Advisory Committee

Special Invitees Dr S Natesh (Senior Advisor, DBT)

Dr Alan Warren, (Research Scientist, Natural History Museum, London)

DBT Representatives

Dr Suman Govil (Advisor, DBT)

Mr Sanjay Goel (Director, Finance, DBT)

External Experts Prof Virander Chauhan (Director, ICGEB & Group Leader Mammalian Biology: Malaria)

Prof Alok Ray (Head, Centre for Biomedical Engineering, IIT & AIIMS, & Director, Stanford India Biodesign)

Chairman Dr Jaswinder Singh (Principal, SGTB Khalsa College)

Member-Secretary (Coordinator)

Dr Komal Kamra (Associate Professor, SGTB Khalsa College)

Core Committee

Dr GS Sodhi, Mr Satish Verma, Mr PD Sharma, Dr P Arun, Dr Surinder Kaur (Faculty, SGTB Khalsa College)

DBT Science Centre

DBT Science Centre

A State of the art auditorium, a conference centre, a seminar hall, reading room, a greenhouse…

Mr Jasbir Singh, Research Scholar, SGTB Khalsa College, explaining the theme of the scheme and the logo

Introductory Remarks

The “DBT Science Centre” at the SGTB Khalsa College aims to function as a central facility which will serve as a hub for catering to the aims and objectives of the Star College Scheme of the Department of Biotechnology:

Strengthening of Life Science and Biotechnology education and training at the undergraduate level

The Logo

DBT Science Centre

Activities Envisaged under the Scheme

Activity Target group In charge

Lecture workshops 700 + 70 every time Any one or two faculty member

Week end activity 5-8 students per batch Any two faculty members

Week end activity 2 20 students per batch Any two-three faculty members

Summer activity (1-2 months) 5-8 students + LA per batch

Any two faculty members per group

Year long activity 10-15 students per batch Any two faculty members per group

Training for faculty 5-10 in one batch Any two faculty members per group

Training for lab staff 5-10 in one batch Any two faculty members per group

Visits to industry/ research establishments

Batch size to be decided Any two-three faculty members

•Every activity will be treated like a project and a proper proposal has to be made by the concerned investigator for a centralized consideration; the proposal should include PE and consumables required, time-lines, deliverables etc. •Interdisciplinary activities are to be encouraged. •Visits to and collaborations with research establishments and industries are to be promoted •Training for laboratory staff and faculty will be encouraged

DBT Science Centre

Senior Adviser (Scientist-H) Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, since 1984

PhD in Botany, University of Delhi

Nine years teaching experience in the SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi

Assignments held at DBT: Head, several divisions including Bioresources, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Environmental Biotechnology, Food Biotechnology and Biotechnology for Societal Development

First Member Secretary of the National Bioresource Development Board

Present profile: Head, International Collaboration Division

Significant Contributions: launch of new and novel programmes in the areas of bioresources, human resource development, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has also provided a new direction, leadership and impetus to international collaboration in DBT.

Editor-in Chief: Biotech News; from a humble beginning of 3,000 copies, the newsletter currently enjoys a print run of 20,000 copies, a testimony to its rising popularity.

Co-editor of 3 books, several research papers in national/international journals.

Member, advisory boards of several institutions

DBT Science Centre

DBT Science Centre

He emphasized on the hands on training in the science education and said that this Centre would be able to meet that challenge.

Advisor, DBT, HRD Division M Sc Botany (Hons) 1978, University of Delhi, held the first Position, awarded 'Panchanan

Maheshwari Memorial Prize' M Phil in Botany with grade 'OUTSTANDING' with distinction Ph D from University of Delhi on 'Commercial Plant Tissue Culture - A global scenario’ Presently working in Department of Biotechnology since 1986 and engaged in promotion

of biotechnology in the country including starting of post graduate and post doctoral teaching programmes, Research and Development programmes in the area of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Application of Biotechnology for Biodiversity Conservation and Environment.

Several research papers in leading national and international journals of repute, chapters in books on Biotechnology in integrated disease management, plant tissue culture industry in India , Biotechnology in India, infrastructural facilities in Biotechnology, Application of Biotechnology for clean environment – Indian success stories, Human Resource Development Programmes of Department of Biotechnology etc.

Major contributions: starting PG teaching programmes in biotechnology star college scheme curriculum revision training of biotechnology students in industries short term training course for upgrading skills of UG and PG teachers

DBT Science Centre

DBT Science Centre

She explained the DBT Star College scheme in detail

Director, Finance, DBT

DBT Science Centre

He reiterated the need of improving the science education through such projects.

Director, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology) New Delhi Component & Group Leader Mammalian Biology: Malaria MSc (Chemistry), 1971, University of Delhi, Delhi PhD (Chemistry), 1974, University of Delhi, Delhi PhD, 1977, Oxford University, UK Career History: Since 1998, Director of the New Delhi Component of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and

Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India 1988-1998, Senior Scientist and Group Leader of the Malaria Research Group of the ICGEB 1986-1988, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi 1982-1986, Reader, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi 1979-1981, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur 1977-1978, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Atlanta, USA 1971-1979, Lecturer, St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi

Research interests: Malaria vaccine and drug development research; his Group has developed procedures to prepare recombinant vaccine

target antigens and with industrial partners, vaccine formulation has been developed for clinical trial, in India. His work on understanding the mechanism of actions of antimalarial drugs like chloroquine and artemisinin has led to the development of high throughput screens for malaria drug discovery

Design, synthesis and utility of conformationally defined peptides; this work has proven useful in the design of antibiotic peptide, anti amyloid and more recently, in self assembling systems

Research papers: Over 200 research papers in journal with very impact factors

DBT Science Centre

DBT Science Centre

He focused on the need of hands-on training of various scientific procedures and instruments rather than theoretical knowledge.

Research Scientist, Protozoa Research Group, Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, London (since 1979)

Responsibilities: curation of the Protozoa collection, including registration of specimens and processing of loans. The collection can be searched on-line at :http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/researchcuration/research/projects/protists/

Member of the editorial boards of FEMS Microbiology Letters, Systematics Association (Editor-in-Chief), Protozoological Monographs, and European Journal of Protistology

Several honorary appointments: British Society for Protist Biology - Member of Committee; Secretary; Vice President (since 2009)

International Society of Protistologists - Nomination Committee (2009 - 2010) Systematics Association - Editor-in-Chief (1998 - 2010) European Journal of Protistology - member of editorial board (since ca 2007) Systematics & Biodiversity (member of editorial board (since ca 2006) Protozoological Monographs - editorial panel (since ca 2000) FEMS Microbiology Letters - editorial board (ca 1992 - 1997)

Research interests: systematics of ciliated protozoa (ciliates), biodiversity of marine ciliates, and the use of ciliates as bioindicators of environmental quality

Main research projects: • Free-living marine ciliates of Jiaozhou Bay, China: systematics, biodiversity and use as indicators of

marine water quality. Collaborating institute: Ocean University of China. Darwin Initiative Project 14-015

• The diversity and systematics of marine ciliates in Chinese mangroves. Collaborating institutes: Ocean University of China and South China Normal University. Royal Society Joint Project 2008/R3

• An atlas of ciliated protozoa commonly found in aerobic sewage-treatment processes: an aid to monitor treatment-plant performance. Collaborating institute: University of Barcelona

Publications: Two books, ca 10 chapters in books, ca 175 research papers

DBT Science Centre

DBT Science Centre

“What happens after you flush the toilet? Protozoa and waste water treatment processes ”

Dr Komal Kamra coordinated the event with active participation of the core committee and staff

Dr Jaswinder Singh, Chairman, gave the concluding remarks and ensured that this centre would achieve its goals with guidance from

our esteemed advisory committee members.