New Delhi: Organized by the Becton Dickinson (BD) Biosciences India, the recently concluded “BD Horizon Global Tour” comprised of day long sessions on flow cytometry training and education in three major cities across India.
The roadshows in Delhi, Pune and Chennai hosted Dr Robert Balderas, Vice President, Market Development, BD Life Sciences – Biosciences, USA along with Aaron Tyznik-Staff Scientist BD Life Sciences – Biosciences, USA and Darren Ellemor – Platform Leader – BD Life Sciences, AP. The experts from BD provided a lot of insights into the latest flow cytometry technologies to the scientists at various reputed institutes. The events were well attended by researchers and students from leading institutions such as Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and National Center for Cell Science (NCCS) among others.
Highly valued roadshow at Delhi
The Delhi Chapter of the BD Horizon Tour 3.0 was greatly appreciated by customers that included eminent scientists, KOLs, research scholars and scientists from different research institutes across North India.
Each of the four segments covered in the program: Design, Analyze, Sort and Discover gave a lot of insights and new information on the subject of multicolour flow cytometry and sorting, which was greatly valued by the audience.
Enthusiastic audience at Pune Roadshow
Second of the three multi-locational- Horizon Tour events in India was held at National Centre for cell sciences (NCCS), Pune on 20th April, 2016.
Researchers and scholars from not only Pune, but also from Mumbai joined the one of the most awaited event of the year. The gathering crossed 220, which was the largest ever in any of the HORIZON tours conducted till date globally.
The event started with a welcome note by Dr Shekhar Mande, (Director, and NCCS) who applauded this initiative of BD and expressed the importance of such programs for research In India.
Dr Lalita Limaye spoke about the long relationship BD and NCCS have had and how BD has always been a part of their institute though the range of flow cytometers at NCCS.
She also articulated how BD-NCCS COE had immensely benefited the institute and its researchers since last 5 years.
On Behalf of BD, Murli Sundrani, Director-BDB gave an introduction and an overview of BD and our journey till date.
The “HORIZON Tour” talks were led by Dr Robert Balderas, Vice President Market Development, BDB and his team comprising of Aaron Tyznik, Staff Scientist at BD and Darren Ellemor, Platform Leader, APAC. Bob (Robert Balderas) started off with his presentation and explained how to design the best possible panels to answer researcher’s experimental questions. Aaron presented how to analyze multiple data sets for maximizing resolution of cell population of interest followed by Darren, who discussed about sorting of highly pure cell population through optimized panel design. Finally Bob went into the details of the future of flow cytometry and the ability to detect up-to 30 and 50 parameters using the new upcoming BD Platforms.
The excitement and enthusiasm of the participants was evident from the level of engagement and the high quality questions they had for the experts.
The Program generated a lot of interest in BD’s new platforms particularly BD FACSCelesta and the new Brilliant horizon reagents and greatly helped in expanding the Brand BD.
The event was followed by a round table meeting with faculties of NCCS lead by Dr Mande, Director NCCS, and Dr Sinkar who expressed a greater need of Industry- Institute collaboration towards bridging the Innovation Gap between Academia and Industry. On the similar lines, BD- NCCS CoE partnership (Center of Excellence) was discussed and how it could be taken to the next level, be it better instruments platforms or advanced level of training.
Overwhelming response to Chennai Roadshow
The third and the final leg of the BD Horizon India Tour was conducted at the Department of Biotechnology at the Indian Institute of technology-Madras .The show was greatly appreciated by over 180 customers who attended the event. The customers included eminent scientists, research scholars and students from different research institutes across southern India. The hall was packed to its capacity with a few customers making themselves comfortable on the floor like any other student would just to gain knowledge from the wonderful program.
On behalf of BD India, Dr Ranga Partha gave an introduction and an overview of BD and BDB in particular, followed by the technical sessions. The program generated a lot of interest among the student and young researcher’s community leading to an overwhelming response.
Apart from these events, a Round Table Meeting on April 21, 2016 was held at Life cell International, Chennai with the support of Dr Chiryau Phadiyar, Lab Director – Life cell International.
In this half a day round table meeting there were discussions around the themes such as advances in flow cytometry, recent developments in dye and instrument technology. The 2.5 hours session was attended by close to 25 participants from NIRT, IIT, Life cell International and NCBS, Bangalore. Dr Krishnamurthy from the NCBS, Bangalore moderated the sessions at the event.
