Seminar on Molecular Techniques in Genetic Engineering

On 14th July, the department organized a Seminar on ‘Molecular Techniques in Genetic Engineering’. Dr. Elsam Joseph, Head of the Department welcomed the gathering. In the Keynote Address on DNA Bar coding Dr. DivyaP.R.Scientist, NBFGR (ICAR) CMFRI, Kochi, gave an inspiring talk on Fish Barcode of Life Initiative (FISH-BOL), a standardised DNA barcode library for all fish species for taxonomic identifications, the benefits of barcoding , role of FISH-BOL complements enhancing the existing information resources, including the Catalog of Fishes, Fish Base and various genomics databases. In the second session the Invited Talk on the Marine microbial diversity and trends in bioprospecting of marine genetic resources was delivered by Dr. Toms C. Joseph Scientist , CIFT, Kochi. The talk included Marine microorganisms as fascinating resources due to their production of novel natural products with antimicrobial activities, Increase in both the number of new chemical entities found and the substantiation of indigenous marine actinobacteria , on the taxonomic-based construction of a highly diversified and low redundant marine microbial natural product. Dr. Sunny Luke, Program Director, International Education and Research, IISAC, USA delivered a lecture on ‘Current Status of Fluorescence in Situ. Hybridization (FISH) in Diagnostic Medicine’. The session covered important aspects of extensive studies of the genetic aberrations related to human diseases conducted over the last two decades, identifying recurrent genomic abnormalities as potential driving factors underlying a variety of cancers. Nearly 150 students of undergraduate and post graduate classes, research scholars and faculty members participated in the seminar and it was a grand success.