Prof. Padmanabhan Balaram, Padmshree & Padma Bhushan awardee, former Director of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was invited to deliver a public lecture on the occasion of the 14th Foundation Day of Institute of Science, Nirma University on 6th September 2018.
His talk on “Chemical Communication in Biology: the emergence of chemical ecology” was a stimulating account of examples of various chemical entities in biological molecules playing role in communication in the entire ecosystem. His lecture focused on bridging the gap between chemistry and biological sciences and how as, young scientists, the students can contribute.
The programme was coordinated by Dr. Sonal Bakshi. On this occasion, Dr. Anup Singh, Director General of Nirma University and Prof. Sarat Dalai, Director of Institute of Science addressed the audience. Students and faculty members of other institutes of Nirma University, and scientists from ISRO, IIAR, ZYDUS research center, other academic institutes, and managing trustee of Nisarg Community Science Center, Gandhinagar, attended the event.
The Ph.D. students presented poster of their research work and interacted with the chief guest Prof. Balaram. The M.Sc. students of the institute had prepared scientific models for the Community Science Center of GUJCOST and for the science education in the rural areas through VolunTeacher activities. A demonstration of FOLDSCOPE was also held which is a 50 Cents origami based microscope developed by Manu Prakash Lab, Stanford University, USA.
The Director Prof. Sarat Dalai and faculty coordinator Dr. Sonal Bakshi with students visited the Nisarg Science Centre to gift the models of cell biology and virus replication. Trustee Shri Anil Patel and team thanked ISNU and plan to involve M.Sc. students in rural education activities was discussed.
Institute of Science is thankful to Prof. P. Balaram for being part of this celebration.