IMTECH celebrates 82nd CSIR Foundation Day

New Delhi: The 82nd Foundation Day of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was celebrated at the CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) with prestigious Foundation Day Lecture delivered by Prof. Rudra Pratap, Vice Chancellor, Plaksha University, Mohali.

This year’s Foundation Day Lecture delivered by Prof. Pratap focused on the “Education and Research in the Age of AI” that call for preparedness for radical changes in education and research in the face of enormous possibilities due to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Prof. Pratap in his talk made some important reflections on how the first two decades of the 21st century have ushered in tectonic shifts in how the world operates through rapid changes brought by the digital technologies. In his address, he outlined that the coming decade shall be powered by breakthrough technologies of AI and shall be a dominant force in all aspects of research.

Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR – Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh who has been recently conferred the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award for the year 2022, in the field of Biological Sciences also delivered a talk on his research findings. This award has been given for his significant contributions in TB pathophysiology, especially the role of biofilm induced infections.

Dr. Sanjeev Khosla, Director, IMTECH while welcoming the guests and faculty to CSIR’s Foundation day apprised the audience with CSIR’s service to the nation in last eight decades and how scientific and technological interventions from CSIR has helped the society. In his welcome address, he highlighted the synergistic partrnerships that have strengthened the CSIR system through interlab collaborations and has helped to promote interdisciplinary research.

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting edge R&D knowledge base in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organization and was established in 1942. Currently, CSIR has a dynamic network of 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units. CSIR’s R&D expertise and experience is embodied in about 3521 active Scientists supported by about 4162 technical and support personnel.

As part of the celebrations, CSIR-IMTECH also felicitated its retirees and employees who have completed 25 years of their service. Institute also awarded mementoes towards of its staff for their outstanding performances in various sporting events held at the state and national level.

CSIR-IMTECH is a national center for excellence in microbial sciences and was established in 1984 under the aegis of CSIR. IMTECH’s vision and mission are to create translational ecosystem strengthened by fundamental discoveries and to address unmet healthcare and industrial needs with state-of-the-art processes and platforms.