|
7th Indo-US, JNU, Delhi
8th Indo-US, SGPGI, Lucknow
1st Turkish-US Workshop
|
Consolidated Report
Indo-US Workshops 1-6
Laser technology has been extensively used in biomedicine for detection and analysis of tumor cells and other molecules of diagnostic and therapeutic value. Laser flow cytometry uses lasers for rapidly analyzing cells at the rate of millions a minute for the purpose of characterizing their structure, proliferation and sensitivity to drugs. More recently this technology has been adapted for the study of infectious and parasitic agents.
In India several medical and research centers have purchased these expensive instruments and more than 300 units are in different parts of the country. The Indo-US Cytometry workshops were initiated by Drs. Awtar Krishan from USA in collaboration with Dr Ranbir Sobti (Panjab University, Chandigarh) and Dr. Arvinder Singh with the express purpose of interfacing Indian researchers with experts in flow cytometry from USA, Canada and Europe. With the collaboration of instrument manufacturers who import their latest instruments for the workshops, these workshops have trained a large number of Indian researchers in the latest methods of cytometric analysis.
The First workshop in 2001 was hosted by Dr. Ranbir Sobti, Chairman of the Biotechnology Department at the Punjab University. Thirty five students and 10 faculty members participated in this week long workshop.
The 2nd Indo-US workshop on the "Applications of Flow Cytometry in Molecular and Cellular Biology" was hosted by Dr. Gopal Pande at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. Twenty-seven participants from different institutes of higher learning and research in India were selected to participate in this workshop. Fifteen faculty members (seven each from India and United States and one from UK) took part in lectures, discussions and hands-on demonstrations of the latest applications of cytometry.
The 3rd Workshop was on "Applications of Flow cytometry in Drug Mechanistics" was hosted by Dr. Ajit Saxena at the Regional Research Laboratories, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Jammu, in September, 2003. Dr. Altaf A. Lal, Health Attaché, United States Embassy and HHS Regional Representative for South Asia inaugurated the workshop. The keynote address was presented by Dr. Kanury V.S.Rao, Head of the Immunology Group at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India.
The 4th Indo-US Cytometry Workshop was hosted by the Advanced Center for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer under the leadership of Dr. Shyam S. Agarwal, Director of ACTREC and Dr. Shubha Chiplunkar, Head of the Immunology Division. Twenty-seven researchers from different institutes of higher learning and research in India were selected to participate in the workshop. Twelve faculty members from overseas (USA, UK, EU) and ten faculty members from India gave lectures and supervised the wet labs. Six eminent clinical scientists participated in a special panel discussion on monitoring of leukemia and lymphomas. Twelve staff members from ACTREC provided technical assistance in running the labs. Besides the flow cytometer in the ACTREC flow cytometry lab, latest models of three flow cytometers and one cell sorter were specifically imported for the workshop by Beckman Coulter International SA/ Wipro Health Sciences, Becton Dickinson India Pvt, Ltd, NPE Systems, USA and Guava Technology Inc. (USA).
The 5th workshop hosted by Dr. Ranbir Sobti, Chairman of the Biotechnology Department at Panjab University was focused on "Applications of Cytometry in Malignant, Infectious and Parasitic diseases". Dr. Frank Mandy, Head of the HIV labs in Ottawa, Canada was the key note speaker. Thirty five students selected from different parts of India registered for the workshop and 20 faculty members and staff presented lectures, tutorials and wet workshops. Four latest models of flow cytometers were specifically imported from the USA for use at the workshop. Hon'able Kapil Sibal, Federal Minister of Science and Technology, India presided at the valedictory function on conclusion of the workshop.
The 6th Indo-US workshop on "Monitoring of Stem Cell Phenotype, Proliferation and Apoptosis" was held at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology Poojappura, Trivandrum, Kerala, India from Feb 5-12, 2006. Thirty five research students selected from different part of India were admitted to the workshop/course. Lectures were open to scientists from the host and the neighboring institutes. Up to 100 attendees were present in some of the lectures. Out of the 28 faculty members who participated in teaching, 15 were from out side India. Support for travel of the foreign faculty was provided by Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, UICC/ICRETT fellowship program, International Society for Analytical Cytology, NPE Systems, Beckman Coulter, Dako and US. National Cancer Institute. Besides lectures from the podium, several faculty members presented tutorials to small groups of students, reviewed and discussed their experiments and data and above all provided advice and guidance in the use of cytometric methods for their specific needs.
Every afternoon, participants were transported to the central labs at SCTIMT were five flow analyzers from Beckman Coulter, Guava Technologies, Becton Dickinson and NPE Systems were installed for the workshop. Demonstrations were presented on immunophenotyping, cell cycle, proliferation and apoptosis, drug transport and efflux, detection of CD34 and SP stem cells, flow cytometric analysis of electronic volume and signal transduction.
Conclusions: During the last 6 years we have exposed more than 600 Indian researchers to latest methods in analytical cytology and use of flow cytometry for study of cell and molecular biology, stem cells, infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria, cell proliferation, apoptosis and phenotype analysis. Our lectures have been free and open to students and faculty form the host and the neighboring institutions. The experts from USA, UK and Europe are outstanding in their fields of expertise. Several researchers who participated in these workshops have set up collaborations with experts in USA and UK. Collaborative grant applications have been submitted between the faculty and several Indian researchers have gone to the labs of the faculty for advanced study. Major on going collaborations between CCMB (Hyderabad), Biotechnology Department, Panjab University, University of California and the University of Miami have resulted from these workshops.
|
|
