JAMMU: Two skilling programmes of three days each, on "Industrial Microbiology" and "Cloning and Protein Expression" concluded here at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu which saw participation from all over India.

Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM, was the chief guest at the event who in the valedictory address congratulated the participants on the successful completion of the training programs and appreciated the participants for their dedication and diligent engagement throughout the training.

He emphasized on the importance of these workshops in providing job-oriented practical training, as well as raising scientific temperament among participants. He said that these workshops also provide a flavour of research to young college students and may encourage them to take up research as a career. Such workshops and skilling courses are pivotal to achieve the goals of Viksit Bharat, he added.

In the press handout, it was informed that fifty participants drawn from all over India, including states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Bihar, Goa, Ladakh and UT of Jammu and Kashmir, underwent these training sessions.

During the hands on training on Cloning and Protein Expression, the participants have been imparted with practical working knowledge in cloning and protein expression with precisely designed hands-on training practical sessions equipping participants with fundamental skills and knowledge in basic microbiological techniques as well as theoretical sessions from the eminent scientist of the division.

Dr. Sumit G. Gandhi, Sr. Principal Scientist, and Head, Infectious Diseases Division delivered a lead lecture on Introduction about the institute and Polymerase Chain Reaction, its variants and applications while Dr. Kuljit Singh, Scientist talked about "Basic principles of gene cloning and protein expression".

In the practical session, the genomic DNA as well as plasmid isolation was performed along with a PCR run. The final product of DNA, plasmid, and PCR was visualized in agarose gel electrophoresis.

On the second day, Dr. Avisek Mahapa, Sr. Scientist gave an insightful lecture on "Types of cloning vectors and protein expression systems". The students got insights about various engineered vectors (pET28a, pET 28b, etc) and different insertions, making cells competent for cloning. In the subsequent practical sessions, students performed double digestion and ligation for the amplified gene and plasmid, positive colony selection, transformation, and protein expression using IPTG induction on the same day.

On the third day, Dr. Rashmi Sharma, Scientist, talked about "Biosafety Levels and Basic Principles of Drug Discovery Process" and highlighted the major importance of BSL labs and SOPs to follow while handling the pathogens while In practical session, the bacterial cells samples were lysed, protein sample was prepared and electrophoresed on SDS-PAGE to check the protein over-expression.

In the second training programme conducted on "Industrial Microbiology", Dr. Sundeep Jaglan, on the first day of training delivered a lecture and conducted practical training on Isolation, characterization and preservation of microorganisms, while Dr. Meenu Katoch talked about Recombinant technology and its industrial applications.

On the second day, Dr. Asha Chaubey and Dr. Vinod Kumar imparted training on Fermentation media in Industrial Processes. Dr. Kanhaiya Kumar discussed the Types of Reactors used in Fermentation Technology. On the last day of the workshop, Dr. Vikash Babu talked about Industrial enzymes.

On the last day of the workshop, Dr. Saurabh Saran also delivered a lecture on "Star-up Ecosystem and Success Stories from CSIR-IIIM Technology" to all the trainees and the participants got the opportunity to visit all the labs in the Institute, including the Central Instrumentation, QC-QA and Technology Business Incubator.

The Proceeding of the valedictory session was conducted by Ms. Arushe Tickoo and Dr. Nasir ul Rasheed presented the formal vote of thanks.

Pertinently, the Training programs were conducted under the patronage of Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director CSIR-IIIM and under the overall supervision of Er Abdul Rahim, Chief Scientist and Head, RMBD & IST Division.