The Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Association of Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science (PCACS), New Panvel, organized a State Level Seminar on “Nanobiotechnology and Nutraceuticals in Health and Disease Management” on 19th January, 2016 (Tuesday).
Three hundred participants comprising students & faculty members from different colleges including PCACS participated in the seminar.
The distinguished guests formally inaugurated the event at 10.30 a.m. by lighting the lamp. Dr. Daphne Pillai, Principal, PCACS welcomed the gathering. Opening remarks were given by Prof. Gopakumar Pillai, Convener of the Seminar. Chief Guest, Dr. Jayesh Bellare, Professor – Chemical Engineering, School of Biosciences & Bioengineering, IIT, Powai delivered the keynote address “Amazing Nanotechnology and its applications in health care and more…” In his converse, he explained the importance of Nanotechnology and its applications in health care. His lecture was very interesting, informative and motivating. The technical session on Nanobiotechnology started at 11.45 a.m. by Dr. Absar Ahmad, Senior Principal Scientist, NCL, Pune. He delivered the lecture on “Green synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials and their various applications”. He described the synthesis of various nanomaterials which has applications in healthcare. The second speaker of the session Dr. P. A. Hassan, Scientific Officer H & Head, Thermal & Interfacial Chemistry Section, Chemistry Division, BARC, gave the lecture on “Interfacial engineering of nanomaterials for drug delivery”. In his talk, he discussed microstructure and drug delivery aspects of various materials created via self-assembly in designing stimuli sensitive drug delivery systems. The technical session on Nutraceuticals began at 2.15 p.m. following lunch. The session commenced with the lecture of Dr. Rekha Singhal, Professor – Department of Food Engineering & Technology, Dean – Research, Consultancy and Resource Mobilization, ICT, Mumbai. She gave a lecture on “Nutraceuticals for joint health”. The lecture covered the basic reasons and types of disorders associated with joints, the conventional treatments and their limitations, and the nutraceuticals that have been investigated along with their relevant clinical studies reported across the world. The second speaker for session on Nutraceuticals was Dr. Mukesh Nandave, Associate Professor of Pharmacology Department form NMIMS, Mumbai. His lecture was on “Nutraceuticals in Health and Disease with Special Emphasis on their Roles in Cardiovascular Diseases”. He discussed the differences and similarities in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, their market place as well as roles in treatment and management of CVD.
The Valedictory session was held at 4 pm where, Dr. P. S. Goyal, Dean – R & D, PIIT gave the concluding remarks emphasizing on the potential of Nanobiotechnology and Nutraceuticals in developing an effective healthcare. The seminar ended with distribution of certificates by Dr. Rekha Singhal, Dr. Daphne Pillai & Dr. P. S. Goyal 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.
