg Ott, Professor Emeritus, Rockefeller University, New

York (USA) was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Padma Shri Prof. (Dr.) P. Pushpangadan,

Director General, AIHBPD, Thiruvanantpuram, Kerala was also present as the Guest of

Honour. Prof. (Dr.) M P Kaushik, Pro VC AUMP and Dr. Atsuko Imai, Department of

Genome Informatics and Cardiovascular Medicine,Osaka University, Japan were also

present. Gen. Sharma in his inaugural address spoke of the great relevance of Biotechnology

and Nanobiotechnology in everyday life. He stressed upon the the need for active research in

these two very vital fields. Padma Shri Prof. (Dr.) P. Pushpangadan spoke on the crucial role

that nanobiotechnology is playing in the growth of science and bringing change in the human

society.

The focus of the keynote address of Dr. Jurg Ott, was on Statistical Approaches to Gene

Mapping. His topic focused on the development of statistical gene mapping beginning with

Morgans’s fly lab at Columbia University. He explained the process by giving examples of

likelihood calculations. He emphasized that the development of genetic markers is intimately

connected with developments of statistical methods. His presentation concluded with some

practical applications and technical comment son DNA sequence variants.

During inaugural session, the abstract book (having ISBN No.) for the conference was

released by the dignitaries.

The first day of the conference saw six technical sessions and one poster session.The first

technical session on Green Biotechnology was chaired by Padma Shree Awardee Dr. P.

Pushpangadan addressed the audience and delivered a talk on the topic Biodiversity, Bio-

prospecting and Nano-biotechnology for sustainable development. He discussed about

nanotechnology and its heralds the emergence ofa new dimension in biotechnology and

herbal technology, agro technology and its application in health and medicine. The eminent

speakers in this session were Prof. (Dr.) S. K. Billore from Vikram University, Ujjain and

Prof. (Dr.) S. M.Paul Khurana from Amity University Gurgaon.

Prof.(Dr.) S. K. Billore from Vikram University, Ujjain given his talk on Green Roof and

Reed bed technologies to cool home and waste water treatments: Micro-particles filtering

benefits. In his presentation he described about the green roof technology and reed bed to get

the specify objectives of cool home as well as biodiversity conservation in urban areas.

During the next talk of the session, Prof. Khurana has given an invited talk on the post-

transcriptional gene silencing or RNAi technology for combating plant viruses by Post-

Transcriptional Gene Silencing technique. He also described the degradation of pathogenic

viral RNA in which the RNA molecule of pathogen are recognized by cellular post-

transcriptional silencing machinery and transgenic resistance against viruses based on this

mechanism.

There were two parallel technical sessions on Microbial & Industrial Technology and one

was chaired by Prof. (Dr.) GBKS Prasad from Jiwaji University, Gwalior and another by

Prof. (Dr.) Vinod Singh from Barkatullah University, Bhopal. Chairpersons stressed upon the

need for developing this technology to exploit microbes for improving the quality of life.

Microbial technology is so far a virgin territory and requires extensive and exhaustive study.

This session included oral presentations of Dr. Arpita Shrivastava, Ms. Ritika Chauhan, Dr. D

S Rathore, Sapna Singh, AditiRathee, Charles David, Monideepa Das, Dr. Sarika Chaturvedi

and Dr. Sanjeev Kumar.

The post lunch session was on Microbial & Industrial Technology and was chaired by Prof.

(Dr.) S. M. Paul Khuranafrom Amity University Gurgaon. The eminent speakers of this

session were Dr. DT Selvam, Scientist DRDE Gwalior, Prof. (Dr.) Vinod Singh, Barkatullah

University, Bhopal and Dr Kusum Singh. from Bundelkhand University, Jhansi. Inhis talk on

Role of outer membrane protein in diagnosis of Brucellosis, Dr. Selvam talked about

brucellosis which is an important zoonotic disease and is a major public health problem. The

serodiagnosis mainly estimating the antibody concentrations against whole cell antigens and

specific recombinant proteins remain the mainstay of disease diagnosis.

In the next invited talk, Dr. Vinod Singh, Barkatullah University, Bhopal talked on

Probiotics: Potential Pharmaceutical Applications. He focused on the health enhancing role of

Probiotics and mentioned that the probiotics should be reviewed regarding the reliability,

utility and safety of these products.

Another invited talk was on IPR by Dr. Kusum Singh from Bundelkhand University, Jhansi

delivered her talk on the topic–IPR: Today’s challenge and global impact’. She illustrated

that how persons have generated money through IPR, how to go for national and US patent

and how to tackle different challenges in patenting. She also enlightened that IPR enables the

person to reap due rewards from the time/efforts/money they invest in creating them. This

session also included oral presentations of Dr. Surendra Khatodia and M K Tripathi.

In the oral presentation session on Green Biotechnology, the chairperson Padma Shree

Awardee Dr. P. Pushpangadan emphasized on the role of Green Biotechnology in human

welfare and sustainable development of society. The session included oral presentation by Dr.

Ranjana Singh, Madhulika Bhagat, Mufida Fayaz and It-Gontia Mishra.

The first day of the conference concluded with the Poster Presentation session which

included 40 posters out of which 28 research papers on diverse fields of Biotechnology and

Nanobiotechnology were presented. Dr. Atsuko Imai and Dr. D.T. Selvam were the

honourable judges of this event.

Day-2 (February 11, 2016):-

On the second day also there was a conglomeration of scholars, scientists and intellectuals

from across the globe. The second day of the conference saw six technical sessions and one

poster session. The day began with a session onBimolecular Engineering and Biosensor. Dr.

V K Rao, a Scientist of great repute and presently working for DRDE, Gwalior, chaired the

session. Dr. Rao delivered a talk on the topic-Principles of Biosensors. During his lecture he

described different types of biosensors, various types of transducers in the development of

biosensors and methods for their development. He also emphasized on the application of

biosensors in biotechnology, drug analysis, food industry,pollution monitoring, agriculture

and military.

A parallel session on Pharmaceutical and Medical Biotechnology was chaired by Prof. (Dr.)

GBKS Prasad,Jiwaji University Gwalior. He focused on Nanocurcumin in treatment of type

II diabetes mellitus. He explained that the extensive research from preclinical and clinical

studies have delineated the molecular basis for the pharmaceutical uses of curcumin against a

number of chronic diseases including cancer. He hasal so discussed about the significant anti-

diabetic properties of encapsulated nanocurcumin in his talk. During this session, Dr. Samta

Sharma, Ankita Agarwal, Naureen Khan and Rohit Singh presented their research work.

In the next parallel session on Pharmaceutical and Medical Biotechnology, Dr. U D Gupta,

Director In-charge, National JALMA Institute of Leprosy & Other Mycobacterial Diseases,

Agra, gave his informative talk on Modeling of Cerebral Tuberculosis in BALB/c mice using

clinical strain from patients with CNS-TB infection. He described the work of his research

team in which they have developed a model which will help in understanding the

pathogenesis of TBM disease for development of effective vaccines against TBM infection in

near future. The session also saw oral presentations of Dr. Sadhna Shrivastava, Kusum Singh,

Shivkumar Patel and Tarang Gaur.

In the post lunch session of Pharmaceutical and Medical Biotechnology, Prof. (Dr.) S S

Lahiri, Professor Emeritus, Amity University Noida chaired the session and Dr. Atsuko Imai,

Department of Genome Informatics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Osaka University, Japan

co-chaired the session. In his talk, Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Lahiri delivered a talk on the topic

Simplification of Molecular Method and Possibility of a DNA for field applications. He also

described the method for DNA synthesis, labeling and sensitive detection of infective

microorganism directly from clinical samples through rapid hybridization technique. He

emphasized the fact that a stable and inexpensive, indigenous DNA diagnostic kit can be

developed.

Dr. Atsuko Imai gave an invited talk on Application of Genetic Biotechnology to Clinical

Practice from Clinicians’ Perspective. She assessed differences between arrays in two

individuals by Hamming Distance Ratio (HDR) and developed a novel statistical method;

family control analysis using HDR to prioritize SNVs (Single Nucleotide Variants) in small

AR (Autosomal Recessive) families.

The last invited talk in this session was delivered by Dr. S.P. Singh from BHU,Varanasi who

delivered talk on the topic Neuroprotection and alleviation of Parkinsonian phenotypes by

inhibiting apoptotic pathways in dopaminergic neurons by ayuvedic herbs. He focused on the

efficacy of Mucuna pruriens (Mp) and Withaniasomnifera (Ws), the two important Ayurvedic

herbs, in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and other neuronal deficits.

The eleventh session of the conference was presided over by Prof. (Dr.) Sushil Kumar, INSA

Honorary Scientist. The topic for this session was Omics Technology. Dr. Gitanjali Yadav,

Scientist NIPGR, New Delhi delivered her talk on The Evolution of Flowers: Role of LEAFY

in the Floral Transition Network using Computational Systems Biology. The session also saw

two oral presentations by Ms. Deepika Majumder and Priyanka Nimavat.

The parallel session of Omics Technology was chaired by Dr. S P Singh of BHU,Varanasi.

There were oral presentations given Seema Aswani, Lokesh Gour, Vidhi Modi and Neha

Vishnoi.

The poster presentation session was organized in the post tea session. About 44 research

papers on various fields of Biotechnology and Nanobiotechnology were received, out of

which 20 were presented in the form of posters. Prof. (Dr.) Jurg Ott and Dr. Atsuko Imai

were the honourable judges of this event. The day concluded with a cultural programme and

dinner.

Day3 (February 12, 2016):-

The third day of the conference started with the session on Nanobiotechnology,

Nanomedicine and Nanotoxicology. The chairperson of this session was Prof. (Dr.) Sushil

Kumar (INSA Honorary Scientist) andco-chaired by Prof. (Dr.) Kuldeep Singh from Amity

University Noida. Prof.Singh has also delivered an invited talk on Improvements in Zinc

Micronutrient Delivery for Cereal Crops. He emphasized on the importance of nanofertilizers

compared to bulky fertilizers to improve their solubility,diffusion in soil and hence better

availability to plants, cognizant of any potential risk to environment or to human health. The

session also included oral presentations by Dr. Siva Sai, Dr. V. S. Chauhan, Dr. Sunita

Bansod, Upsana Yadav, Alfiya Bohra, Mohd. Salim Reshi and Bibhu Prasad Panda.

The conference concluded with the Valedictory Session. The chief guest on the occasion was

Prof. (Dr.) Sushil Kumar and Honourable Vice Chancellor Amity University Madhya

Pradesh Lt. Gen V K Sharma presided over the function. He expressed his views about how

the conference had achieved its aim and the papers exhibited a high quality of research work

done by the authors. Prof. (Dr.) Sushil Kumar said that he was overwhelmed to see the

dedication of scientists and researchers who presented the papers and appreciated the original

work being done in these new and emerging fields of science.

Best oral and poster presentations were awarded to participants. In oral presentation, First

prize was awarded to Dr. Samta Sharma, Jiwaji University, Gwalior and Second prize was

awarded to Ms. Ritika Chauhan, DRDE, Gwalior. In Poster presentation, first prize was

awarded to Dr. Jyoti Priyadarshini Shrivastava, G.R. Medical College,Gwalior and second

prize was awarded to Ms. Rini Singh, University of Lucknow,Lucknow. Each award carried a

citation, a memento and cash prize.

Dignitaries releasing Abstract Book during the inaugural session.

Keynote Speaker, Prof. (Dr) Jurg Ott, delivering his talk during the inaugural session of

conference.

Prof. (Dr) Rajesh Singh Tomar (Director-Amity Institute of Biotechnology &

Dean(Academics) Organising Secretary, Int-BIONANO-2016, proposing vote of thanks.

Dr. V.K. Rao, Scientist, DRDE, Gwalior delivering his talk.

Guest of Honour, Prof. (Dr) Palpu Pushpangadan, Director General, AIHBPD,

Thiruvanantpuram, Kerala addressing the audience

Lt. Gen. V.K. Sharma, AVSM (Retd.) Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, AUMP felicitated Dr.

Atsuko Imai, Osaka University, Japan after her talk.

Prof.(Dr.) Sushil kumar, INSA Honorary Scientist, addressing the audience during

valedictory function of Int-BIONANO-2016.

Dr. Samta Sharma, Jiwaji University, Gwalior, First prize winner in Oral presentation, int-

BIONANO-2016.