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
