A MHRD Scheme on Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) course was  held on the topic “Applied Photosynthesis: Putting Nature to Work” from 16 – 20 September, 2019 at the School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) by Prof. Barry D. Bruce faculty of Cellular & Molecular Biology & Microbiology Departments, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. Prof. Rajagopal Subramanyam (Coordinator), Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, UoH and Prof. Naresh Babu Sepuri (Co-Coordinator), Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, UoH coordinated this course.

Prof. Barry D. Bruce taught a five-day intensive and interactive classes on the fundamentals, design, characterization/testing and future challenges in BioHybrid Solar energy capture and conversion. He introduced the fundamentals of how nature harnesses solar energy.  During this workshop various emerging issues including solar radiation, basic photochemistry, and photobiology was discussed intensively. Course was taught to the graduate students in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Chemical and Bioengineering.

The primary objectives of the course are:

  1. Exposing participants to the fundamentals of natural and artificial photosynthesis
  2. Expose them to the emerging developments in Applied Photosynthesis
  3. Introduce the challenges and practical problems of building biohybrid devices
  4. Expose them to the recent international leaders and innovators in this area and some of their most recent accomplishments.

35 students from various disciplines from across the country participated in this course.