The School of Life Sciences (SLS), University of Hyderabad (UoH) organized BioQuest 2017, an annual event to showcase ongoing teaching and research programs of the SLS, on 12th and 13th October 2017. The inauguration ceremony for the two days event, which is based on the theme ‘Integrative Approach for Understanding Life Processes’ was held in SLS Auditorium, UoH.

Prof. Pallu Redanna, Dean, School of Life Sciences in his address welcomed the dignitaries and participants to the event. He highlighted the works done by faculty and students of the school in biotechnology field. Prof. Redanna stressed upon the need of interaction between medical schools across the country so that they can work together in the field. He even spoke about the event and its theme at length.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile in his address shared his own interest in studying plant sciences and life processes and his experiences of attending various colloquiums. He spoke of the university’s will in promoting innovative ideas while referring to the biotechnology incubation center set up in the university to promote innovation and its students’ interest to incubate. In the end, he advised the participants to take full advantage of this scientific event and then make use of it for their further growth in the subject and to shape their career in biology.

Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha, Former Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad and Founder of Ashoka University, in his keynote address spoke at stretch on startups and entrepreneurship, his experiences being a student and translational research. He ended his speech by reading the essay ‘The grand challenges of Indian science’ written by Dr. R.A. Mashelkar.

Shri Madan Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Pharmexcil and Director of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. and Dr. Suresh Narayanan, COO, Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) were the Guests of Honor for the event and shared their thoughts on biotechnology and pharma industry in their address to the gathering.

It was a proud moment for all as the SLS brochure was also released during the inauguration ceremony.

BioQuest provides a unique opportunity for the faculty, young scientists and students from different science disciplines to collaborate and work in a systems biology approach towards understanding the life processes in health and diseases. The event is designed to promote interaction and collaboration among the scientists working in different disciplines in academia and industry to address the problems in biology and will witness activities like poster presentations by the faculty, scholars and students, panel discussion on ‘Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ and cultural program.

– Monika Tiwari and Swati Pant
– MA Communication