WORKSHOP REPORT Dr. K. Veluthambi, Dr. K. Dharmalingam Dr. J. Radhika,

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1 WORKSHOP REPORT Two day Science Academies Lecture workshop on Recent Trends in Biotechnology was jointly organised by Department of Biotechnology, Srimad Andavan Arts and Science College (Autonomous), (SAASC), Trichy and Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi and The National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad on February 19 th and 20 th, The department requested Dr. K. Veluthambi, Retired Professor, UGC-BSR Faculty Fellow, Department of Plant Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University to be the Convener of the workshop and Dr. P. Thirumalai Vasan, The Head, Department of Biotechnology to be the Coordinator of the workshop. The arrangements such as invitation with the necessary details, Brochures (150 numbers) were made and posted to the Arts and Science colleges in and around Trichy. Dr. K. Veluthambi guided and helped the organizing team members of the Biotechnology department at every step and suggested a good panel of resource persons. All the resource persons except one accepted to give two lectures. Depending upon the travel plan and availability of the speakers, the lecture schedule was prepared. Electronic mode of registration form was prepared and all the interested student participants from the host institution and other colleges were requested to register through online. The selected participants were informed through their mail by Dr. V. Muthu kumar, Assistant Professor, one of the members of the organizing committee of the workshop. On day 1 of the workshop (19/2/15), registration was started at 9.00 am in the reception of the host institution. The selected participants signed the attendance form and obtained a workshop kit. Inauguration was started at am with the prayer. Dr. P. Thirumalai Vasan, The Head, Department of Biotechnology welcomed the gathering and the members on the dice were Dr. K. Veluthambi, The Convener of the workshop, Dr. K. Dharmalingam, DBT Distinguished Biotechnology Research Professor, Director Research, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai and Dr. J. Radhika, The Principal, Srimad Andavan Arts and Science College, Trichy. The Principal of the College gave the presidential address and also highlighted the importance of the workshop and about the invited speakers. About 100 students from other colleges and the host institution actively participated in the workshop. About 45% of students from other colleges participated and benefitted through the lecture workshop. The participants

2 were from 1) Kurinji College of Arts and Science, Trichy, 2) Nehru Memorial College, Puthanampatti, 3) Srinavasan College of Arts and Science, Perambalur, 4) Thanthai Hans Roever College, Perambalur 5) G.T.N. Arts College, Dindugal and 6) Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College, Trichy. Dr. K. Veluthambi addressed about the objective and significance of the workshop and also about the three academies and their services and fellowships towards the benefit of students. He also motivated the students to pursue research in science am Session 1 Immediately after the inaguration, first lecture was started at am by Dr. K. Dharmalingam who had given the lecture on Genome to Proteome Origin and expansion of diversity. This lecture gave information about how a relatively smaller number of genes are responsible for high degree of complexity in the living organisms and how the same number of genes causes diversity in phenotypes and proteins. Students gained the knowledge about the function of non-coding RNA, chromatin segregation and RNA processing in a very simple form. Various scientific themes such as transcriptome, translatome, proteome were taught. The students wondered while explaining about Proteoforms, a new terminology in proteomics and its mechanism of formation through alternative splicing. Lot of questions were raised by the students and Professor Dharmalingam answered the questions in detail pm Tea break The first session was followed by refreshment of 15 minutes at pm pm Session 2 The next lecture was given by Dr. K.Veluthambi on the topic Selectable marker elimination in transgenic rice. He explained about the importance of marker free transgenic plants such as feasibility of successive transformation using the same selectable marker and the biosafety of genes. His talk was very informative and gave clear idea to get the transgenic plants without the selectable marker through various strategies such as Co-transformation, site specific recombination and using transposable elements. He showed some of the techniques that include Southern blot, junction fragment analysis applied to screen the T1 plants with the gene of interest, the chitinase gene. Application of Southern hybridization, northern blot and western blot

3 analyses for finding out the marker free T2 plants were also discussed in detail. During question session, lots of questions were raised by faculty and student participants and satisfactory explanations were given by Dr. K. Veluthambi pm Lunch break Lunch break was given for about 45 minutes from 1.30 pm to 2.15 pm pm Session 3 First talk of the afternoon session was given by Dr. P. Rajaguru, Professor and Head, Department of Biotechnology, Anna University of Technology, Trichy. He covered the session with the topic Applications of RNA interference (RNAi). The session started from the fundamental about RNA, its types and the discovery of RNAi. The discussion focused on the mechanism of Antisense RNA technology used for either suppressing or completely blocking the gene expression. Various mechanisms such as transcriptional gene silencing using RNAi, involvement of micro RNA in gene regulation were also elaborately described. Exploitation of RNA interference pathway in experimental biology to study the gene functions and application of short interfering RNA in medicine were also mentioned. He also elaborated the mechanism of Pi RNA, circular RNA, Sno RNA, Sh RNA and their applications. The students felt very clear in RNAi pathway from his simple explanations and also found the session very useful pm Tea break 3.45 pm Session 4 Dr. K. Dharmalingam gave his second lecture on Next generation proteomics after the break at 3.45 pm. This session covered from the basics of proteomics to the highly advanced techniques such as mass spectrometry, MALDI, LC-MS, GC-MS, Two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE), 2D- DIGE etc. The difference between the single dimensional gel electrophoresis and the importance of 2D-PAGE and its application in the field of proteomics were delivered very clearly. Various steps to find out the identification, quantification and characterization of all proteins in the sample, identification of post translational modifications and localization of all the proteins through these techniques and also the way to interpret the results were explained. The lecture given by this wonderful scientist is simple, very clear and informative and all the student participants including under-graduate

4 students got a very clear understanding of proteomics. The questions raised by the students and faculty were explained in detail by Professor Dharmalingam pm Session 5 The second lecture of Dr. K. Veluthambi was on Functional Genomics in Rice by Gene Targeting. The introduction about the forward and reverse genetics were given and for the most part described about gene targeting and its application in plants. Knock out analysis and knock in targeting were briefly discussed and gave an idea on innovative concepts such as TILLING and Cisgenesis which were new to the students and faculty. He clearly and repeatedly taught about the positive and negative selectable marker-based gene targeting with suitable examples, viz. hph (hygromycin phosphotransferase) and DT A (Diphtheria Toxin A Chain). Different methodologies applied to evaluate the Diphtheria toxin A gene as a negative selectable marker in rice were described. A study on gene targeting of one flower-specific rice gene called OsMADS1 and the experiments done to target the gene was simply and very nicely explained to the students. His vivid explanations and teaching made the participants to understand the concepts clearly and also enable them to answer some of the questions raised by the Professor. The session came to an end after the interactions between the speaker and audience. 20 th, February, 2015: Second day of the lecture workshop 9.30 am : Session 6 Professor P.N. Rangarajan, Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore started the session on the second day of the workshop. A detailed introduction about the basics of human immune system and vaccines was given. Types of vaccines and those developed for animal and zoonotic diseases were also discussed in this session. Apart from the subject, students got knowledge on the current data about the prevalence and eradication of the disease such as Polio, small pox and Rinder pest through vaccination. The importance of modern vaccines like Acellular and subunit vaccines which contain selected proteins or carbohydrates of the pathogens and the exploitation of recombinant DNA technology for the mass production of such kind of vaccines were very clearly described. The professor also gave some ideas regarding the future vaccines (DNA & edible vaccines) and cancer immunotherapy.

5 Overall, the professor motivated the students in the subject of the lecture by his passionate delivery and by beautiful presentations am: Interactive session for participants & Refreshment This session was jointly coordinated by Dr. K. Veluthambi and Dr. P.N. Rangarajan. Many interesting and fundamental questions were raised by the students and faculty one after another and both professors answered the questions. A few written questions were read by Dr. K. Veluthambi and that were also cleared by the speakers. The audience and the speakers really enjoyed this session with simultaneous refreshment. Dr. K. Veluthambi and Dr. P.N. Rangarajan elaborated on many opportunities for pursuing a research career am: Session 7 The interactive session was immediately followed by the second talk of Dr. P. N. Rangarajan. The Professor started the talk with the wonderful notion on how the methylotrophic yeast utilized methanol as carbon and energy source and the mechanism involved in the expression of alcohol oxidase enzyme. The gene Mxr1p and methanol- inducible transcription factor (ROP) were found to be very efficient and their involvemnet as the key regulator in the methanol utilization pathway were neatly described through explaining the various research experiments. The hepatitis B vaccine products that were launced by the Professor with the collaboration of Indian Immunological Limited were shown. The audience felt very comfortable to ask questions in this session and queries were cleared am: Session 8 Dr. M. Raveendran, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biotechnology, TNAU, Coimbatore talked in this session on Introduction to QTL Mapping and Marker Assisted Selection. Initially, he briefly discussed the basic information about genetics and methods of crop improvement and then, elaborately explained the plant breeding methods using QTL mapping and genetic engineering. The talk also dealt with the mapping populations, identification of Polymorphism using linkage map, principle of QTL analysis, methods to detect QTLs and overview of marker genotyping. Although the students in the beginning felt difficult

6 to understand these concepts, the Professor through his explanations made the students, especially post-graduate students, to clearly understand the details of his lecture pm Lunch break 2.15 pm Session 9 After a good lunch, the participants gathered in the lecture hall at 2.15 pm for the final lecture given by Dr. M. Raveendran on the topic Molecular Breeding for Improving Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Nutritional Quality in Rice. Professor gave the talk about the molecular marker development for identifying the genes responsible for abiotic stress tolerance. Various markers developed in their laboratory and used for the stress tolerance were explained. The techniques used for developing drought tolerance in rice cultivars through marker assisted introgression of drought tolerant QTLs from Apo rice variety were clearly shown. It was also mentioned that a QTL Saltol has been used for introducing salt tolerance in rice variety. Both the basic experimental works and up to the exposure of development of transgenic lines to the stress was clearly presented in the lecture. In addition to the molecular techniques, some of the proteomics techniques such as protein characterization by 2D gel analysis and docking study performed by the TNAU research team were shown pm Tea break 3.45 pm Feed back session In this session, the students of host institutions and other colleges from different area of life sciences came up with their feedback about the workshop. They shared to everyone about what they have learnt from the lectures and also thanked all the resource persons and the convener Dr. K. Veluthambi for their wonderful speech about the scientific concepts. The participants felt motivated to do higher education and pursue research. The students were very thankful also for the information provided by resource persons regarding the projects and funds given by the central institutions such as IISc, IIT, IASc, UGC, DBT etc., for pursuing research in their interesting fields of science pm Valedictory function

7 Valedictory function was started at 4.00 pm after the feedback session. Dr. K. Veluthambi, The Convener of the workshop, Dr. M. Pitchaimani, Vice Principal, SAASC, Dr. G. Jothi, Dean of Life Sciences, SAASC and Dr. P. Thirumalai Vasan were on the dice. Dr. S. Gopinathan, Director Project, SAASC welcomed the gathering. The Vice Principal of the college gave the valedictory address and also said about the importance of Biotechnology in the current and future days. Dr. K. Veluthambi shared his experience about this two day lecture workshop and appreciated the students for their cooperation throughout the workshop. He also enlisted the opportunities available for the science students and encouraged the students to perform their higher course and research in an excellent manner. The valedictory function came to an end with the vote of thanks given by Dr. B. Chitra, Assistant Professor, SAASC, who thanked each and everyone for successfully completing the workshop.

8 Science Academies Lecture Workshop on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology (ETIB) February 19 th 20 th,2015 Jointly organized by PG and Research Department of Biotechnology Srimad Andavan Arts and Science College (Autonomous) No.7, Nelson Road,T.V.KOvil, Trichy & Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi The National Academy of Sciences India, Allahabad VENUE : AV Hall Main Building, SAASC, Trichy Agenda : Day ,Thursday Inauguration : am Prayer Song & Lighting of Kuthuvillakku Welcome Address Inaugural Address : Dr. P. Thirumalai Vasan, Coordinator ETIB : Dr. J. Radhika, Principal,SAASC About the workshop : Prof. K. Veluthambi, Convener ETIB Technical Session Session 1 Tea break Session 2 Lunch break Session Tea break Session 4 Session am: Dr. K. Dharmalingam pm pm: Dr. K. Veluthambi 1.30 pm 2.15 pm : Dr. P. Rajaguru 3.30 pm 3.45 pm :Dr. K. Dharmalingam 5.00 pm :Dr. K. Veluthambi

9 Science Academies Lecture Workshop on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology (ETIB) February 19 th 20 th,2015 VENUE : AV Hall Main Building, SAASC, Trichy Agenda : Day ,Friday Technical Session Session am : Dr. P.N. Rangarajan Tea break am (Interactive session for participants) Session am : Dr. P.N. Rangarajan Session pm : Dr. M. Raveendran Lunch break 1.30 pm Session pm : Dr. M. Raveendran Tea break 3.30 pm Feedback and response of the participants : 3.45 pm Valedictory Function : 4.00 pm Welcome Address ValedictoryAddress : Dr. S. Gopinathan, Director Projects, SAASC : Dr. M. Pitchaimani, Vice Principal, SAASC Dr. G. Jothi, Dean Life Sciences, SAASC Vote of Thanks Workshop Convener: Dr. K. Veluthambi, FASc : Dr. B. Chitra, Asst. Professor, SAASC Workshop Coordinator: Dr. P. Thirumalai Vasan,M.Sc.,Ph.d Department of Plant Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Department of Biotechnology, SAASC, Madurai Trichy

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