CHANDIGARH: The one-week web faculty training school under the initiative of UGC Networking Resource Centre (UGC-NRC), on “New Era Technologies in Formulation Design Space” is being hosted via CiscoWebEx at the University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS.
As many as 68 selected pharma faculty and researchers from various Colleges/Universities of 21 different states of India and 1 from abroad are participating in the course. The training school intends to apprise and update the young participants among faculty and researchers on multiple forums of novel drug delivery design, development, and real time translation to plug the bench to bedside/ lab to clinic gap.
Full Professor, University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), SPAIN, Professor Maria José Alonso inaugurated the function and delivered the key note address on “Delivery of Proteins and RNA Molecules using Nanotechnology.” She gave an overview about the work being done in her laboratory on oral ocular nasal and dermal delivery of biomolecules.
Prof. Alonso is a highly accomplished and recognised among the top 10 researchers in the World in Pharmacology (Times Higher Education international ranking, 2010) and appeared on ‘The Power List’ of most influential researchers in field of Biopharmaceuticals (The Medicine Maker, 2020-21). She has h-index of 98 and was Vice-Rector of Research and Innovation of the USC and Visiting Scientist at MIT, Cambridge, US; Univ of Angers, France; Univ of Paris XI, France and is known for her innovative industrial and entrepreneurial expertise.
Earlier, the Chairperson, UIPS and Program Coordinator, UGC-NRC and the Coordinator of the Course, Professor Indu Pal Kaur welcomed the participants and the Chief Guest, and briefed them about the achievements of UIPS and UGC-NRC programs. She also summarized about the course content to the participants. Dr Vandita Kakkar is the Joint Course Coordinator who conducted the proceedings of the event.
The day started with an ice breaking session followed by a workshop on the most sought after topic and as per the UGC-NRC concern on “How to write research proposal, research paper and related ethical issues?” By Professor Kanwaljit Chopra, Professor & Head, Pharmacology & Former Chairperson, UIPS, & Professor Anil Kumar, Professor of Pharmacology, UIPS.
The post-tea session covered an informative recorded talk by Professor Tejal A Desai, Chair & Deborah Cowan Endowed Professor, Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); and Professor in Residence, Department of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley (UCB), USA on “Using Micro and Nanostructured Materials to Modulate the Tissue Microenvironment”.
UIPS is the first and the only Pharmacy Institute in the country selected by MHRD for creating UGC Networking Resource Centre to promote and foster research and academics in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences by training young pharma trainers, selected across the nation.