IMTECH celebrates CSIR Foundation Day

New Delhi: The 81st 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. Dulal Panda, Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Mohali.

This year’s Foundation Day Lecture delivered by Prof. Panda focused on the “Lessons from 55 years of tubulin research and its implications in human health and disease”.

Prof. Panda in his talk made some important reflections on the research on tubulin that has laid the foundation for understanding several important cellular processes such as mitosis, cell division, cell motility, differentiation, and neuronal growth and development. In his address, he outlined that cancer therapeutics have greatly benefited from the effective anti-tumor action and limited toxicity of anti-tubulin drugs.

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 exhorted young scientists and students to set global benchmarks in science and stressed that the coming 25 years would be an ‘Amrit Kaal’ (perfect time) for Indian science ecosystem to grow.

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 3460 active scientists supported by about 4350 scientific and technical personnel.

As part of the celebrations, CSIR-IMTECH also observed ‘Open Day’ during which about 350 school students, graduates and general public from in and around tricity visited the Institute and interacted with scientists to get a firsthand account of various facets of microbiology and biotechnology. Institute also felicitated meritorious wards of its staff for their outstanding performances in various academic and extracurricular activities and also gave mementoes to its staff who retired in the last two years.

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.