The inaugural program began with the welcome address and brief presentation of the workshop by Dr. Rolee Sharma, Organizing Secretary of the workshop. Prof. Javed Musarrat, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Integral University was the Chief Guest of the workshop. This was followed by a keynote address by Prof. (Dr.) Absar Ahmad, Director, Interdisciplinary Nanotechnology Center, Aligarh Muslim University, and the Guest of Honor of the Workshop. During the workshop , he enlightened the participants with key point applications of nanoformulations in research and medical fields, followed by anticancer drug extraction from endophytic fungi, and their immobilization on nanosystems for drug delivery applications that are expected to have a significant impact on the emerging field of nanomedicine. He also highlighted various applications of nanoparticles in cancer, infectious diseases and Medical Image Analysis.
During the first session of the workshop, Dr Amit Misra, Sr. Principal Scientist & Head, pharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics division, CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, gave a lecture on 'Pulmonary drug delivery, including scope in COVID-19'.
An interactive technical practical session & Hands-on training on the synthesis of nanoparticles was conducted by Er. Zeeshan Rafi, Faculty, Department of Biosciences, Integral University. Another interactive technical session was conducted in parallel by Mr. Firoz Ahmad in the IIRC-3 Research Laboratory of Integral University on synthesis of yeast-derived beta-glucan microparticles along with their applications as a drug delivery system.
Day 2 of the workshop started with the invited talk of Dr. Pavan Muttil, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. During his talk he delivered a lecture on ‘Pulmonary delivery of therapeutics for lung cancer- is precise targeting of tumours in the lung possible?’ His lecture was focused on the last and current decades on the delivery of various oncolytics for pulmonary delivery for the treatment of lung cancer.
The session included the lecture of Prof. Shanthy Sundaram, Coordinator, Centre of Biotechnology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad. She enlightened the participants with an interactive lecture based on ‘Silica-based immuno-biosensors using diatoms for fungal pathogen detection'.
Dr. Awadh B. Yadav, Assistant Professor, Centre of Biotechnology, Nehru Science Center, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, delivered a lecture on ‘Targeted delivery of siRNA loaded micro and nanocarriers for the treatment of lung inflammation and lung cancer’. During the lecture, he highlighted the benefits of using siRNA and nanoparticles in lung cancer treatment and also discussed why and how nanoparticles and siRNA can be combined to achieve efficient treatment of lung cancer for prospective clinical applications.
The last lecture of the Day 2 session of the workshop was delivered by Prof. Shubhini Saraf, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, delivered a talk on 'Lipid-based nanoparticles: the versatile dosage forms'. During the lecture, she stated that lipid nanoformulations can be tailored to meet a wide range of product requirements dictated by disease condition, route of administration and considerations of cost, product stability, toxicity and efficacy.
The technical practical session of Day 2 of workshop was conducted by Er. Zeeshan Rafi, Department of Biosciences. During the session, he briefed the bioconjugation process step by step to participants along with mechanistic insights of the process, its advantages and drawbacks. The session also included 'hands-on training' on bioconjugation of synthesized nanoparticles with FDA approved drug(s). The highly specialized equipments including High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Nanodrop, Lyophilizer, RT-PCR, Fluorescence Spectroscopy in the Research Labs of the IIRC, Integral University, Lucknow were also demonstrated.
During the valedictory session of the workshop, Prof Aqil Ahmad, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Integral University distributed certificates to the faculty participants. The program ended with a Vote of thanks given by Dr. Rolee Sharma, HOD, Department of Biosciences. DST-SERB was also acknowledged for providing the financial support, which laid the foundation and paved the path for the successful organization of the workshop.
