An International Level Webinar on “Insights on Covid-19: Immunopathology and Diagnosis” was organized by the Department of Biotechnology on Thursday 28th May, 2020 on Zoom online platform in association with BIAP. The Webinar began with the inauguration speech by Mrs. Suparna Deepak, program co-ordinator. She said that the Corona pandemic has unveiled the true importance of the Biotechnologists and now is the time for all Biotechnologists to rise and shine, live up to the expectations of common people, and help in making the world a better place to live again together.
The webinar was an attempt to give a snapshot of what has been achieved in such a short time and to discuss the two strategies to combat Covid 19 pandemic including developing diagnostic test and tools and defining the immunopathological changes in patients with COVID-19 which could provide potential targets for drug discovery and is important for clinical management
The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Gajanan Wader, Principal of Pillai college of Arts, Commerce & Science. He welcomed the two speakers for the webinar and gave an introduction about the college and the department.
The first speaker was Dr. Usha Padmanabhan, Senior scientist and HOD Biochemistry, Haffkine Institute of Training, Research and Testing, Parel. She spoke about the symptoms and transmission of Covid 19. She gave an overview of different types of diagnostic tests carried out for COVID 19 and their exact procedures. She shared her first-hand experiences with us regarding the difficulties faced by the healthcare workers.
Dr. Ankit Saxena, Scientist, NHLBI, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, US was the second speaker for the webinar. He gave the overview how our immune system responds towards the coronavirus. He spoke about the importance of herd immunity and ways to achieve it.
Mrs. Deepika Sharma, Vice-Principal, Pillai college of Arts, Commerce & Science to proposed the vote of thanks. She was immensely satisfied by both the lectures as it gave a scientific view of the disease and the strategies imposed by the Government to combat it. She concluded the webinar by thanking the speakers, management, audience and the organizers.
The webinar received excellent feedback from the attendees from various colleges from various states in India and also from abroad. There were 204 participants including students and academicians. At the end, E-certificates were provided to all the participants
Biotechnology Association of Pillai College of Arts, Science and Commerce conducted a singing competition on Friday, 27th September, 2019 in the Auditorium. About 12 participants took part in the competition where 9 were solo participants and 3 were in group. The Judge for the event was Mrs. Pushbam Shivkumar who is trained in carnatic music and also performs in stages shows.
The event began at 10:30 with a welcome address followed by an introduction of the competition by Mrs. Meenakshi Johri, In-charge of Biotechnology Association. Participants were given 5 mins and were allowed to sing in any language. Participants sang various songs of different genre ranging from classical to rock and made the whole atmosphere melodious. The audeinece were enthralled by each of the performance.
After all performance, even the teachers showed their hidden talents and amazed the kids. There were two solo prizes which was won by Sharanya Nair, MSc-1 student and Chrismon Shaji, FY.Bsc student. The group prize was won by Faiza and Group from S. Y. B.Sc.
The event ended with vote of thanks given by Mrs. Suparna Deepak, coordinator of BSc. People enjoyed and left for the day with amazing memories.
A National Level Seminar on “Biotechnology in Diagnostics” was organized by the Department of Biotechnology on Saturday 21st September, 2019. The seminar began with the inauguration ceremony followed by the keynote address by Dr. Rajesh Karla, an esteemed scientist from THSTI, Faridabad on Antibody Generation Technologies. His talk touched upon the crucial role of monoclonal antibody in diagnosing and combating of emerging viral diseases. This was followed by a session on CRISPR in Molecular Diagnostics, by Dr. Chitra Seethraman Misra, scientist from BARC, Mumbai. The talk enlightened the audience on the latest developments and applications of CRISPR, thought to be a revolutionary diagnostic tool of the recent years. The seminar was continued by Dr. Pathakota Gireesh Babu, scientist from ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai, who presented a talk on the current developments in molecular diseases using diagnostic tools.
This session was followed by a sumptuous lunch break along with 18 posters being presented by the participants. The participants had an exposure to informative posters and gained an experience in presenting scientific data. The poster evaluation round was followed by a session on various diagnostic techniques in management of diseases by Dr. Parineeta Samant from MGM Medical College, Navi Mumbai. The seminar was concluded with a valedictory function where in the award for the best poster and three consolation prizes were awarded. The enlightening seminar was well received by faculty and students alike.
Organizing Committee:
Dr. C. K. Prashant
(Convener)
Dr. Remya Varadarajan
(Member)
Dr. Navami Dayal
(Member)
Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Marathi Vangamaya Mandal had organized “MY MARATHI Competition” on 14th September, 2019. The purpose of this competition was to increase their knowledge of Marathi language and inculcate the habit of using Marathi language in their day to day conversation. There were three rounds in the competition namely English to Marathi, Question Answer round, Tongue Twister. Total 16 students participated in the same event. Certificates were awarded to the winners & runners-up participants. The event was successfully conducted. Students found it very interesting and helpful.
“Greater the start, mind-blowing is the end!”, as we all know this, the first event of biotechnology department made this come true! The first and the very most stupendous event “FREESTYLE DANCE” held by the Biotechnology association of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science stood as the kick-start for the academic year 2019-20. The event was organized on 13th July, 2019 from 9.00 a.m. onwards in the Auditorium of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science. The Teacher In-charge of Biotechnology Association, Ms. Meenakshi Johri conveyed the purpose of the Association to the fresher’s and requested them to participate in the forthcoming events with enthusiasm. She also introduced the student In-charges from all the classes who would be handling the events of the Biotechnology Association. The guest of honour and the judge for the event was Mr. Sanket Pawar a dance teacher and a choreographer. Having trained by Shamak Dawar’s Institute of Dance, he has choreographed for few films and has his own dance academy in Vichumbe, Panvel. Total 12 groups participated for the competition and showcased their talent Crowd was cheered with absolute energy and craze as the students graced the floor. Moments wrapped in those 120 minutes now became a lifetime token of memory for all the students, teachers and staff members. Being amazed by back to back enthralling performances, the judge guide lined about dancing and advised everyone about the things to be kept in mind during dance performance. Having distributed the prizes and capturing smiles in photographs, this memorable event came to an end.
| Position | Name of the students | Class |
|---|---|---|
| First | Prajakta Pawar, Nikita Tandel, Bhagyashree Hiremat, Vaishnavi Shinde, Dnyaneshwari Shunde | T.Y. B.Sc. |
| Shruti Shetty, Soumya Nair, Aditi K, Prachi Sarag, Lavanya Prachetti | S.Y. B.Sc. | |
| Second | Prakhanti Raju, Nidhi Sharma | S.Y. B.Sc. |
| Vaishnavi Murugan, Sneha Mohan, Devika Nair | S.Y. B.Sc. |
Biotechnology Association in association with Department of Biotechnology organized a poster making competition – “Vistas in Biotechnology” on 9th March 2019, Saturday. Students from F.Y., S.Y. and M.Sc. – I participated in the event. The event began by 10 am and the judge for the event was Mr. Abhilash Das, Field Application Specialist – Biopharma, Spinco Biotech Pvt. Ltd. He is an alumnus of the department of Biotechnology. Posters on diverse topics were put up and students were given 7 minutes to explain their topic and three minutes to answer questions put forth by the judge.
Mr. Abhilash Das, Field Application Specialist - Biopharma, Spinco Biotech Pvt. Ltd. sharing his insights
Student participant explaining her poster to Mr. Abhilash Das
Student participant during question answer session
Mr. Abhilash Das presenting certificate and cash prize to the winners of poster making competition - "Vistas in Biotechnology"
Prof. Meenakshi Johri presenting token of honour to Mr. Abhilash Das
Posters presented were on:
- Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome
- Plastic vs Bio-plastic
- Genetically Modified Organisms
- Crispr Technology
- Enzymes in Food Biotechnology
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus
- Biolumine Scence
- Waste Management
- Enzyme-substrate Interactions
- How’s the Health!
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Anti-cancerous Properties of Carrot & Beetroot
The posters were judged and the results were announced soon. The first prize was awarded to Tanushri Rakshaskar and Rakshita Shetty from M. Sc. Part 1 for their poster “Anti-cancerous properties of carrot & beetroot” and the second prize was awarded to the Akhila Nair and Aditi Raju from F.Y. B.Sc. for their poster “Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome”. Both the winners were given a cash prize and a certificate. Mr. Abhilash gave personal comments and suggestions to all the participants to improve their poster making skills. The event was a great success and students got an opportunity to learn many new things.
Department of Biotechnology had organized one day workshop on “FOLDSCOPE” technique on 4th January, 2019. Dr. Anupma H. W., Indo-US Foldscope awardee from Ministry of Science and Technology was invited to conduct this workshop.
A Foldscope is an optical microscope that can be assembled from simple components, including a sheet of paper and a lens. It was developed by Manu Prakash and designed to cost less than US$1 to build. It is part of the “frugal science” movement which aims to make cheap and easy tools available for scientific use in the developing world.
The event started of with a presentation in the Auditorium at 10 am on the effectiveness and the outreach of this simple, cheap and unique technique to explore the microworld. This was followed by hands on experience by all the students of F. Y., S. Y. and T. Y. B. Sc Biotechnology. Initially all the faculty members were trained individually by Dr. Anupma. They in turn along with Dr. Anupma guided the students regarding how to use the foldscope.
Different sample were studied using foldscope such as: Curd, Water, onions, potato, petals, leaves, stem, pollens, different flowers etc. the students enthusiastically explored all the samples and were very excited about the new technique that they had learnt in this session.
The Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Association of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science (PCACS), New Panvel, organized a National Level Seminar on “Recent trends in Biotechnology” on 8th September, 2018 (Saturday). One hundred and ninety six participants comprising students & faculty members from different colleges including PCACS participated in the seminar.
Dr. Aparna Chaudhari explaining about the current molecular approaches
Guests listening to the presentation
The distinguished guests formally inaugurated the event at 9.30 a.m. by lighting the lamp. Ms. Deepika Sharma, Vice Principal, PCACS welcomed the gathering. Opening remarks were given by Prof. Meenakshi Johri, Convener of the Seminar.
Dr. Ambak Kumar Rai, Assistant professor, Department of Biotechnology at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad delivered the Key note address on “Horizon of host-pathogen interactions: An off beat approach of Leishmania in modulating the host response and favoring its own survival. He spoke about the disease Visceral Leishmaniasis, which is tropical disease caused by sand flies. The life cycle of the parasite Leishmania donovani was explained by him. He also spoke about the symptoms seen in the patients. The approach towards getting the host immune system to function normally along with drugs was also told by him. After his talk the students interacted with him. His lecture was very interesting and informative.
The first technical session was started by Dr. Aparna Choudhari who is the Principal Scientist & Head in Fish Genetics and Biotechnology division at ICAR – Central Institute of Fisheries education, Versova, Mumbai. Her talk was on “Current molecular approaches for disease prevention and control”. She began her talk with the concept of vaccines and the different types of vaccines available. She also spoke about why vaccines are important for fishes just like humans. The approaches of different vaccines designed for fishes till now was explained by her. The methods used for vaccinating the fishes and the results obtained was also told by her. Apart from that she advised the students to take proper care while disposing different chemicals and solutions as they affect the marine life. The session was then open for interaction where students and teachers interacted with her.
The next speaker in the first technical session was Dr. Prasenjit Bhaumik, Associate Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay. His talk was about “Molecular insights into the catalytic mechanism and allosteric co-operativity of an enzyme”. He began his talk by explaining what is an enzyme and about enzyme-substrate reaction. He then spoke about a specific enzyme Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH). The structure of the enzyme was explained by him with a 3D structure diagram. He explained in detail the conformation of the enzyme when bound to the substrate, inhibitor, co-enzyme and reaction intermediates based on his study.
The second technical session began at 2.00 p.m. following lunch. The session commenced with the lecture of Mr. Prasanna Rao, Cheif operating officer, Sampurn(e)arth Environment solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai. He spoke about “Waste Management Solutions by Biotechnology”. He began his session by explaining the concept of waste and how is it generated. He told the audience about why nothing on the planet is waste including plastic. He showed an AV about how can we return what we take from the nature with the help of an example of biogas production. He also told everyone how they can contribute in helping reduce the waste generated by separating the waste as dry waste and wet waste. The dry waste goes for recycling whereas the wet waste can go for biogas production and the remaining waste from this production can be used as compost.
The Valedictory session was held at 3.30 p.m. where, Dr. C. K. Prashant, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, PCACS gave the concluding remarks. The seminar ended with distribution of certificates by Mr. Prasanna Rao, followed by Vote of thanks by the Convener, Prof. Meenakshi Johri.
The students and faculty members were very interactive throughout the lectures. The seminar received a good feedback form the audience. Overall the seminar was very encouraging and was well appreciated by the guests, students and faculty members.
The first and the very most stupendous event “Folk Dance” held by the Biotechnology Association of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science stood as the kick-start for the academic year 2018-19. The event was organized on 27th July, 2018 from 11:30 onwards in the Auditorium of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science. With the arrival of neoteric – fresher’s, Biotechnology department had a very rejuvenating day full of thrill and enthusiasm.
Students performing Rajasthani Folk Dance
Biotechnology students performing the vibrant Bhangra Dance
Maharashtra’s Koli Dance bags the 1st Prize in the Folk Dance Competition
Group photo of all the participants and the teachers
Inauguration of the event was done in the presence of all the respected teachers and coordinators of the Biotechnology Department by lightening the eternal diya. The Teacher In-charge of Biotechnology Association, Ms. Meenakshi Johri conveyed the purpose of the Association to the fresher’s and request them to participate in the forthcoming events with enthusiasm. She also introduced the student In-charges from all the classes who would be handling the events of the Biotechnology Association. The guest of honour and the judge for the event was Ms. Ramya S. Kumar, who has mastered folk dance. The other judge for the event was the alumni and the staff of the department Miss. Ashwathy Gangadharan, who is a classical dancer with 16 years of experience. Being hosted by T.Y.B.Sc. student Miss. Kanimalar and S.Y.B.Sc. student Pristo Paul, the show got its perfect catalyst to increase the crowd’s avidity. Variant types of folk dances such as Rajasthani, Koli, Bhangra, Lavani and Garba were performed by the students of S.Y.B.Sc., T.Y.B.Sc. and M.Sc.Biotechnology. Each region has its own uniqueness and style which was amazingly depicted by all the participants.
Within the short span of time, students gave their all to make this event look vibrant and alluring. Maharashtra’s Koli dance bagged first prize followed by the Punjab’s Bhangra, which won as the runner-up for the event. The show came to an end with the promising vibe of keeping the energy constant for the rest of the year and concluded with a group photo of all the participants and the teachers.
The Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Association of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science (PCACS), New Panvel, organized a State Level Seminar on “Advances in Medical Biotechnology” on 1st March, 2018 (Thursday). One hundred and ninety six participants comprising students & faculty members from different colleges including PCACS participated in the seminar.
The distinguished guests formally inaugurated the event at 9.30 a.m. by lighting the lamp. Dr. Gajanan Wader, I/c Principal, PCACS welcomed the gathering. Chief Guest, Dr. Siddhivinayak S. Barve, Chairman, Board of Studies in Biotechnology, University of Mumbai, welcomed the participants and delivered an informative and wonderful speech highlighting the vital role of Biotechnology in our lives. Opening remarks were given by Prof. Gopakumar Pillai, Convener of the Seminar. Dr. Krutika Desai, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Mithibai College delivered the Key note address on “New approaches in development of Antibacterials”. In her converse, she explained the importance of antibacterial molecules and its mechanisms, spread of antibacterial resistance and development of better antimicrobial drugs. Her lecture was very interesting and informative. The first technical session started at 11.00 a.m. by Dr. Parag Saudagar, Director, SK Biobiz Pvt. Ltd., Nashik. He delivered the lecture on “Bacillus spores as Probiotic”. He described the benefits of various probiotics and its development with emphasis on Bacillus probiotics. The second speaker of the session Dr. Divyashree S., Infection Specialist, MGM New Bombay Hospital, Vashi, gave the lecture on “Emerging and reemerging infections: Challenges and Control measures”. In her talk, she discussed the ways by which infections can reemerge and also explained routes of emergence of new infections with current status worldwide. The second technical session began at 2.00 p.m. following lunch. The session commenced with the lecture of Dr. Dhanjit Kumar Das, Scientist D., Genetic Research Centre, NIRRH. He gave a lecture on “Advances in Diagnostic Technology”. The lecture covered the causes of genetic disorders and techniques used in diagnosis of the same. The second speaker for the session was Dr. Aldon Fernandes, Vice President, R&D Biologicals – Equine, Bharat Serum & Vaccines Ltd. His lecture was on “Heterologous Polyclonal Antibody Therapy”. He discussed about Equine biologicals manufacturing and controls, nosocomial infections and role of equine biologicals.
The Valedictory session was held at 4 p.m. where, Dr. C. K. Prashant, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, PCACS gave the concluding remarks emphasizing on the potential of Medical Biotechnology in improving quality of human health. The seminar ended with distribution of certificates by Dr. Aldon Fernandes, followed by Vote of thanks by the Convener, Prof. Gopakumar Pillai.
The students and faculty members were very interactive throughout the lectures. The seminar received a good feedback form the audience. Overall the seminar was very encouraging and was well appreciated by the guests, students and faculty members.
