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REPORT: ANIMAL CELL CULTURE AND RELATED MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES WORKSHOP
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REPORT: ANIMAL CELL CULTURE AND RELATED MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES WORKSHOP (4 August - 8 August 2014) Review and Objectives of Workshop In the present research scenario, cell culture has become one of the major used tools. Tissue Culture is the removal of cells, tissues or organs from an animal or a plant and their subsequent placement into an artificial environment conducive to growth. Once in culture, cells exhibit a wide range of behaviors, characteristics and shapes. Cells either grow attached to substrate (Monolayer adherent culture) or floating free in the culture medium (Suspension culture). Cell culture has rapidly become an important asset of Molecular Biology. This is used as model systems for studies in basic cell biology and biochemistry, the interactions between disease-causing agents and cells, the effects of drugs on cells, the processes and triggers for aging, nutritional studies, toxicity, virology and cancer research. Production of antiviral vaccines requires the standardization of cell lines for the multiplication and other viral assays. Also, cell lines in culture are required for the generation of monoclonal antibodies. Many commercial proteins have been produced by animal cell culture and their medical applications being evaluated. Tissue Plasminogen activator (t-PA) was the first drug that was produced by the mammalian cell culture by using recombinant-DNA technology. Cancer cells appear to be immortal in nature. Hela, a mammalian cell line, obtained in 1950s from cervical cancer cells must have been passaged over 1,000 times and still shows no sign of slow growth. It is one of the cell lines that has contributed extensively to Research and Science. In this workshop, the participants were familiarised with the hands-on practices of many basics as well as advanced techniques of animal cell culture handling including maintenance, preservation and use w.r.t applications in Molecular Biology research. Participants would be given opportunity to handle cell lines and perform experiments like transfections, DNA/RNA isolation to get a taste of how cell lines have become an integrated part of various kinds of research. Also, technical details in the forms of lectures and notes will be provided to the participants. The workshop proved helpful for the participants to learn various techniques associated with animal cell culture and molecular biology, including Flow cytometry, DNA & protein isolation, electrophoresis, PCR, ELISA, etc. Lectures comprising eminent academicians will further prove useful to the participants in their research works and career. |
2. Selection of Participants:
Brochures were mailed to the various Universities, Colleges and the Academic institutions all over India. To invite the applications, information was also displayed on the website (www.iisuniv.ac.in). The participants were selected on First Come First Serve basis.
The participants represented:
- Banaras Hindu University BHU (Varanasi)
- University of Rajasthan (Jaipur)
- The IIS University (Jaipur)
3. Course Content and the Faculty
The inaugural session commenced with lamp lighting and welcome address by Dr. Sreemoyee Chatterjee, Workshop Co-Convener, Eminent Scientists and academicians from various institutions of repute from all over India.
Some of the eminent scientists and academicians were:
- Dr. Akhil C. Banerjea, Scientist VII, Virology Ext. Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
- Dr. Pankaj Goyal, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer
- Dr. Surendra Nimesh, UGC Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer
- Dr. Lalita Gupta, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
- Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
- Dr. C.C Mandal, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer
- Dr. M. Krishna Mohan, Head R&D, Bioinformatics Center, Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Jaipur.
4. Short profiles of the Resource persons
Department of Biotechnology, The IIS-University, Jaipur, a deemed to be university, organized a 5 day National Workshop on Animal Cell Culture and related Molecular Biology Techniques from August 04, 2014 to August 08, 2014. This was the first workshop of its kind in Rajasthan and nearby regions.
The event was to be conducted by Dr. Akhil C. Banerjea and Prof. Yogendra Singh. (Prof. Singh later communicated his absence owing to ill health).
Dr. Akhil C. Banerjea is a Senior Scientist (VII) at National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, India and many other esteemed scientific bodies. He has published more than 90 papers in international peer reviewed journals in the field of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C viruses; and contributed several invited chapters/ reviews to National and International Publishers in the field of HIV/AIDS and Gene Therapy. He has two patents under his name and one of these in on the way for commercial production. He has won several national and international awards.
Dr Banerjea's keynote session included some of the implications of animal cell culture requirement in the research field and related virology aspects.
Dr. Pankaj Goyal is an Associate Professor in the department of Biotechnology at Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer. He has published several research and review articles in peer reviewed international journals He has won several awards including: Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellowships Universitätmedizin, University of Greifswald, Germany (2010-2013), Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, LMU Munich, Germany (2006-2010), Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Graduate Program 438 “Vascular Biology in Medicine”, German research Foundation,LMU, Munich Germany (2005-2006), Predoctoral Research Fellowships in Graduate Program 438 “Vascular Biology in Medicine”, German research Foundation, LMU, Munich Germany (2001-2002).
Dr. Surendra Nimesh is UGC- Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer. He has published more than 30 research articles, review articles, book chapters in peer reviewed international journals. He has three books, published by international publishers to his credit. He has won several awards in the field of research including Best poster award at Gordon Conference, USA, NSERC visiting Fellowship at Health Canada, Ottawa, Canada (2012-13), Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, Montreal, Canada(2007-2009); Clinical research Institute of Montreal, Montreal, Canada(2009-2011). Recent projects awarded to him include Young Scientist Project, DST, Government of India; DBT-Cancer Biology Award, India and UGC start-up grant, India.
Dr. Chandi C. Mandal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer. He is accredited with various postdoctoral fellowships - University of Texas, Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA; CPRIT Postdoctoral fellowship USA (2006-2012). Recent projects awarded to him include DBT-Cancer Biology Award, India.
Dr. Sanjeev Kumar is an Associate Professor at Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. He received ‘Institut National de la Santè et de la Recherche Médicale’ (INSERM) fellowship and worked as foreign scientist in the laboratory of Prof. Pierrer Ferrier at Centre d'Immunologie Marseille-Luminy (CIML), France. Later on he worked as Post doctoral fellow at Colorado State University, USA and research fellow on full time equivalent position at National Institute of Health, USA. He has published more than 20 research articles, review articles, book chapters in peer reviewed international journals.
Dr. Lalita Gupta is an Associate Professor at Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. She has received "Outstanding achievement award in International Congress of Entomology" 2012 and also DST travel award -2012, along with several other awards and fellowships in her research career. She had worked as Post doctoral fellow at Colorado State University, USA and National Institute of Health, USA. She has published more than 20 research articles, review articles, book chapters in peer reviewed international journals.
Dr Krishna Mohan is a Senior Scientist at Birla Institute of Research and Technology, Jaipur. He had joined Tata Energy Research Institute after completion of his doctoral research, and has been associated with the Microbial Biotechnology group in various capacities for over a decade. He has been a member of an International group that worked on innovative bioprocesses for energy generation from solid wastes. He was also involved in designing an UASB reactor for treating the liquid wastes of a food-processing unit. He was an active member of the much-acclaimed TERI project on GREEN INDIA 2047.
5. Grants received:
We have received grant of Rs 15,000 from CSIR and Rs 25,000 from The IIS University.
