IIC Diamond Jubilee Discussions on Science
 
Science of the Pandemic
Opening Remarks: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director IIC
 
Lead speakers: Prof. P. Balaram, biochemist and former Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru will speak on Unravelling the Science of the Pandemic; and Dr. Krishna Ella, Founder and Chairman, Bharat Biotech on From the Virus to the Vaccine
 
Followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Renu Swarup, former Secretary to the Government of India, Dept. of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology
 
Panelists: Dr. Pramod Garg, Executive Director, Translational Health Science & Technology Institute, Faridabad who will speak on Understanding our Immune System; Dr. Sanjay Singh, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. on New Technology Platforms; Dr. Sudhanshu Vrati, immunologist, microbiologist and Director, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad who will speak on The evolving mutations; and Dr. Madhu Dikshit, cardiovascular biologist, pharmacologist and former Director, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow who will speak on Natural product based treatment
 
With the onset of the Pandemic in early 2020, the world focused its attention on scientists and researchers for finding science based solutions to fight this war. A tiny RNA virus brought the world to a grinding halt and impacted the health, economy and livelihood of mankind. India’s Science and Technology based response has been phenomenal and has given the country an elated level of confidence to face future challenges. SARS-CoV-2 is not the last virus we are fighting a war against, with the evolving virus and its numerous mutations there will be a continued focus on science based solutions to address the challenges of human health. The discussion will focus on some of these key issues and also the learnings which the pandemic has given us for handling other health priorities and any future pandemics